Over one thousand Atlantic sea scallop fishermen, retail and wholesale seafood dealers, other scallop-dependent businesses, and their employees wrote to Dr. Jane Lubchenco, NOAA Adminstrator, on Friday, December 18, 2009 to express their "extreme dismay with the New England Fishery Management Council’s recent decision" in favor of increased restrictions on the scallop fishery.
The signers, who hail from states up and down the east coast form Maine to Florida, and as far west as Ohio, accuse the New England Fishery Management Council of failing "to balance the conservation of scallop stocks with the economic and social health of the industry." The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act requires that "conservation and management measures…take into account the importance of fishery resources to fishing communities in order to (A) provide for the sustained participation of such communities, and (B) to the extent practicable, minimize adverse economic impacts on such communities."
The thousand-plus signers say the actions "will cause unnecessary damage to fishing communities from Maine to North Carolina, as well as local, regional and national economies, more generally, at precisely the wrong time."
The letter, which was organized by the Fisheries Survival Fund, of Fairhaven, Massachusetts, cites Federal scientists who have "stated that there are over 300 million pounds of harvestable-sized U.S. Atlantic scallops and that 65 million pounds could be caught sustainably" and asks "why the Council voted to allow only 41 million pounds of scallop catch next year, rather than the risk averse 47 million pounds the industry had sought for 2010." They have asked for immediate action to restore the six million pounds in total catch for 2010.
According to the letter, "the 6 million pounds of scallops the Council narrowly voted to leave unharvested represent a loss of well over $40 million to scallopers—and hundreds of millions of dollars more to those of us who support this important industry. "
Under the proposed rules, according to the Fisheries Survival Fund letter, scallop vessels will be tied to the dock for over 300 days next year.
The letter was hand delivered to Dr. Lubchenco's Washington Office, and also delivered to Members of Congress, NOAA Fisheries Regional Administratior Patricia Kurkul, and the New England Fisheries Managment Council.
Read the complete letter and list of signers.