April 29, 2013 — On Boston’s fish pier Monday, with a newly painted fishing boat as a backdrop, fishermen and Massachusetts politicians railed against the new catch limits — and asked for a reprieve.
As of May 1, commercial fishermen in New England won’t be allowed to catch as many cod and haddock and other groundfish — not nearly as many. Federal regulators have drastically reduced so-called catch limits so that depleted stocks can recover.
Richie Canastra, co-owner of the New Bedford and Boston seafood auctions, cited reports from boats currently out at sea that groundfish such as flounder are coming back.
“The fish are showing up,” he said. “One boat: 15,000 pounds of George’s Bank yellowtail [flounder]. They’re getting them in the north and the south. It is a cycle! It’s a cycle that we go through.”
Republican state Sen. Bruce Tarr, from the fishing port of Gloucester, said the new catch limits are too drastic.
“Not on our watch are we going to let fishermen be the first species on Earth to go extinct because of federal regulation!” he said. “We’re gonna be here.”
Democratic U.S. Rep. John Tierney, from Salem, agreed the industry needs to be saved.
“Where we’ll be able to stop people from losing the mortgages on their home, on their boat, on their equipment, on their seaside properties,” he said.
Tierney issued a direct challenge to the regional director of the National Marine Fisheries Service that’s in charge of managing fish stocks. That’s John Bullard. He was in the audience, and he said raising the catch limits at the last minute is just not possible.
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