Patrick asks Obama to intervene in fishing regulations dispute
NEW BEDFORD — Citing his “extraordinary frustration” in dealing with the U.S. Commerce Department, Gov. Deval Patrick has appealed to President Barack Obama to intervene in the dispute over fishing regulations in the Northeast.
After listing all of the ways in which he and others have been rebuffed by fisheries regulators, Patrick asks Obama in a three-page letter to “set your Department of Commerce and its agencies on a course of cooperation and consideration with regard to the fishing industry in Massachusetts and the coastal communities that depend on it for sustenance and identity.”
The letter comes in the wake of sweeping refusals by Commerce Secretary Gary Locke to do anything to change the system of sector management and the level of catch shares imposed on the fishing industry last year.
Despite lawsuits and intense political pressure from a bipartisan group of lawmakers mainly from the Northeastern states, nothing has changed with regard to the regulations and limits on fishing.
Patrick wrote, “Our fishing communities face severe challenges, and are currently suffering great hardship, as a result of well-intended but often ill-conceived and poorly executed efforts by federal regulators to constrain the fishing harvest and rebuild our fish stocks.”
“The small fisherman is in danger of disappearing altogether, and with him would go a way of life,” he wrote.
Patrick wrote that fishing interests have found the government agencies involved “unwilling to partner with us to find creative solutions that can balance the need for a vibrant fishing community with maintaining a sustainable fishery.”
“Government’s role as a regulator of our vital fisheries resources depends on fundamental trust between regulators and fishermen,” he wrote. “Commerce’s intransigence and disrespect toward the working men and women who harvest our seafood, and their representatives in elected office, imperils that fundamental relationship.”
Patrick was the recipient of a letter from Locke rejecting every request for increased catch limits and for financial assistance, and for more cases of possible law enforcement abuses to be reviewed.
Patrick, U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., and others had been led to believe that Locke was on the verge of using his authority to issue emergency orders to allow fishermen enough quota to continue fishing. But Locke instead backed away, which angered Frank, who publicly announced that his cooperation with the White House on many issues is suffering because of Locke’s decisions.Read More ...
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