NOAA’s new limits issued recently on New England fishermen are expected to cut the region’s fishing revenue by $17.4 million. It is told that the decision was nothing but a compromise that took into account the ongoing economic crisis. It is informed that NOAA had first proposed rules that would have meant a 20 percent cut in revenue, but lowered it to a 9 percent reduction.
Jane Lubchenco, new NOAA chief, opined that the hope was to ease the financial burden on fishermen while allowing fishery officials to focus on restructuring by next year the way many fishermen work. Jim Odlin, a member of the New England Fishery Management Council who fished for 25 years, is of view that it is a good compromise and she listened to fishermen to do something a little less Draconian.
Many environmentalists applauded the new rules, which will include a reduction in the number of days fishermen can fish by around 18 percent, and place tighter restrictions on keeping Southern New England winter flounder, and Northern windowpane flounder and ocean pout. It is obvious that decision would particularly affects the fishermen in southern New England because they will lose two allocated fishing days for every day they fish in an expanded area below Cape Cod.
Apart from this there was good news as NOAA fisheries will allow fishermen to go after healthy haddock populations more aggressively, lengthening the haddock fishing season from three to nine months in one area and allowing fishermen to catch smaller fish. Still, Lubchenco said the cuts would be painful, and NOAA officials are now examining their budget for ways to help fishermen financially.
The New England Fishery Management Council, which helps set fishing rules in the region, is working on a new way of managing fisheries by giving groups of fishermen a yearly fishing quota, but allowing them to figure out among themselves how much they each catch.
