Category Archives: Letter to the Editor
Letter: Time for some fishing ‘civil disobedience’ – Stuart Diamond, Rockport, Ma (thank you, Stuart)
Here is a quote from Thoreau’s essay called “Civil Disobedience” which was originally titled “Resistance to Civil Government”: From the letter – The Gloucester fishermen are being tyrannized by John Bullard and the NOAA, robbed of their noble vocation by a bunch of bureaucratic bandicoots and losing their boats, homes and dignity as hard-working Americans. more@GDT 08:06
Letter to the editor: Fisherman’s letters deserve answers – Sam Parisi, Gloucester
I believe that fisherman Paul Cohan is right on target every time I read something he has written in the Times (Letters, “Fishery time lines a recipe for failure,” Wednesday, Sept. 11). He makes a lot of sense. However, it’s too bad that he — or we — can’t make NOAA listen to our pleas. And, I think, since they are paid from our tax money and have a job, why should they care about our fishermen? more@GDT 22:04
Letter: Competing with NOAA’s smoke and mirrors – Paul Cohan, Captain, F/V Sasquatch, Gloucester
Time and NOAA have much in common. You can’t speed either of them up, nor slow them down, and stopping either of them is right out of the question. Time is NOAA’s strongest ally, and the fishermen’s greatest enemy. Similar to the waning moments of a one-sided football game,,, more@GDT 07:22
Letter: A parable and NOAA fishery disputes – Stuart Diamond, Rockport, Ma
To the editor: Lifting DPA no answer for waterfront, fishermen – Charlee Bianchini, Gloucester
When doing research for my undergraduate thesis in American Studies, I came across a theory that stated that, without Gloucester’s fishing industry, the Plimoth (Plymouth) Plantation could not have survived. And without Plimoth’s spirituality and hope for a better future in the new world, Gloucester could not have survived. Hence, without the two together, we would not be here today. Maybe it’s a little much to say that all of America is founded on these two communities, but I find it intriguing to think about. Without Gloucester and its fishermen, there would be no United States of America. more@GDT 08:27
Gloucester Daily Times Letter: Fishery time lines a recipe for failure – Captain Paul Cohan, F/V Sasquatch, Gloucester Ma.
The Magnuson Stevens Act, as it’s currently written and interpreted by NOAA, is a lot like watching a puppy dog trying to catch his docked tail. Although amusing to watch, the impossibility of the task makes it somewhat sad and ultimately pointless. Now, if the dog’s tail had not been lopped off and was still as nature intended, the poor pup could eventually catch it. Similarly, If Magnusson had sufficient flexibility in rebuilding time-frames, and the language that requires that all stocks be concurrently rebuilt to historic highs eliminated, we might stand a chance of catching our own tails, which we’ve been fruitlessly chasing around the ocean for 37 years. more@GDT 00:55
Letter: Report shows flaws in NOAA, Pew stands by Carmine Gorga, Gloucester, Ma
I have heard it so many times, that I call it the Pew Mantra. What is the evidence that organization’s environmentalists offer to prove that family fishing vessels engage in overfishing? What are the “facts” on which they build their case? Well, this is what they tell us: At each passing, bottom trawlers scrape the floor of the ocean and, just like clear-cutting forests, make a desert out of it. Sounds so convincing doesn’t it? more@GDT 04:23
Letter: The Designated Port Area (DPA), Cape Pond Ice and NOAA – Carmine Gorga, Gloucester, Ma.
