The highlight of NOAA chief Jane Lubchenco's first new budget for federal fisheries is a $54-million investment in catch shares, the hotly disputed regulatory system that's set to take effect in New England May 1.
But, to maximize the size of the catch share fund, $6 million would be shifted from "cooperative research," and $11.4 million shifted from "fisheries research and management programs."
Lee Crockett, director of federal fisheries policy for Pew, questioned the decision to subordinate cooperative research to catch share implementation.
"They shouldn't be cutting that at all," Crockett said of the research funding. "New money is one thing; sacrificing other programs is a bad idea."
But Lubchenco's budget statement claimed that "the scientific evidence is compelling that catch shares can also restore the health of ecosystems and put fisheries on the path to profitability and sustainability.