Any reporter covering fisheries management will tell you it is one of the most impenetrable briar patches of science, politics and bureaucracy that can be imagined.
Despite the disaster declaration made in September in the Northeast fishery, fishermen are expected to bear the brunt of sharp cutbacks all by themselves.
Unlike farmers in the Midwest, there are not enough of them to compel Congress to pay them annual stipends not to fish. There are no crop subsidies on the ocean. Disaster declarations are apparently meaningless.
And through it all, NOAA is basing its decisions on the scientific work of the research vessel Bigelow, without the input, assistance or coordination with fishermen. The Bigelow misses a lot, and even NOAA admits that the trawl gear is sometimes all wrong for the species being regulated, mainly yellowtail flounder.
And it's that science that drives NOAA's decisions. There's talk of new surveys, but that's not going to happen until late next year, if we can believe the council's scientists. They're going to wait for a fishing science convention in Boston next summer to maybe give them a clue.
Meanwhile, fishing families are awaiting a council decision about what to do next. The council, duly threatened with a lawsuit by Shelley, punted the issue until the end of January, giving them time to consult with the NOAA mother ship on their legal options.
Merry Christmas.
Read the complete opinion piece from The South Coast Today.