As per the available information Captain Peter Taylor of Chatham filed suit against NMFS for creating a loophole in a rule that will allow herring trawlers to dump uninspected bycatch in an area that has been closed to protect troubled groundfish stocks. In a press release, Taylor stated that herring trawlers should be held to the same standards as other fishermen, “and that means they shouldn’t be allowed to discard fish that the observers haven’t inspected properly.
It is opined that the original rule proposed by NMFS was considered a “reasonable approach” to gathering more data about bycatch on midwater trawl vessels and received positive comments from the public according to the press statement issued by Earthjustice, whose attorney, Roger Fleming, is representing Taylor. But the final rule incorporated a change allowing the dumping. In addition, last Thursday, recreational fisherman Patrick Paquette of Hyannis, who represents several recreational fishing organizations such as the Massachusetts Striped Bass Association, filed a complaint under the Freedom of Information Act to obtain an NMFS video showing footage of federal observers aboard a midwater trawl ship.
The NMFS video was screened at a public meeting of the New England Fishery Management Council’s Herring Oversight Committeee, but Paquette’s attempts to obtain a copy have reportedly proven futile.
