U.S. Sen. John Kerry is right when he says discussion "has come a long way" in pressing the Commerce Department and its renegade officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to address the government-created crisis in the New England fishing industry.
These government policies have forced out of business many of the mainstay of our New England fishing fleet — small, independent fishermen with a single boat and a small (or no) crew. The policy has made it far more lucrative for the large-scale commercial fishing companies to dominate the seas. It's an economic policy that has punished the independent fisherman, under the guise of managing fish stocks.
It's also good to know that Commerce Secretary Gary Locke — however begrudgingly and for whatever political reasons — has commissioned assessment teams to come to Seabrook, Gloucester and other New England ports to assess the economic damage the fishery policies of NOAA chief Jane Lubchenco have wrought.
Read the editorial from The Newburyport News.