October 8, 2014 — Amid all the debate, all the understandable anger and cynicism on the part of fishermen, and all the hand-wringing rhetoric from NOAA officials and the New England Fisheries Management Council, it was Angela Sanfilippo — longtime president of the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives’ Association — who delivered words that most needed to be said.
Addressing the regional fishery management panel last Wednesday, as it considered even more drastic cuts to the commercial landing limits on cod, Sanfilippo called for the council and for NOAA to recognize what is truly at stake in these deliberations.
“We’ve been talking about fish here this morning,” Sanfilippo said. “I want to talk about humans. I’ve seen more fishermen and fishermen’s wives cry on the other side of my desk than I can ever remember. Please, the system has to respond not just to the fish, but to the humans.”
Amen.
Her views should go without saying. But the fact is they needed to be said during Wednesday’s New England Council meeting in Hyannis, and they need to be repeated and heard over and over again.
Read the full editorial from The Newburyport Daily News