September 7, 2017 — Don Cuddy continues to peddle a simplistic, incorrect and unfair fable about the rebuilding of the scallop stocks that places all credit for the turnaround on the shoulders of Dr. Kevin Stokesbury (“Stokesbury’s science continues to yield scallops for SouthCoast,” Sept. 3).
Mr. Cuddy says that Dr. Stokesbury’s camera work caused Secretary Daley to open up the scallop grounds, causing New Bedford to be the top dollar port ever since. First of all, it was the New England Fishery Management Council that closed the grounds to scalloping in 1994, which allowed the scallops to grow from 40 count to U10′s by 1998 and to spawn several times before being harvested. They certainly deserve some credit for making that courageous decision.
Read the full letter at the New Bedford Standard-Times