Since the Feb. 24, 2010 gathering at the north side of the Capitol dispersed in high spirits and hopes, there have been a small number of congressional hearings that have brought no profound changes.

But the hearings — and investigations through a federal Inspector General's office — have corroborated for many concern over the way that federal fisheries enforcement agents have used excessive tactics in penalizing fishermen and waterfront businesses.

And they have also galvanized fishing industry activists on three coasts to protest the alleged inside influence by major environmental organizations to carry out a national fishing policy that brings a further consolidation of independent fishing fleets, and encourages the buying, selling and trading of fishermen's catch shares in a policy that opens the door to outside corporate investment and, fishing activists argue, corporate control.

The next skirmish could come in St. Petersburg, Fla. An alliance of commercial and recreational interests in the Southeast has announced a protest rally against NOAA's policies, including catch shares.

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EDF brought about 40 fishermen to Washington, D.C. for a work week of lobbying Congress in the days after last February's "United We Fish" protest, and packed a committee hearing room with a T-shirted team last spring to dispute the anti-catch share testimony of Brian Rothschild, the widely respected marine scientist at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth who has noted the flawed science used to set NOAA's regulations and catch limits and stood as an ally of the fishing industry.

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A lawsuit filed by the cities of Gloucester and New Bedford — with plaintiffs all along the coast from Maine to North Carolina — challenges the catch share regimen written by the New England Fishery Management Council.

In conjunction with that suit, the plaintiffs sought and were denied special rights to depose council and NOAA officials about the direct influence of EDF and allied environmental groups on the development of what Lubchenco has now deemed a national catch share policy.

New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang, who is in the midst of a legal struggle with the government for access to e-mails between EDF and government officials, has predicted the improper influences are so blatant they will come out anyway during the hearing.

Lang also draws support from Gloucester Mayor Carolyn Kirk.

"The government hasn't broken the back of the commercial fishing industry yet," Kirk said. "We need to continue to show how big U.S. government is driving small business out of business with overbearing regulations, and zealous enforcement."

 

Read the complete story from The Gloucester Times.