Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY
P. 6
A6 U.S. NEWS
Tuesday 21 February 2017
American Living:
New England scallops scuffle pitting small boats against big
PATRICK WHITTLE since 2010. Scallops are
Associated Press also one of the priciest
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — kinds of seafood that is fa-
A disagreement over the miliar to many consumers,
right to fish for scallops who often pay more than
off New England is pitting $20 per pound for them.
small boats against big Mary Beth Tooley, the chair
ones in one of the most lu- of a federal scallop com-
crative fisheries in the U.S. mittee, also works in gov-
The federal government ernment affairs for O’Hara
maintains different rules Corp., a major player in the
for the small- and big-boat big-boat fishery. The big
scallop fisheries, though and small boats can coex-
they work some of the ist, she said, and regulators
same areas. Small boat will work to make it hap-
fishermen say the conflict pen.
has arisen in the northern “There’s a perspective that
Gulf of Maine, a critical- this is a battle — we need
ly important fishing area to go to war with these big
stretching roughly from boats,” she said, adding,
Boston to the border of “I don’t think that’s neces-
Maine and Canada. sary.”
At issue is the fact that the Scallop meat is shucked at sea off Harpswell, Maine. A disagreement over the right to fish for The scuffle has attracted
northern Gulf of Maine is scallops off New England is pitting small boats against big ones in the scallop-rich northern Gulf of the attention of Conser-
fertile ground for scallops Maine in 2017. Smaller boats are limited in the number of pounds on board, while the largest boats vation Law Foundation,
right now, and rules allow have no such limit but are regulated instead by a limited number of days at sea. an environmental advo-
the bigger boats to harvest (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty) cacy group based in New
more of them. The smaller England. The group is ad-
boats have a possession the largest boats have no limited number of days at said the bigger boats have vocating for the playing
limit of 200 pounds, while such limit, because they sea. been gobbling up the scal- field to be leveled for both
are regulated instead by a Smaller boat fishermen lops in one of the most im- groups of boats, said Peter
portant areas where they Shelley, an attorney with
fish. the foundation.
Without changes, the cur- “It’s an inequity that could
rent arrangement could be corrected very easily
“wipe out a resource that and no one wants to do
would sustain a small boat it,” Shelley said. “I just find
fishery for years and years that to be offensive with a
and years,” said Kristan public resource.”
Porter, a small-boat fisher- The U.S. scallop fishery’s
man in the area who sits most important state is
on a federal scallop advi- Massachusetts, with New
sory panel. Bedford serving as the
Federal regulators have home base. They’re also
identified solving the prob- brought to shore in other
lem as a key goal in the U.S. states from Maine to Virgin-
sea scallop fishery, which ia, with the second-largest
has been worth more than amount of shellfish coming
$400 million every year ashore in New Jersey.q
Newly raised section of Bayonne
Bridge open to traffic after years
BAYONNE, N.J. (AP) — The York and New Jersey says
new elevated section of the roadway was raised to
the Bayonne Bridge is open 215 feet above the Kill van
to traffic after years of work Kull, 64 feet above the orig-
to raise the deck. inal deck.
Officials say a new section The previous height lim-
of the bridge connecting ited the size of vessels that
Bayonne, New Jersey, to could pass underneath
New York City’s Staten Is- on the way to the ports
land borough opened for of Newark and Elizabeth.
vehicles at 5 a.m. Monday. Ships’ masts passed mere
Construction on the $1.3 feet below the span.
billion project to allow big- The bridge has a cashless
ger cargo ships to reach toll system, using a com-
New York City-area ports bination of E-ZPass and
began in 2013. mailed tolls.q
The Port Authority of New
