Brookline launches climate week

A cold Sunday afternoon at a Brookline, MA school brought together community members to listen to a panel discuss their efforts to work on the issue of addressing climate change. I shot some footage that is now on Youtube and is available for viewing (albeit, in nine parts).

Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, Part VIII, Part IX

The event was brought together by Climate Change Action Brookline, a group of volunteer activists. Climate Week is co-sponsored by Climate Change Action Brookline, the Selectmen's Climate Action Committee, the Brookline School Committee, Brookline Department of Public Health and Brookline Adult and Community Education.

The full calendar of events is available online.

Commerce Secretary denies MA governor request for fishing increase

In a letter to Governor Patrick Friday Department of Commerce Secretary Gary Locke rejected the Governor's request for emergency action to increase catch limits for Massachusetts fishermen.

In the letter, Secretary Locke states that after having the National Marine Fisheries Service review a November request to allow increases in fishing for the upcoming season due to economic downturn, there was no "scientific data that would justify increasing the catch limits."

Patrick wrote the Secretary in November also requesting $21 million in economic relief citing a report from the Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Institute. The Institute is a partnership between the University of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Intercampus Graduate School of Marine Sciences and Technology, and the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs. According to the letter by Locke, however, the data provided are "insufficient to warrant either a fishery disaster or a commercial fishery failure...".

Conservation Law Foundation Senior Counsel Peter Shelley sided with the Secretary. “With his decision to reject Governor Patrick’s request to increase catch limits, Secretary Locke has rightly rejected the notion that the new fisheries management plan is contributing to an economic crisis in the Massachusetts fishery,” Shelley said in a statement. “Instead of reacting to the self-interested objections of a few powerful fish processors and big commercial operations that seek to undermine the plan he approved, the Governor should direct the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries to conduct an open assessment of the performance of the new system using all available economic, scientific and anecdotal data so that any shortcomings may be quickly identified, documented and fixed. Such leadership would bridge the perceived divide between environmental and fishing interests to achieve a common goal of a sustainable and thriving fishing industry, built on healthy fish populations, diverse and successful fishing operations, and high quality ports.”