This siege is being carried out by their own government — the entity that is supposed to balance environmental and economic interests so they have enough freedom to make a living.
"Fishery Under Siege" is not just a headline. It is a reality for those who fish for a living.
And as our four-day Times series which concludes today shows, the outrageous, absurd irony is that the attacks on fishermen are not from bad weather, foreign fleets, pirates or predators.
This siege is being carried out by their own government — the entity that is supposed to balance environmental and economic interests so they have enough freedom to make a living.
The series documents that this is not accidental. It is methodical and intentional.
Fishermen are being driven out of business in much the same way family farmers were crushed by agribusiness. And it is being done by design, at the hands of an administration that claims to be all about preventing the wealthy and powerful from preying on the little guy.
It was 18 months ago that President Obama nominated and essentially appointed an agenda-driven environmentalist, Jane Lubchenco, a Pew fellow and former vice chairman of the board of the Environmental Defense Fund, to oversee America's fisheries.
Since becoming the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Lubchenco has pushed regulatory policies designed to consolidate wealth in favor of the investor, at the expense of those who do the work and take the risks to do the actual fishing.
The president, who claimed in his inaugural address that "we will restore science to its rightful place …," is letting science be manipulated to serve the "Big Green" agenda, at the expense of the independent, small-business fisherman and a way of life that has existed for centuries in ports such as Gloucester and so many others around New England and the nation.
The president, who said the era of letting special interests control public policy ended the day he took office, is, in effect, doing the opposite.
As this series has shown, the incestuous relationship between federal fishing officials and environmental advocacy groups is too obvious to deny. And the administration that claims to be focused on creating and saving jobs is destroying them through regulation.ay 1, saying they could expect a turnaround of 400 percent.
Read the complete editorial at The Gloucester Daily Times.