I could never be a bureaucrat. If I were one such policy maker, I would know for sure the damage my decision would bring upon Scott Memhard and the Cape Pond Ice Company. Because of the decisions of other bureaucrats at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, fishermen can no longer go to fish as they once did. And the destruction of those jobs at sea is creating havoc on land. more@GDT 06:34
Letter: Cape Pond Ice deserves city’s, state’s help
I would like to go on record to support Scott Memhard’s request to have Cape Pond Ice taken out of the state’s Designated Port Area……The reason is that our fishing industry has hit rock bottom. If you think Scott has problems, look at the boat owners, fish processors, fuel dealers and others. SAM PARISI Commercial Street, Gloucester more@GDT 03:59
Letter: Time for fishermen to stand united – Sam Frontiero, Gloucester, Ma
It saddens me and makes me angry after reading the quotes from Joe Orlando and Christine Sherman in the Times (Page 1, Wednesday, July 31). I have sent numerous letters to Obama and even his wife. Who knows if they even see them. But Michelle sent back totallly disregarding what I wrote, sending a generic response and a website to see all the good their administration has done. I thought he would make a change and to listen to him talk about jobs, makes me puke. And I voted for him. continued@GDT
SitNews – Viewpoints: Letters / Opinions Misinformation about halibut catch sharing plan by Tom Gemmell
There has been a lot of misinformation going around about the halibut catch sharing plan (CSP). In an effort to correct this the Halibut Coalition prepared a commentary on Mr Medred’s article in the Alaska Dispatch published on July 20 and other online publications. continued@sitnews
Letter: Budget bill the right way to get at NOAA – Paul Cohan, Captain, F/V Sasquatch, Gloucester
I am writing regarding the Senate Appropriations bill on fisheries. Obesity in government is truly an epidemic and NOAA is the posterboy — overstaffed, overpaid, and underworked, a recipe for systemic, catastrophic failure. continued@GDT
Letter: Searching for an explanation on fishing woes – Pew Charitable Trusts, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization” doesn’t have the answer
Question: Where have all the fish gone? Overfishing? Doubtful. Consider that NMFS has levied quotas, closures, species limitations, increases in net sizes, tracking programs on fishermen, etc. for several years; couple that with the fact that the fleet has been, continued@salemnews
Letter: Pew’s ‘overfishing’ mantra doesn’t make it true. Why does he do that? – Carmine Gorga, Gloucester, Ma
Dr. John Crawford (Letters, the Times, Friday, June 20) seems to have a short memory; and he is banking on other people having an equally short memory as well. continued@gloucesterdailytimes
Fish and Future, by Carmine Gorga Read it here
Letter: Fight further takeover of our fishing grounds – Jim Tarantino Gloucester, Ma.
It’s pretty simple: The Gloucester fisherman are being moved off the fishing grounds because there are more profitable harvests from the ocean. The big corporations own everything: our farmland, our government, the media, and now they’re taking the planet’s biggest asset — the ocean. The Northeast Regional Ocean Council (NROC) recently held a poorly advertised public forum (there wasn’t one Gloucester fisherman there!) to seek public comment on ocean planning. continued@gloucesterdailytimes
The outdated 1972 federal law protecting the seals has worked well — too well, in fact. Time to stop tagging and start bagging seals – Chris Yerkes, Brewster
Letter: Richard Gaines, a true journalism original Mark Leibovich – Washington, D.C. Chief national correspondent, New York Times Magazine
Richard Gaines gave me my first job in journalism.
I was right out of college, and he was looking for an assistant. He was nice enough to meet with me, and then take a flier on a 23-year-old kid with not a day of journalism experience.
I loved reading The Phoenix back then. I was a fledgling political junkie, and the Phoenix was all over politics — none more so than its legendary editor, Richard Gaines, continued@gloucesterdailytimes
To the Editor: Gomez will fight for fishermen – Joseph M. Orlando, Esq. Gloucester
It is ironic that as Gloucester prepares to celebrate St. Peter’s Fiesta, a four-day celebration of the patron saint of fishermen, we face an election that has a direct bearing on whether Gloucester will continue to have a fishing fleet at all. continued@gloucestrdailytimes
Letter: The science of sound fishing, according to Pew – Dr. John Crawford, Officer, U.S. Oceans, Northeast, The Pew Charitable Trusts, Boston
Mmy my my! Such a fancy title, Doctor! I’m thoroughly impressed!) The Gloucester Daily Times’ June 13 editorial, “State budget steps are vital toward credible fish science,” implied that I have had preferential input into the assessments of fish stocks health conducted by scientists. continued@ gloucesterdailytimes
Editor: RTI dumping can’t be ignored. R. Burkosky – CFV BC MAID ll
As an elected representative for the commercial gillnet fishing fleet, I want to caution the public not to accept an Environment Canada whitewash of this obviously serious situation. continued@bclocal
Letter: Why can’t they just let us fish? – Dave Walker, Dartmouth Ma.
I have posed this question to many people and in The Standard-Times: After having fished the waters of the Atlantic for hundreds of years, can someone tell us the last time we ran out of a fish? Any fish? They’ve obviously been doing fine reproductive-wise for all these years, so why the sudden interest by the ocean’s version of tree-huggers? continued@southcoasttoday
Letter to the Editor: The people at NOAA have jobs, and their jobs are to get rid of ours – Captain/ Owner Paul J. Halloran Gloucester Ma.
