Brian Rothschild, the chief marine science advisor to the New England commercial fishing industry, Thursday described the impending start of the groundfish catch share system as an "experiment" conceived in blithe ignorance that is on track to wreak unnecessary cultural, social and economic havoc.
But the May 1 launch of the regime will not be delayed, NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenco announced. Lubchenco made her decision public in a letter to New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang, who had — along with other elected officials — been urging the postponement.
The new system scheduled to debut May 1 has ratcheted down allocations to remove pressure of any kind on rebuilding stocks. "Risk aversive" was Rothschild's characterization of the approach taken by the federal fisheries management bureaucracy.
[read the Gloucester Daily Times story in full]