April 16, 2018 — The New England Fishery Management Council will be updated on the groundfish crisis involving several New Bedford-based fishing sectors when it convenes for three days of meetings next week in Mystic, Connecticut.
The groundfish presentation by staff from the Gloucester-based Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office will be the centerpiece of the groundfish report on Wednesday and is designed to provide “an overview of (Northeast Fishing) Sector IX’s steps to address its shortcomings, as well as a summary of Sector IX’s operations plan,” according to the agenda for the meetings.
“The New Bedford sector has submitted its operations plan to GARFO and this will be an overview of what they’ve done to address the problems and what they need to do to have a new plan approved,” said council spokeswoman Janice Plante.
Plante said the presentation will not include comment from officials with the New Bedford fishing sectors.
NOAA Fisheries shut down Sector IX last November, withdrawing its operation plan for the remainder of the 2017 fishing season and into the 2018 season set to begin May 1.
The extraordinary move came in the wake of the conviction and sentencing of New Bedford fishing kingpin Carlos Rafael on charges of tax evasion, money laundering and bulk smuggling.
Read the full story at the Gloucester Times