| Herring Alliance Releases "Out of Balance," a New Report on the Herring Fishery |
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The Report outlines problems, proposes solutions, and is meant to inform the public's participation in the Scoping process for changes to Herring management, currently underway and closing June 30th
This new report by the Herring Alliance, entitled “Out of Balance: Industrial Fishing and the Threat to Our Ocean,” exposes a threat to New England's coastal waters that has gone largely unnoticed in recent decades: the mismanagement of the commercial Atlantic herring industry. The report details the pivotal role Atlantic herring play in the region’s ecosystem and economy, and charts the growth of the industrial-scale herring fleet that jeopardizes the health of this key resource. The release of the report comes at a critical time, because the New England Fishery Management Council has responded to more than 10,000 public comments calling for badly-needed reforms to this fishery and begun work on a suite of changes called Amendment 4 to the Herring Fishery Management Plan. The first step is the solicitation of public input on what changes to make, and this report is meant to educate and empower the public to participate in this input period, which runs through June 30, 2008. More information about the scoping process can be found at http://www.herringalliance.org/content/view/57/53/ and http://www.nefmc.org/herring/index.html
The release of the report was announced at a press conference in Portland, Maine on the eve of the second public hearing for Amendment 4 Scoping.
A copy of "Out of Balance" can be downloaded by clicking on the following link:
Readers interested in further research or accessing the source documents referenced in the report can download a fully cited version of "Out of Balance" in electronic form through the following link:
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Download the press release