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Ballot petition could ban gillnets |
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A citizens group led by Max Strahan, known in different circles as "Mad Max" and the "Prince of Whales," has filed an initiative petition for the 2012 Massachusetts ballot that would seek to protect whales and sea turtles by banning gillnetting and vertical buoy rope used by lobstermen from state waters. The process has many steps to go, but if it were to become law, it would pose a serious threat to a niche fishing sector — the two dozen or so close-to-shore, gillnet fishermen working in state waters — that, by the nature of where they fish, brings to market the freshest day-boat seafood caught. The elimination of the state gillnetters has been a priority of the National Marine Fisheries Service, according to correspondence between John Oliver, deputy assistant administrator, and Paul Diodati, the director of state marine fisheries.
Strahan is a well-known and long controversial whale and turtle protecting firebrand who has self-filed multiple lawsuits to get fixed gear out of the water. Efforts to reach Strahan by phone and email were unsuccessful.
Read the complete story from The Gloucester Times
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MELISSA WOOD, NATIONAL FISHERMEN: Meting out the meager
May 22, 2012 - Listening to the New England Council's Groundfish Advisory Panel talk about how that industry is going to pay for monitoring costs is kind of like trying to figure out how to pay your bills when you've just lost your job. Though monitoring is important keeping costs down is critical. As Panel Member Gary Libby pointed out, "If we had 100 percent monitoring we probably wouldn't have an industry."
