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Federal Limits Hurting Mass. Fishermen

BOSTON—This week Department of Commerce Secretary Gary Locke rejected Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick’s request to increase federal catch limits and his request for $21 million in direct economic relief for the impacts caused by the transition to “Catch Shares.”

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the catch share program is a “general term for several fishery management strategies that allocate a specific portion of the total allowable fishery catch to individuals, cooperatives, communities, or other entities. Each recipient of a catch share is directly accountable to stop fishing when its specific quota is reached.”

According to many in Massachusetts, the policy has hurt Massachusetts fishermen.

In his letter rejecting the governor’s request, Locke said, “I stand ready to increase catch limits whenever new scientific data are available that meet the requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Act.” The Magnuson-Stevens act is the primary law that governs marine fisheries in the United States. About the $21 million aid, Locke said, “the data provided are insufficient to warrant either a fishery disaster or a commercial fishery failure under that act.”

Read the complete story from The Epoch Times.

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