Reporter Steven A. Rosenberg’s statement that Gloucester has seen its fishing industry nearly collapse in the past 20 years because of strict federal fishing regulations (“Hotel OK paves way for change,” Globe North, March 17) is an outrageously misleading thesis.
There are several reasons to blame for the fishing collapse, including changing oceans, overfishing, more efficient net and gear technology, a failure of the fleet to innovate toward targeting new species, and other factors that are merely speculation or mystery.
Federal fisheries regulators are only reacting to the current conditions as a fact, with the best-known available science, in trying to preserve the dwindling fish stocks for future generations.
David DeInnocentis
North Andover