New England fishing industry is desperate waiting for some regulatory relief and emergency funds from U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke. Gov. Deval Patrick told that he has had phone conversations with Locke in recent days to vent his frustration with waiting for Locke to decide what to do. In early November, Patrick wrote to Locke with an appeal for relaxed catch limits allowable within the government’s scientific reports. He also asked for emergency financial help to get struggling fishing families through the holidays and the winter months.
A spokesman for U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., said that Frank has also been on the phone with Locke but that he could not divulge the content of those conversations. Frank was accompanied to the meeting by U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass. Brown has not made any comment about it. Patrick informed that he is equally frustrated and that Locke’s delay could mean that the damage of sector management and catch share contractions may be causing irreversible damage to the local fishing economy.
Patrick pointed out how many public officials are frustrated with Locke and are making appeals to him. The imposition of the cooperative-style sector management system along with sharply reduced catch limits began to clamp down on the local fishing industry when they were implemented May 1. Since then, New Bedford and Gloucester filed suit in federal district court contending that sector management was illegally imposed under the Magnuson-Stevens Act and that catch limits are needlessly excessive.
