EXTRA...

Flummoxed fisher-folk force forum

Xtra quote: "Regulators are interested in taking action."
- Jackie Odell, executive director of the Northeast Seafood Coalition.

New England Fish panel sets new forum on cod options

Admittedly flummoxed by an unexpectedly dire scientific assessment of inshore cod, NOAA and its New England Fishery Management Council have called a general meeting of stakeholders on Friday to brainstorm options for the new fishing year that begins May 1.

Furious debate about
the validity of the scienceA compromise motion that passed the council and went to Commerce Secretary John Bryson formally asks him to take emergency action by setting an interim, one year, catch limit on cod, and recommends a broad range of between 6,700 metric tons to 7,500 metric tons.

Last Wednesday's regional council meeting produced furious debate about the validity of the science in the assessment whose findings can trigger extreme conservation measures mandated by Congress in the Magnuson-Stevens Act.

In November, Odell and Giacalone, along with the Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen's Association, also sent a letter signed by more than 100 fishermen — about one quarter of those with permits — urging the government to back off any potential changes to the catch share amendment and allow the free market in catch shares to continue driving consolidation.

Read the rest of the Gloucester Times story here.

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