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New England's groundfish fishery has driven the region's economy and culture for centuries. But today it is in serious trouble. Decades of overfishing and mismanagement have led to severe declines in fish populations, continued restrictions on fishing effort, decreases in revenue, and the loss of our traditional fishing fleet.

With the support of forward-thinking commercial fishing organizations, the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) is developing a new approach called sectors to replace the current failed fishery management system. Sectors are community-based, fishermen run co-ops. Sectors follow three simple guidelines:

• They implement science-based catch limits to promote rebuilding of fish populations and prevent overfishing;
  
  
• They incorporate monitoring so fishermen and regulators know exactly how much is being caught so that fishing stops once catch limits have been reached; and
  
  
• They are allocated their own share of the annual catch limit; while respecting catch limits, sectors provide fishermen with the flexibility to set their own fishing guidelines so they can run their businesses more efficiently and profitably.

On June 23-25, federal fisheries managers will vote on adopting sector management and annual catch limits for the groundfish fishery.

We need your help to make sure the National Marine Fisheries Service and NEFMC knows that the public supports sector management and annual catch limits that hold all fishermen accountable for their catch.