It's troubling that the state's Division of Marine Fisheries wants to keep secret the names of those under consideration for Gov. Deval Patrick's recommendations to fill a key opening on the New England Fishery Management Council.
Indeed, if the process is to gain any shred of credibility, Marine Fisheries Director Paul Diodati should publicly list the nine candidates who have apparently submitted applications to gain the governor's nod. And the process frankly needs a healthy transfusion of transparency and credibility alike, given the way that Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and NOAA chief Jane Lubchenco have been stacking councils with only appointees who will carry water for their job- and small business-killing catch share management system.
But the real irony at this point is that the one known candidate to succeed outgoing New England Council Chairman John Pappalardo, Tom Dempsey of the Cape Cod Hook Fishermen's Association, is one that neither Patrick nor the Locke-Lubchenco dance team can even seriously consider.
Read the complete editorial from the Gloucester Times.