April 22, 2015 — The New England Fishery Management Council on Thursday will take up the subject of opening parts of Georges Bank to scallop fishing, in some cases after closures of 20 years that led to an untapped abundance of scallops, according to surveys.
Wednesday's meeting of the council, day two of three, offered a preview of how the council, and by extension NOAA Fisheries, intends to proceed.
During the public comment period of the meeting, environmentalists implored the council to not reopen any "essential habitat" areas to fishing. Fishing interests countered that the closures are excessive and in some cases unproductive.
Dozens of environmentalists had signed a petition letter to ask the council to leave protected and closed areas alone, citing recent news that fish stocks in the Northeast are not recovering as well as other areas of the country.
"Don't be bullied" by the environmentalists, Maggie Raymond of the Associated Fisheries of Maine urged the 17-member council.
The council, often bogging down in procedural questions about how to work through many overlapping amendments using Robert's Rules of Order, eventually dealt with three changes in the Gulf of Maine proposed by the council's Habitat Committee.
Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times