Gov. Deval Patrick and some of the state's federal lawmakers have stepped up the pressure on the Obama administration for the delivery of actions considered essential for the fishing industry.
That's economic relief in the form of aid, a more liberal allocation of groundfish, and justice in the form punishment for top fisheries law enforcement personnel accused in an Inspector General's report of abusing the industry, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's own fund built on fines and other forfeitures paid by fishermen.
Having won the agreement of U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke to the proposition that he has the authority to make an emergency allocation of fish, the industry, with Patrick at the point, has delivered legal and economic analyses designed to win his support for the higher allocations being sought.
On Friday, Paul Diodati, director of the state's marine fisheries, and Brian Rothschild, the professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth's School for Marine Science, briefed Eric Schwaab, the top administrator at NOAA Fisheries on the case for emergency relief.
Read the complete story from The Gloucester Daily Times.