January 12, 2021 — We here at FishOn have been absent from these pages for the past couple Mondays. Slight case of mistaken identity. Fear not, we’ve escaped. Here’s hoping you didn’t pay the ransom.
First column of the new year, so we’re still finding our footing, staying within ourselves and letting the game come to us. It’s early and it’s a long year.
There, that pretty much encapsulates the product of virtually every Opening Day interview we ever did.
One thing we know we’ll be writing about in 2021 is the plight of the North Atlantic right whales, so let’s start with them.
The end of 2020 brought a flurry of proposed protective actions from the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries and NOAA Fisheries that will be batted around until final rules can be enacted.
In the Bay State, DMF, among other recommendations, has proposed closing all state waters to lobstering from February to May to coincide with the right whales’ annual migration and feeding along the Massachusetts coast.
It is set to present those recommendations to the Massachusetts Fisheries Advisory Commission on Jan. 28. That meeting initially was set for Jan. 7, but DMF was swamped with public comment to review, as seemingly every conservation group in the world except the Cross Street Irregulars weighed in.
Last Friday, DMF said the altered timeline means it won’t be able to “promulgate final regulations for Feb. 1, 2021.”
It now expects the new rules — including the closure — to go into effect between mid-February and early March.
“As a result only those waters within the Massachusetts restricted area will be closed to trap gear fishing on Feb. 1,” DMF said. “All other waters within the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth will not be subject to a trap gear closure until a final rule is promulgated.”
Promulgate. Good word.