So the U.S. Department of Commerce, still headed by Secretary Gary Locke, though his name was oddly absent Wednesday's announcement, has finally recognized that economic hardships faced by Gloucester's and New England's small independent fishing businesses, and the communities whose economies they support, have been brought on in large part by our own federal government's fisheries policies.
And to make amends, the fishing ports of Gloucester, New Bedford; Portland, Maine; Seabrook, N.H.; Point Judith, R.I.; and Montauk, Long Island, will now be getting immediate special attention and assistance.
"Economic development assessment teams will deploy next month to conduct a two-day analysis of six Northeast fishing communities," the department said in an announcement posted on the agency's website just after noon. And that, indeed, is good news.
But before anyone follows up our opening hallelujah with glowing hosannas for Locke and his Commerce colleagues, consider that no one has yet attached any dollar figure that might be used to mitigate the department's — and its National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's — beatdown of the industry through both its conversion to the catch shares management system and overly tight catch limits.
Read the complete editorial from The Gloucester Times.