The controversial agenda for the January 26-28 New England Fishery Management Council meeting has been released.
What is likely the most controversial meeting agenda in the history of the New England Fishery Management Council has been released.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the City of New Bedford, 17 Members of Congress, and well over 1000 members of the public who rely on the scallop fishery wrote or signed letters asking the Council to reconsider their November vote on Framework 21 to the Atlantic scallop fishery management plan.
The reconsideration is not on the agenda. The scallop fleet's trade association, claiming they have polled a majority of Executive Committee members, issued a press release saying that the Executive Committee agreed the matter should be reconsidered and accuses the council chair of unilaterally reversing that decision "without any transparency or debate."