FAIRHAVEN — Maybe it has been many months in the making, but federal fisheries regulators were called upon Tuesday to scrap a complex new scallop regulation scheme, start over, and try to repair the badly broken trust between the regulators and the regulated.
A trio of representatives from the New England Fishery Management Council presided over a hearing at the Seaport Inn that drew a crowd of about 150, but after a routine introduction, the tone turned hostile.
After state Rep. William Straus, D-Mattapoisett, politely broached the possibility of a "doing nothing" option rather than pursing a system that would "pick winners and losers" without doing anything for the fishery, New Bedford Mayor Scott W. Lang took off the gloves.
"I think we need to throw out the baby with the bathwater, and along with that the washcloth, the soap and the rubber ducky," he said to the three representatives of the council.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: The Standard Times (New Bedford, MA).