June 21, 2013 — In the face of recent drastic cuts in groundfishing quotas, it is easy to understand why political leaders sympathize with the plight of fishermen up and down the New England coast. This industry formed the foundation of many of our communities.
New England groundfish fishermen have faced massive changes in the fishery for decades, and have had to adjust to an ever-changing set of management requirements. Unfortunately, one of the biggest crises to date is now facing our region’s fishermen. Key fish stocks are not recovering as previously believed, and the government had no choice but to make tough cuts to ensure fish and fishermen have a future. This has caused a crisis in the fishery, with many fishermen saying they are getting out of the business, and that has set off an understandable political reaction.
But thoughtful leadership means making hard choices when science, law, and common sense all point in the same direction. By acknowledging the difficulty confronting fishermen and imposing the limits that the law requires, National Marine Fisheries Service Regional Administrator John Bullard has provided that leadership.
From an old New Bedford family, Bullard has known fishermen all his life, and the decision to cut the catch limits cannot have been an easy one personally. But professionally, as someone who has seen all the evidence of what is happening in our oceans, to our fish stocks and to fishermen — he simply had no other responsible choice.
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has recently stepped into the complicated debate with a lawsuit that would reverse Bullard’s decision. Clearly, Coakley has seen the toll that declining fish stocks — and the ensuing decline in the fishing economy — is taking on fishing families from New Bedford to Provincetown to Gloucester and she has decided this is how the courts can help. No matter how well-meaning, this lawsuit sends a bad signal, and if it succeeds, would have negative consequences for both fish and fishermen.
The suit creates a false hope among fishermen that catch limits may be reversed when they should be looking for ways to catch other kinds of fish instead of trying to return to a bounty that no longer exists. Second, the suit sends the message that the members of the New England Fishery Management Council were wrong to impose the limits, and that the work of scientific experts inside and outside of government should be overruled.
Johanna Thomas is New England Regional Oceans Program Director for the Environmental Defense Fund.
Read the full opinion piece at The Boston Globe