In a feat of industrial engineering undertaken in the name of conservation, the New England Fishery Management Council completed work Thursday on a new system of commercial fishing to replace the one that has evolved and been adapted along the coast here for nearly 400 years.
The historic transformation, a volume of changes known as Amendment 16, introduces negotiable catch shares for fishermen and a semi-self governing harvesting cooperatives known as sectors.
Propelling the experiment is an article of faith, especially among professional environmentalists, that the changes will reduce the amount of fish that wind up as bycatch discards, and quicken the pace of ecological recovery for the damaged old fishery of the Northwestern Atlantic.
Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.
See also: MPBN – Regulators Approve Sea Change in Groundfish Rules,
and: Wicked Local – Huge changes in groundfishing rules as Sectors come into play,
and: The Boston Globe – N.E. fishing officials set new ground rules,
and: Providence Business News – N.E. fishing regulations overhauled,
and: South Coast Today – Catch shares system approved for New England fishermen,
and: Vineyard Gazette Online – Vineyard Fishermen Win Sector in Fisheries Overhaul.