November 24, 2014 — It was certainly good to see the New England Fisheries Management Council vote last week to reject a NOAA move to uniformly and concurrently institute spawning closures in four prime fishing areas that surround Gloucester — and to instead look toward seasonal closures that should at least give Gloucester’s endangered groundfishing fleet some alternatives to stay afloat.
It’s also good that the same council also opted to remove the current April closings for prime haddock fishing grounds.
“As long as we can get the quota situation straightened out, (fishermen will) have the ability to keep working and keep fishing,” noted Gloucester’s Vito Giacalone, who serves as policy chief of the Northeast Seafood Coalition. “This at least balances the needs of the inshore fleet with the concerns about cod spawning.”
But neither fishermen nor anyone who cares about this proud industry should be celebrating. For these changes do not address the core problem — that the industry-threatenoing emergency measures put in place by NOAA and Gloucester’-based Northeast administrator John Bullard, and the new, dire cod cuts put in place by the council for the 2015 fishing year remain based on an “unscheduled” — read that as “secret” or “covert” — stock assessment that grossly betrays the industry’s and lawmakers’ calls for a seat aboard NOAA’s research vessels.
Read the full editorial at the Gloucester Daily Times