Group Ends Rule Keeping Fishermen at Sea Group Ends Rule Keeping Fishermen at Sea
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. – More than a month after five Massachusetts fishermen were lost at sea, fisheries regulators voted Tuesday to end a rule that critics said pressured boat crews to stay out in bad weather.
The New England Fishery Management Council decided to scuttle a rule that penalized scallopers through reduced future catch allotments if they returned early from a fishing trip because of bad weather or other problems.
The rule change must still go through a public comment period and a review by regulators at the National Marine Fisheries Service before it is officially adopted.
Scallop dredging is tightly regulated in the lucrative fishing zone about 45 miles southeast of Nantucket.
The federal rules were criticized after the boat Northern Edge went down in turbulent waters Dec. 20, killing five of the six fishermen aboard. It was the worst loss of life aboard a single vessel at sea in New England since six crew members died in the “Perfect Storm” of 1991.
Coast Guard Capt. Mary Landry said there was no evidence the sinking of the Northern Edge was related to the rule.
“It was typical winter weather,” she said.
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. – More than a month after five Massachusetts fishermen were lost at sea, fisheries regulators voted Tuesday to end a rule that critics said pressured boat crews to stay out in bad weather.
The New England Fishery Management Council decided to scuttle a rule that penalized scallopers through reduced future catch allotments if they returned early from a fishing trip because of bad weather or other problems.
The rule change must still go through a public comment period and a review by regulators at the National Marine Fisheries Service before it is officially adopted.
Scallop dredging is tightly regulated in the lucrative fishing zone about 45 miles southeast of Nantucket.
The federal rules were criticized after the boat Northern Edge went down in turbulent waters Dec. 20, killing five of the six fishermen aboard. It was the worst loss of life aboard a single vessel at sea in New England since six crew members died in the “Perfect Storm” of 1991.
Coast Guard Capt. Mary Landry said there was no evidence the sinking of the Northern Edge was related to the rule.
“It was typical winter weather,” she said.
