Lang said he was driven to make an appearance at the meeting because of a letter, signed by dozens of New England commercial fishermen, including several from New Bedford, sent to this region's Capitol Hill delegation earlier this week. The letter states that a "few voices calling for the overturn for the entire" sector management system has led to a series of "increasingly dangerous proposals that truly put the future of our business and fisheries at risk."

"Perhaps too many of us in the industry have been too busy making the new system work to consistently weigh in," reads the letter.

Reductions to key stocks in 2010, according to the letter, would have been required "regardless of what management system was in place at the time."

Such reductions were necessary to meet rebuilding goals and comply with provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, according to the letter. Some of the New Bedford-based names attached to the letter include Albert Lees, Paul Lemieux, Carlos Rafael and Peter Reposa.

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