Mayor Scott Lang of New Bedford, the nation’s number one value fishing port, told the New England Fisheries Management Council that "the economic impacts the management system imposes on our fishermen and their families and on local government continue to not be fully understood and weighed fairly in the decision making process." He urged the Council "to work with fishermen, research institutions and Port communities to effect change in the system that makes environmental and economic sense."
In a letter to John Pappalardo, Chairman, and Paul Howard, Executive Director of the New England Fisheries Management Council, Mayor Lang stated that 4,000 employees of the $1 billion New Bedford commercial fishing industry are at risk.
The mayor asked that the "allowable biological catch for red crab should be remanded back to the Science Statistical Committee (SSC) for further consideration and science should be the measure to set the catch limit, not historical landings of a single year (2007)." (During its session, the council passed a motion to send the red crab Allowable Biological Catch recommendation "back to the SSC for further analysis after new peer review information is available." The council also mandated that when the SSC discusses this issue that that a quorum is present throughout the deliberations.)
Mayor Lang noted that "a socio-economic analysis…is a requirement of the Magnuson-Stevens Act" and "the socio-economic impacts merit comprehensive study prior to setting the allowable biological catch."
The Mayor also argued that the "allowable biological catch set for groundfish under sector management requires comprehensive scientific analysis and needs further consideration by the SSC" and he said that "Amendment 15 merits further public process and scientific analysis with respect to stacking permits."The Mayor also testified at the meeting and raised these and other concerns in person.