When a major new regulatory system for commercial fishing gets a sudden, major revision barely three weeks after it started, it's evidence the system was not well thought-out.
Indeed, the so-called "catch share" system that has been governing New England fishing since May 1 has yielded predictable chaos, along with even worse-than-expected economic damage for independent fishermen.
Just three weeks into the new regime, Patricia Kurkul, the Gloucester-based regional administrator of the National Marine Fisheries Service, ordered an even more draconian tightening of catch limits on those groundfishing boats that chose not to work within the catch share system and are part of what is called a "common pool."
The Northeast Seafood Coalition had previously warned that fears of Kurkul changing the catch limits at any time during the season would stimulate a "race to fish." Sure enough, NMFS reported that within 20 days, a third of the allocations of Gulf of Maine winter flounder and Georges Bank yellowtail flounder had already been caught.
Read the complete story at The Salem News.