It has been pointed in daily times that the effort comes a little late, given that half the fleet has opted out of the program. The New England Fishery Management Council has decided to implement a catch share system in the groundfish fishery through a special workshop.
It is said that the council cannot be faulted for its effort. It’s doing what it’s been doing for the last 15 years, which is trying to establish a groundfish fishery in New England that somehow works. New leadership at NOAA has made this tall order taller and the regional councils were created to empower stakeholders in fishery management. Jane Lubchenco, the agency’s director under President Obama, clearly is determined to impose her vision of fishery management regardless of what stakeholders think.
New England fishermen are feeling especially powerless now, and a council retreat featuring a highly paid catch share advocate formerly employed by the Pew Environment Group, who also was a member of the panel that recommended Lubchenco for her job, is a political misstep, however well intended. If the expert, Monica Medina, has got all the answers, why not bring her down along the shore somewhere and let everybody hear them?
