Tag Archives: Regional Administrator John Bullard

Our view: Finding common ground on monitors

manatthewheelIt takes a lot to bring Democrats and Republicans together on any issue in these days of heightened, highly partisan politics. It seems, however, that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has done the trick. Sixth District U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton and 16 of his fellow New England congressmen — 12 Democrats, four Republicans and an independent — united last week to call on the agency to delay or call off its plans to force fishing vessel permit holders to pay to have someone looking over their shoulder as they work. Read the op-ed here 08:00

New England Regional Fisheries Council can’t agree on plan to help cod

NEFMC SidebarNOAA Fisheries  has the Gulf of Maine cod crisis all to himself after the New England Regional Fisheries Council found no consensus and simply voted to ask him to just do something. The proposal drew heaps of derision, as did NOAA fisheries’ methods, which were variously described as rushed, secretive and riddled with assumptions, the main one being the expectation that cod mortality would be cut in half in two years. Read the rest here 08:52

Recreational Fishermen Hire Earthjustice to Sue National Marine Fisheries Service to Protect River Herring and Shad from Industrial Trawlers

 Recreational fishing groups have filed a lawsuit in the D.C. District Court challenging a decision by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to terminate a plan to protect river herring and shad in the Atlantic Ocean. more@enewspf 10:33

NOAA Responds to Massachusetts legislators on cod, haddock, and yellowtail flounder: the answer is still no

Many legal observers, Members of Congress and elected officials disagree with that interpretation. Saving Seafood requested the legal opinion of the General Counsel under the Freedom of Information Act. The Department found 2logo9 pages of written material constituting the advice, but refused to release any of them under 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(5), which exempts from disclosure inter-agency or intra-agency memorandums or letters that would not be available by law to a party other than an agency in litigation with the agency. Saving Seafood continues to ask the agency to explain their legal rationale in the face of such widespread disagreement from numerous legislators and lawyers with qualifications to comment. continued