The chairman of the New England Fishery Management Council has asked the U.S. Secretary of Commerce for an independent management consultant's study and analysis of the relationships between the council, the regional executive and the federal fisheries science center at Woods Hole.
While carefully lauding the federal system of regulating fisheries — which has been under fierce attack by multiple niches of the industry and a growing chorus from Congress — John Pappalardo conceded that "our region's bureaucracy is unable to efficiently meet its expanded obligations."
Pappalardo also admitted to Commerce Secretary Gary Locke that "our bureaucracy is often driven by process and protocol rather than by mission and outcome."
He asked Locke — the cog in the bureaucracy between President Obama and Jane Lubchenco, the assistant secretary for oceans and fisheries, who supervises Regional Administrator Patricia Kurkul — to support funding for an "established management consultant" who would review the relationship between the trio of federal agencies responsible for the strained relationship with the industry and make recommendations.