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Feature Articles
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MA organizes new Marine Fisheries Institute
to promote economic development
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This article is reprinted with permission of Commercial Fisheries News, the Northeast's fishing newspaper for over 30 years, ©2003 Compass Publications Inc. Commercial Fisheries News is published monthly; annual subscriptions are $21.95. To subscribe or request a sample issue: call (877) 263-4496; fax (207) 367-2490; e-mail (cfoster@fish-news.com); or click on the hot link.
by Lorelei Stevens
BOSTON, MA - Massachusetts fishermen may be about to get a new ally in their endless struggle to preserve their industry.
Plans are currently being finalized to bring together the state's top fisheries research, management, and promotional bodies to create the Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Institute, which will have "economic development" as one of its chief missions.
According to Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) Director Paul Diodati, the institute will be made up of DMF, the Massachusetts Fisheries Recovery Commission currently headed by Vito Calomo of Gloucester, and all campuses of the University of Massachusetts through the intercampus graduate School of Marine Science and Technology (SMAST).
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DMF Director Paul Diodati describes the economic impetus to create the Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Institute.
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SMAST has worked closely with the scallop industry in recent years in collaboration with the Fisheries Survival Fund.
SMAST Director Brian Rothschild and scientist Kevin Stokesbury were instrumental in gathering scientific information that convinced federal managers to give scallopers controlled access to closed areas.
Over the last few years, that access has helped fuel the rebirth of the industry in New Bedford and helped it achieve the ranking of top-value port in the nation for 2000.
Diodati said the plan is to headquarter the Marine Fisheries Institute in New Bedford at SMAST and to relocate DMF's Cape Cod staff there.
The centralized location will allow state scientists and conservation gear engineers to collaborate with SMAST fisheries scientists, professors, and graduate students.
The institute will serve all marine fisheries-related industries, including commercial and recreational fishing, restaurants, and tourism.
Focus
While ensuring responsible, sustainable resource management will always be a fundamental part of the institute's work, Diodati emphasized that an equally important goal will be to recognize and enhance the value of the commonwealth's fisheries resources and industries.
"We all do resource protection, but that can't be our only focus," he explained. "We can't forsake the value these resources have to offer. Economic development is a focus of the current administration (of Acting Gov. Jane Swift) and of my personal agenda. The events of Sept. 11 have crystallized for all of us how important our economy is and should be to everyone in the country."
Diodati is convinced that the new partnerships that will be forged through the institute will help the state find ways to break free of the fishery management complexities that mire progress.
"We need a new type of management approach," he said. "We need to think out of the box, to listen to different ways to manage fisheries."
He also warned that the state needs to effectively weigh in on marine protected area proposals and efforts to amend the federal Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.
"We cannot afford to hog-tie our fisheries managers and prevent them from being innovative and building business, which is the fabric of this nation," Diodati said. "Sometimes we get so distracted by laws and guidelines that we overlook the fact that we should be getting benefits out of our resources."
Other central missions of the institute will be fishing gear design and modification through conservation gear engineering programs and oceanography.
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