By JACK STEWARDSON, Standard-Times staff writer
Congressman Barney Frank
yesterday issued a challenge to the conservation lobby to join in seeking a
delay in developing new fishing regulations until the impact of flawed
scientific surveys have been fully gauged. "This is a test of their
integrity," said the Massachusetts Democrat, who called on the conservation
lobby to join with the industry in petitioning a U.S. District Court judge for a
temporary moratorium on the so-called Amendment 13 groundfish plan. The reliability of
government research data was called into question last month when the National
Marine Fisheries Service discovered the fish net aboard the government research
vessel Albatross IV was improperly rigged since the winter of 2000 and may have
affected its ability to catch fish during eight stock surveys. The net's trawl warps,
the wire lines used to deploy the fishing net, were uneven and allowed the
fishing net to fish out of alignment. The problems have called
into question data being used to develop a court-mandated amendment to the
region's groundfish plan that could force fishing vessels to cut their amount of
fishing time by one-half beginning next August. A coalition of
conservation interests originally brought the suit against the NMFS and New
England Fishery Management Council, winning a judgment that existing fishing
regulations were not meeting mandated rebuilding schedules. Rep. Frank said it was
also crucial that fisheries regulations be based on data everyone has confidence
in. "No laws can
be enforced if the people who are supposed to obey them don't believe they are
fair." Rep.
Frank was honored by Maritime International Inc. yesterday with its annual
Public Service Award for outstanding contribution to the community for his work
on behalf of the fishing industry. The chosen recipients are
nominated by Maritime International employees and are normally presented with a
check that is donated to a charity or group which the recipient supports.
Congressman
Frank, however, asked that the $10,500 given out this year be distributed to
charities or other organizations selected by employees. During the presentation
during a luncheon at Wamsutta Club, David Wechsler, president of Maritime
International, noted the public service award was one way for the company to
give back something to the community. Recipients of $1,500
checks were the Massachusetts Lions Eye Research Foundation, the Market
Ministries Shelter, SouthCoast Hospice Care, Habitat for Cats, My Father's
House, the National Fisheries Institutes Fisheries Scholarship Fund, and the
UMass Dartmouth graduate School of Marine Science and Technology.
This story appeared on Page A4 of The Standard-Times on October 24, 2002.