Gov. Deval Patrick Friday nominated six Massachusetts participants in the New England fishing industry for four seats opening on the federal regional fishery management council, a body that has made itself a lightning rod by converting the fishery into a seafood commodities market.
Gloucester, the nation's 10th and the state's second biggest fishing port based on landings value, was without a candidate and will again be unrepresented on the New England Fishery Management Council. The last Gloucester commercial fisherman on the council, Vito Calomo, left the panel nine years ago.
On Patrick's behalf, Lt. Gov. Tim Murray announced the nominations. They feature the recommendation of another representative of the Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen's Association to replace the association's CEO, John Pappalardo, who was chairman of the council during development of region's first catch share system.
Tom Dempsey, nominated as the governor's first choice of three for Pappalardo's seat on the council, is policy director of the hook fishermen's group and assistant director of the Cape Cod Fisheries Trust.
The trust is a commodity market division of the association, which has received about $4 million from philanthropies to advance the catch share agenda written largely by the Environmental Defense Fund.
The fund advises the trust about investments in catch shares and permits.
The New England council has 18 voting members, including representatives of the five coastal New England state governments and at least one private citizen of each state.
Since the beginning of the Obama administration — and installation of Jane Lubchenco at the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — the appointment process has been characterized by purges of council members across the nation who are not fully committed to the catch share program.
Each of the coastal states submit nomination lists to the Commerce Secretary, currently Gary Locke, who has stood by Lubchenco's moves. With Locke's designation this week for nomination as ambassador to China, however, the line of command for the council selections becomes uncertain.
Selections must be made before August, when terms expire. No interviews were conducted for the selection of nominees.
In nominating his choices, Patrick made three weighted recommendations for each of the four seats whose terms are expiring. Only Pappalardo has served the maximum three, three-year terms, so must be replaced.
For his seat, Patrick nominated in order of preference: Dempsey; Stephen P. Welch, a commercial fisherman from the South Shore who lands in Gloucester and New Bedford; and James J. Fair Jr., an incumbent council member finishing up his term.
Welch was nominated by the Gloucester-based Northeast Seafood Coalition, which has clashed with the Cape Cod Hook Fishermen's Association for years based on the environmental alliances and advocacy for reduced fishing and limited gear goals endorsed by the Cape Cod group and its environmental philanthropic allies.
For the at-large seat occupied by Mary-Beth Nickell Tooley of Maine, the governor nominated Welch, Fair and Daniel L. Georgianna, an economics professor at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
Georgianna participated in the creation of an analysis of the impact of the catch share system on the fishing industry that was submitted to Locke as proof the system was a man-made economic disaster.
Locke rejected the report as inadequate to warrant the use of his emergency powers to increase fish allocations or justify direct economic aid.
For the seat occupied by Michael P. Leary of New Hampshire, the governor nominated Fair, Welch and Georgianna. Leary became a controversial figure recently when he was identified as circulating anonymously a petition to fishermen and their crews urging Congress to continue funding catch share programs.
Yet, for the seat occupied by Fair, a retired biologist at the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, the governor nominated Laura Foley Ramsden, who co-owns a seafood processing company in New Bedford; James Kendall, a retired New Bedford fisherman and linchpin of the New Bedford fishing community; and Georgianna.
Ironically, the governor is a party to federal lawsuit filed by the cities of Gloucester and New Bedford and fishing industries up and down the East Coast, all challenging the fairness and constitutionality of the catch share program written by Pappalardo's council. The lawsuit identifies the Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen's Association as the primary beneficiary of the allegedly unequal and unfair allocation of catch shares.
That suit is scheduled for a hearing next Tuesday in the Boston courtroom of U.S. District Court Judge Rya Zobel.
Richard Gaines can be reached at 978-283-7000 x3464, or at rgaines@gloucestertimes.com.
Raw Video: Gay Protest Blocked in Moscow
Vatican in Chaos After Butler Arrested for Leaks
Jimmy Carter Endorses Egypt's Election Results
Biden Addresses West Point Graduating Class
Dozens of Children Killed in New Syria Attack
Raw Video: Activists Allege Massacre in Syria
NJ Man Charged With Murder in Death of Patz
Support, Fun for Kids of Fallen Soldiers at Camp
Fugitive Penguin Caught, Returned to Aquarium
50 Years Later, Underground Fire Still Burning
Light Show Transforms Sydney Opera House
Raw Video: Unruly Passenger Restrained in Miami
Raw Video: Robber Uses Drive-thru Window
Raw Video: Dragon Arrives at Space Station
Calif.'s Coronado Named Nation's Best Beach
CEO Salaries Become Sore Issue in Labor Disputes
