NEW BEDFORD — Gov. Deval Patrick has written to U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke asking for increased and immediate help for the fishing industry and the fishing community.
He thanked Locke for visiting Massachusetts and Maine last week, and praised Locke’s actions in dealing with the troubles in the NOAA law enforcement unit. He asked Locke to open a 45-day window for more fishermen, captains and owners to step forward if they think they have a case that needs reexamination.
Patrick then called for similar urgency in dealing with annual catch limits, which this year are so sharply reduced that more than half the fleet hasn’t yet gone to sea. The lower limits came along with a “sector management” scheme that threatens to push many boat owners out of the business.
Patrick wrote, “My team will be in touch with your general counsel to work on the development of a legally and scientifically sound path to raise catch limits to the maximum possible extent within the constraints of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. Given the number of fishermen who testified to the severe economic impacts and increasing bankruptcies among small family fishermen due to unnecessarily low limits, I ask you to take action no later than October 15, 2010.”
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Read the letter from Gov. Patrick to Secretary Locke.