November 15, 2012 — Deep cuts to the once-booming fleet over the last decade were made palatable by government assurances that key fish populations would rebuild and fishing nets would be teeming again. But with two critical species — Gulf of Maine cod and Georges Bank yellowtail — doing poorly, those assurances have disappeared.
Fishermen, and some council members, argued that the overall yellowtail catch next year would be so low it could cripple the estimated $400 million a year scallop industry or the groundfish business.
“This is pitting brother against brother,’’ said Peter Hughes, of Atlantic Capes Fisheries Inc. of New Jersey, which fishes for and processes scallops. “These numbers are not healthy numbers for a domestic US fishery.”
Hughes, along with other fishermen and council members, expressed deep frustration with the science behind the projected yellowtail cuts, and and the need to adhere to a US-Canadian agreed-upon quota on the submerged Georges Bank plateau that the United States jointly manages with Canada.
In two votes, the council narrowly voted to reject the joint quota and set a higher one, creating confusion about how much yellowtail flounder could be allocated. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is all but guaranteed to reject that higher quota, said John Bullard, New England regional chief for NOAA.
Read the full story at the Boston Globe