SavingSeaFood - New Bedford City Council still pushing for fishing reform

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New Bedford City Council still pushing for fishing reform

NEW BEDFORD, Mass - The City Council advocated for reform of the nation's fishing regulations Thursday night.

The council wants other New England senators to support legislation filed by U.S. Sens. Scott Brown, R-Mass., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine. Their bill, titled the "Fishing Impact Statement Honesty Act," would have a third party review the economic ripple of fisheries management changes.

Under current rules, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration does such analysis.

The council also approved writing a letter to President Barack Obama and U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Gary Locke "expressing disappointment" with the rejection of Gov. Deval Patrick's push for an emergency increase in catch allowance for Northeast fishermen. In the same motion, the council also takes exception with Locke rejecting the governor's request for emergency funds for fishing families and supports the governor in appealing Locke's ruling. The motion refers to Locke's decision as a "job-killing regulation."

The council is also seeking the resignation of Locke.

Read the complete story from The South Coast Today.

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."

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