GLOUCESTER, Mass. — 24 Feb. 2012 — The Northeast Seafood Coalition has never been an advocate for sectors. The NSC organized sectors only when it became clear that the New England Fishery Management Council had before it no other remotely tenable option for the 255 businesses that are members of the NSC.
Sectors are a decidedly mixed bag. They were the only potentially viable option for most groundfish businesses, and yet they are a barely viable option. They bring some flexibility in fishing operations and they unshackle vessels from the clock. But, allocations (which, technically, are not allocations) were made through a formula which left many unable to fish without acquiring additional quota from others.
The good that sectors brought — some flexibility and a release from the clock — applies to all vessels in sectors. The ill they brought — unworkable allocations for many — was not confined to vessels of any particular size, but was visited upon vessels of all sizes (and of all classes, gears, and locales).
Read the complete letter from The Gloucester Times.