The New England Fishery Management Council should ignore the politicians and stick by its guns. To prevent overfishing of the region’s scallops, the council voted last fall to reduce the number of days that scallopers can be at sea.
The panel recognized that the $360 million a year scallop industry could become dangerously depleted without some reasonable limits. But now, in the face of political pressure from Governor Deval Patrick, Congressmen Barney Frank and John Tierney, and others, the council has agreed to reconsider the restrictions at a meeting later this month.
The restrictions are necessary. In both 2008 and 2009, scallop catches considerably exceeded the council’s projected target levels. To get the catch for 2010 back down to the 2009 target, the council recommended cutting days at sea from about 37 to 29 and limiting access to protected fishing grounds.