Fisheries agency to eliminate scallop penalties

BOSTON – Federal fisheries officials will quickly eliminate penalties for violating rules criticized after last month’s loss of five fishermen in a storm, the head of the National Marine Fisheries Service said.

William Hogarth met Tuesday at his agency’s Silver Springs, Md., headquarters with New Bedford Mayor Frederick Kalisz Jr. and aides to U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy and U.S. Rep. Barney Frank.

“We will address this pretty quickly, and we will have an emergency rule that may take us several weeks to get done,” Hogarth told The Associated Press in a phone interview after Tuesday’s meeting. “We do think that we can work together to get something done on safe harbor provisions.”

Kalisz is among public officials urging changes to regulations that they say put scallop boat crews under financial pressure to stay out in dangerous weather rather than return to port. Kennedy and Frank both urged a review of the rules in remarks Sunday at a memorial service for crew members of the Northern Edge.

Kalisz called Tuesday’s meeting “a breakthrough in efforts to bring common sense to nationally imposed fishing regulations.”

The elected officials and Hogarth discussed allowing boat captains greater freedom to temporarily suspend trips in adverse weather without being penalized with reduced future fishing catches.

Hogarth said he was uncertain whether the penalties could be eliminated before the Jan. 31 end of New England’s current commercial scalloping season. The coming season starts in June.

The emergency rule changes are expected to be written by the New England Fishery Management Council – which includes federal regulators, industry members and environmentalists – before review and adoption by Hogarth’s agency. Hogarth also agreed to visit New Bedford, the Northern Edge’s home port and a major fisheries hub, to discuss regulatory issues sometime later this month in a public forum.