Less than a month into the fishing year, the federal government Tuesday announced a tightening of catch limits for the minority of New England groundfishing boats that did not choose to work under the new catch share system, the policy preference of the Obama administration.
The action was published in the Federal Register, and attributed to the "regional administrator of the National Marine Fisheries Service," according to a letter to the so-called common pool fishermen that said the tightened limits were required to halt accelerated landings by the common poolers.
But Patricia Kurkul, the Gloucester-based regional administrator, did not put her name on the order tightening catch limits order.
Transforming the industry into a two-tiered system — with some fishermen fishing in cooperative "sectors" working with catch shares, and common pool fishermen working under the old days-at-sea system — Kurkul was given special power to alter catch limits in mid-season despite warnings by the Northeast Seafood Coalition.
Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.