CAMBRIDGE, Md. — May 6, 2015 — Two years ago, a group of watermen calling themselves the Harvesters Land and Sea Coalition filed a lawsuit against the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. They said the science behind those 2010 and 2012 assessments was bad, but they lost their court case on technicalities.
Early this year, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission announced a new benchmark assessment had been created for the menhaden, using new data sets, which showed the fishery was actually in good shape. Tuesday, the commission upped the quotas on menhaden by 10 percent, making captain Rob Newberry, one of the watermen involved in that lawsuit, very happy.
“This is a regulation that’s been overturned and it’s great for us, I mean it’s only 10 percent but you have to start somewhere. It’s a great thing for us,” said Newberry.