"Ian Bowles, Massachusetts secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs, said in a statement that Harrington's ruling could yield "profound benefits" for fishermen and the fishery.
The judge chastised NMFS for paying lip service to a regulatory option that could allow fishermen access to more fish while the stocks continued to recover.
It is known as the "Mixed-Stock Exception" and encourages the government to recognize that it is not obligated to regulate based on the weakest stock in the fishery. By focusing on the "weak link," NMFS' writing of Framework 42 constrained fishing for all species."
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