The Lobster Management Board of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has delayed until August taking the next step toward reducing the commercial lobster harvest in southern New England.
The delay, the result of a 6-4 vote by the panel at a meeting Monday, is good news for lobstermen from Connecticut, Long Island and Rhode Island who are opposed to further restrictions on the fishery. The Connecticut Seafood Council this week issued a news release expressing gratitude to U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy for urging Connecticut's three-member delegation to the board to oppose the restrictions.
The board's agenda Monday included consideration of new rules to cut the harvest south of Cape Cod by up to half or more and shorten the season for the now year-round fishery, to help rebuild depleted lobster populations. Barbara Gordon, executive director of the seafood council, said in a news release that the proposal would have put Connecticut's lobstermen out of business.
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