The summit drew almost 300 people to the city Monday, a veritable “Who’s Who” of the fishing industry. They gathered to express their views about the new NOAA fisheries director over the coming crisis in the Northeast fishing industry. Eric Schwaab, just three weeks into his job as the assistant administrator for fisheries at NOAA, sat in the front row of the whaling museum’s packed auditorium and heard one speaker after another assail his agency for its policies, its attitude and its law enforcement.
In a 10-minute presentation representatives of all kinds of players in the fishing industry were encouraged to put their cards on the table. It was an outpouring of frustration at a federal agency many believe is trying to put them out of business when it isn’t treating them like children or criminals. UMass and the mayor’s office have organized this summit followed a Capitol Hill “United We Fish” protest in late February, an inspector general’s report blasting fisheries law enforcement, and sworn congressional hearings in which it was revealed that NOAA’s top law enforcement official shredded documents while under investigation.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration became the prime target. State Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante, D-Gloucester, drew applause when she announced, “I want to see the day when the agency respects the fishing industry.” Regulators today are sticking with current law the way people in Medieval times believed the sun revolved around the Earth.
