The New England Marine Fishery Management Council will be holding a two-day workshop in a couple of weeks on the highly controversial new regulatory regime for commercial fishing.
Good luck to the parties most affected in finding a seat.
It will be open to the public — sort of. There will even be a public comment period. But, according to the council, it is "not intended for the public."
Indeed, the council seems to be doing what it can to make a public meeting as non-public as possible, by making it difficult for those affected by "catch shares," the new method of privatizing fish stocks and granting harvesting rights, to attend.
The workshop is nowhere near any fishing port. It is being held at the expensive Mount Washington Resort in Bretton Woods, N.H., where rooms are twice the price of business-class hotels. There will be only 30 available seats each day. And the public comment period "will be limited," according to an e-mail from the council.
This, according to Patricia Fiorello, spokeswoman for the council, is because the workshop was organized not primarily for the public or those in the industry, but to help the council, which is the federal legislative body for the region's fisheries, to get a better understanding of catch shares.
This is astounding. There have been two years of bitter debate about catch shares, which common sense would suggest is more than enough time for council members to gain an intimate understanding of the system. Where have they been for the past two years?
Beyond all this is the overwhelming aroma of a one-sided agenda, controlled by the Pew Environmental Group. The featured speaker is Monica Medina, who is being paid more than $100,000 a year to direct a Catch Share Task Force. She was chief counsel for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under President Clinton, and then during the Bush presidency worked for the Pew Environmental Group.
She was on the search committee that nominated Jane Lubchenco, also with Pew connections, to become the new head of NOAA.
Also, the Environmental Defense Fund is an indirect sponsor of the event.
In short, this sounds more like an indoctrination session than a workshop to understand catch shares.
It should not be just fishermen who are protesting this one-sided grab for control of an industry. It should be the elected leaders of the New England states.
Sen. John Kerry and Congressman John Tierney have declared their support for the fishing industry many times. Now is the time for them to back up their talk with some action.
