Cod war returns to Middle Bank – The Big Boys are Pounding the SNOT Out of it. ABOLISH CATCH SHARE RIGHT F* CKING NOW!

A large number of big commercial trawlers — 70 feet or more in length — from Gloucester and Boston have been drawn this week to the nearby inshore grounds of Middle Bank in pursuit of the season’s first pulse of cod, combing areas that are the usual domain of smaller, independent day boats from multiple ports, several sources told the Times Wednesday…….But since the advent in May 2010 of catch share fishing, predicated on the trading of allocated fishing rights between gear types and boat sizes — allowed to members of sectors or fishing cooperatives — the taking of inshore cod by offshore boats has been a persistent theme and complaint by dayboat fishermen that the only available source of their harvest and income has been subject to plunder by boats of a much larger scale…….A critical element in the pulse fishing for cod on Stellwagen was the elimination of daily catch limits for boats which entered sectors; these boats were given allocations and encouraged to catch as much as they were allowed at any time. The efficiency of the new system was one of its prime selling points.http://www.gloucestertimes.com/topstories/x674144460/Cod-war-returns-to-Middle-Bank

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