December 17, 2013 — The New England Fisheries Management Council’s monthly meeting, a three-day session that began Monday in Danvers, holds immense potential for creating important new guidelines for fishermen out of Gloucester and elsewhere to move forward.
Yet this council — a policy arm of NOAA that is supposed to bring the input of fishermen, federal government officials and the environmental community to the same table, yet too often fails the fishermen – could also bury small, largely independent fishing fleets such as Gloucester’s once and for all.
But the means to avoiding that latter scenario are very basic. In considering its next moves regarding a revised groundfish stocks rebuilding plan, or any reconfiguring of open and closed areas with an eye toward sustaining the fisheries habitat, it’s crucial that the council heed to the oft-ignored provisions of the Magnuson Stevens Act that require the economic impact of any rules and policies on the fishing industry and fishing communities be an important factor in any determinations.
Read the full opinion piece at the Gloucester Daily Times