Port Cities to Sue Federal Agency to block Catch Shares and Sector Management.
The Mayors of New England's two largest fishing ports, New Bedford and Gloucester Massachusetts, held emergency public meetings on Friday, May 7, the sixth day of a new regime of federal fishing regulations, to review the progress thus far.
"We're heading for catastrophic failure on every level," said state Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante, D-Gloucester, who co-sponsored the debriefing and strategic brainstorming of mostly Gloucester fishermen at City Hall with Kirk and state Sen. Bruce E. Tarr, R-Gloucester.
Richie Canastra, co-owner of the New Bedford-based Whaling City Seafood Display Auction, said he heard not a peep of support for the government system in the two-hour emergency meeting called Friday afternoon by New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang.
New Bedford Mayor Lang described "disingenuous and fraudulent" behavior of NOAA's top officials, citing NOAA Chief Jane Lubchenco's lack of response to a March 22 letter asking for postponement of sector management until it can be understood and problems worked out. When that letter went unanswered, a month later Lang sent another, at which point Lubchenco's office told him on April 20 that it had indeed answered him, and faxed him a letter date-stamped April 16. When that letter arrived in the regular mail, it was postmarked April 20, the day of the conversation, Lang said.
Lang said that New Bedford, the most profitable fishing port in America, will join with Gloucester, the nation's oldest fishing port in a federal lawsuit to block the ongoing switch to commercial fisheries sector management and catch shares. The lawsuit will aim not only at NOAA's decisions but at the question of whether the agency is violating the terms of the Magnuson-Stevens Act by disregarding the effects of rule-making on the industry and the local economy.
The Secretary of Commerce will meet with 20 New England and New York Senators on Wednesday at the legislator's request to address concerns raised by the lawmakers last month.
Read coverage of the Gloucester Meeting from the Gloucester Times
Listen to Gloucester Mayor Carolyn Kirk describe the Gloucester Meeting during the Saving Seafood hour on WBSM
Read Coverage of the New Bedford Meeting in the Standard-Times
Watch Television Coverage of the New Bedford Meeting and Lawsuit from WJAR-TV10
Read about the upcoming meeting with Commerce Secretary Locke
NOAA's New England Regional Office, in a letter from Regional Director Pat Kurkul to Saving Seafood on Thursday stated that "NOAA Fisheries Service has been in constant communication with fishermen and sector managers over the past year to develop these new management measures. Since the management measures were implemented last Saturday, we have continued to work closely with the industry to resolve any problems with new operating, reporting and monitoring systems."
Read the complete letter from Ms. Kurkul
NOAA has established a hotline for fishermen with questions about the new regulations which will be staffed: (978) 281-9315
Information about the new regulations and sectors management is available at http://www.nero.noaa.gov/sfd/sfdmultisector.html.