Greetings,

Thanks to all of you who signed our petition to protect sensitive groundfish nursery areas from midwater trawlers. Significant progress was made when the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) voted to require all midwater trawlers to carry federal observers and prohibit the dumping of catch when accessing Closed Area I. The next step is for National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Regional Administrator, Patricia Kurkul, to pass the motion as a regulation.

Help us keep the momentum going by asking NMFS to turn the Council's recommendation into law.

Also, as promised, we have more details on Pew Environment Group's new effort to transform management of the groundfish fishery, which targets cod, haddock, flounders, and end overfishing in New England. As you may know, this fishery has driven New England'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 NEFMC is developing a new approach called sectors to replace the current failed fishery management system. Sectors are community-based, fishermen-run co-ops that 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.

We need your help to make sure the NMFS and NEFMC know that the public supports sector management and annual catch limits that hold all fishermen accountable for their catch.

The comment period for this amendment closes on Monday, June 8th. Please act soon to ensure that your voice is heard!

Thank you for your help.

Peter Baker, Herring Alliance

Subject: DEIS for Amendment 16 to the Northeast Multispecies FMP and turn NEFMC recommendation for 100% monit

Dear Regional Administrator Patricia Kurkul,

Groundfishermen and our shared groundfish resource deserve every protection they can get at this critical time. I urge you to quickly and completely implement the Council's requested action regarding Closed Area I. Specifically, please explicitly prohibit all herring vessels, including both vessels in a pair trawl team, from entering Closed Area I without a federal observer on board. And please explicitly prohibit any dumping of unsampled catch.

In addition, as we transition the region's groundfishery to sector-based management, I ask that you and your agency require all fishermen (not just sector participants) to follow science-based, annual catch limits and accountability measures. This will ensure that once a catch limit for a species is reached, fishing stops.

You and the Council have worked tirelessly to develop effective sector management in the New England groundfish fishery. I hope you will protect the investments of sector members and strengthen their ability to work together by ensuring all groundfish vessels are bound by a hard, annual catch limit by 2010.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]