May 30, 2013 — Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has filed a lawsuit against federal regulators, alleging that new rules reducing the number of ground-feeding fish that can be caught for the rest of the year will be a “death sentence” for the industry.
Effective May 1, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ordered fisherman to reduce by 77 percent their catches of certain species of fish, including haddock, cod, and flounder. The suit, filed today in US District Court in Boston, aims to block the regulations, claiming NOAA based them on questionable science and did not take into account the potentially disastrous economic impacts they would have on fisherman.
The US government, Department of Commerce, which oversees NOAA, and the National Marine Fisheries Service are also defendants in the case.
“The federal government has shown a callous disregard for the well-being of Massachusetts fishing families,” Coakley said in a statement. “The fishing industry has been part of our Commonwealth’s proud past, and we will continue to fight to ensure that is part of our vibrant future.”
NOAA has sought for decades to contain overfishing of certain species in New England by implementing catch quotas on the fishing industry.
Throughout that time, Massachusetts fisherman have clashed with the agency over the quotas, which they perceive to be too low, and the subsequent penalties the agency hands down when fisherman exceed them, which fisherman believe are too harsh.
Read the full story at the Boston Globe