I took note of the protest held on Oct. 30… The key to any successful fishery management program is active fishermen and community involvement in the process.
Designing catch share programs to give fisheries more sustainable futures for fishermen, fish stocks and fishing communities is a challenge at many levels. The New England Fishery Management Council has been working for several years developing sectors, a type of catch share program for the groundfishery. The council and the region’s fishing communities have also been working on catch share programs in other fisheries, including scallops and tilefish, with discussions starting for monkfish and herring.
I welcome your comments on my column. You can send any comments directly to me at public.concerns.groundfish@noaa.gov.