Jane Lubchenco, the newly confirmed head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,and Dr. Jim Balsiger, NOAA’s acting administrator of fisheries, bothseem to be looking to build bridges to the New England fishing industry.
Lubchenco said she wanted to hear from all sides before deciding onwhether the highly controversial Interim Rule to regulate groundfishingshould be implemented May 1,the beginning of the fishing year. And Balsiger is writing a guestcolumn for the Times — including the latest installment at right — inan effort to repair what he believes is a communication breakdown withfishermen and the community at large.
Those are indeed goodthings to hear. But what matters more — much more — is how they aretranslated into action. And so far, the message from the regulatory andenforcement arms of NOAA, the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Coast Guard, is much less reasonable or benign.
Read the complete story at Gloucester Times.