NOAA puts out a 400 word-message which it proclaims marks significant progress “to end overfishing and rebuild fish stocks.” How dare they think we are all that stupid! In the last five years, NOAA’s goal has been to end fishing as we have known it for free American people. continued at gloucestertimes.com
Your View: A landlubber’s thoughts on helping the fisherman – Thomas A. Kennedy New Bedford, Ma
The inherent flaws of the Magneson-Stevens Act, exploited by our government’s administrative agency at the urging of various environmental groups, have destroyed certain liberties of our fishermen guaranteed by the Treaty of Ghent. In some type of Herrenvolk Democracy (where people are able to dominate others), the decisions by the administrative agency over the last decade have wreaked havoc on our fishermen, their families and the industry as a whole. continued
Letter to the Editor: Mayor wrong to throw NOAA a ‘white flag’ – Paul Cohan, Captain, F/V Sasquatch, Gloucester
I am writing in response to the story regarding Mayor Kirk and her planning for “transition” on Gloucester’s waterfront (the Times, Page 1, Monday, May 20). One thing I’ve noted over the years is that “nicey nice” doesn’t work with the National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA, the Department of Commerce, or any other federal agency. In D.C., it seems, diplomacy is seen as weakness and something to be exported overseas (where it clearly doesn’t work either). Domestically, it’s gloves off, bare knuckled, all out, do or die persistence that carries the day. continued
Letter to the Editor: Bullard’s spin on fishery doesn’t hold water – Sam Frontiero, Gloucester Ma.
After reading his letter, and following his actions, it shows just how destructive the views of NOAA Northeast Administrator John Bullard are. Throughout history, people leave their legacies, and his, I believe, will be as the tyrant that took down the fishing industry which has been around since the beginning of time. His orders on catch limits are taking down all related jobs and crippled so many families — all because of his so-called power. continued Bullard’s letter
Compass: Protect Bristol Bay and Bering Sea fisheries for keeps – Karen Gillis, Executive Director for Bering Sea Fishermen’s Association
adn.com – The question of offshore oil and gas development has hung over Bristol Bay and the southeast Bering Sea for 35 years. Lease sales have been scheduled, fought, sold and repurchased only to be scheduled again once temporary moratoriums expired or were lifted. Enough already. Sustainable fisheries and a healthy ecosystem have been economic engines for Southwest Alaska for more than 125 years and the foundation of traditional ways of life there for close to 10,000 years. These world-renowned fisheries deserve to be safeguarded in perpetuity, and the people who depend on them for their livelihoods deserve some certainty. continued
Letter: NOAA supports, relies on SMAST fisheries work – William A. Karp, Ph.D. Science and Research Director, U.S. Department of Commerce/NOAA
May 12, 2013 12:00 AM – I am writing in response to Steve Urbon’s May 3 article (“Watch out, NOAA — SMAST is innovating again”) regarding recent research led by Dr. Kevin Stokesbury and his colleagues at the UMass School of Marine Science and Technology using video to count fish in a trawl net. continued
Letter to the Editor: This is an open letter to NOAA regional administrator John Bullard. Dear John, I’m leaving you. You’ve lost me. Paul Cohan, Captain, F/V Sasquatch Gloucester
This is an open letter to NOAA regional administrator John Bullard.
Dear John, I’m leaving you. You’ve lost me. You’ve tripped yourself up in your misinformation too many times.
The honeymoon is over. It’s all over. My heart is broken. And I’m angry. Do you actually expect anyone to believe this gurry barge you just attempted to foist upon the public as truth? This is Gloucester. We still hear the shrill echos of your elitist “nobody is guaranteed a job for life” — unless you’re “the Shredder” and his enforcement gang. Then your callous “day of reckoning” comment! Bet you wish you could take that one back! continued
Letter to the Editor: VIMS, VMRC caving to commercial interests – Dr. John B. Lapetina Sr., Port Haywood, Va.
Editor, Gazette-Journal: It is with great anguish that I write this letter. It is a letter that I feel in my heart I must write. The Chesapeake Bay is a great national treasure. It was named Chesapeake by the Indians, and it meant “Waters of Many Fish and Shellfish.” My generation and the next generation have just about over-harvested the bay until it is on the edge of its demise. continued
Your View: SMAST owes answers to the industry – Attorney Harvey B. Mickelson, general counsel to the American Scallop Association
Regarding your editorial of Feb. 13, “Our View: SMAST poised to bring valuable change,” which began: “One element that will be absolutely necessary on the path to sustainable fisheries is trust, and one that must be absolutely avoided is that one group or person can supply the solution.” I absolutely agree, but what was not defined was — under the current UMass Dartmouth and SMAST leadership — how the seafood industry or anyone else can trust a person or entity that for months has been secretive in its future plans for the fishing industry or in describing any agreements it has negotiated with NOAA, which supposedly sets the tone for SMAST and federal back-scratching for the future. continued
Letter to the Editor: Fishermen deserve the chance to earn a living – Rick Beal, Gloucester Ma.
I’m writing because I’m tired of the misinformation I hear and read in coffee shops, on websites and in newspapers. Even our local newspaper had an online ad from the PEW Foundation saying we destroy the ocean floor. Most but not all
that is false. The vast majority of the ocean bottom we fish is sand and mud and while it is true that our nets disturb this bottom, it is also true that currents erase our footprint. continued
