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EDITORIAL: Feds wrong to deny fishery emergency relief

We wanted to believe Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke last October when he said he'd consider raising catch limits in the New England groundfishery if the case could be made that government regulations and policies had created an economic emergency. Our own government leaders, right up to Gov. Deval Patrick, clearly took Locke at his word.

Now, we know. Locke's promise of "consideration" was nothing more than a sham.

There is simply no other way to view his insulting, indefensible denial of any "emergency" boost in groundfish limits, and his lack of recognition of the dire effect the current limits, coupled with NOAA chief Jane Lubchenco's "catch share" system, is having here on the North Shore and beyond.

Locke essentially claims that a study commissioned by Gov. Patrick and carried out by scientists at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth didn't show the economic need or make the case from a scientific standpoint.

Yet the state has shown that, under the Amendment 16 framework that includes catch share system, just 10 percent of the boats landed 64 percent of the total revenue from May through September — a grim statistic for small, independent fishing businesses. Over the first six months of the fishing year, New England's groundfishermen brought in just 13 percent of the allowable catch in cod, a largely rebuilt stock. And, in an increasingly restored fishery, landings were down up to 11 percent from August through September.

Read the complete editorial from The Salem News.

HASTINGS: Time to improve the Endangered Species Act

May 18, 2012 - When the Endangered Species Act (ESA) was signed into law in 1973 by President Nixon, he spoke about the importance of preserving “the rich array of animal life with which our country has been blessed.” I believe that goal is as important today as it was back then. However, after nearly 40 years, it’s time to take a fresh, honest look at the law and consider whether there are ways it could be improved to do a better job of protecting and recovering species.

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