It is true. There is a petition in front of the ASMFC. It has been sponsored by Raytheon Corp., and our own Phil Coates has said he will do everything in his power to push it through. While it may seem like a non-issue since there is so much fishing in the EEZ here in Massachusetts, this petition would open the ENTIRE EEZ, and could have drastic effects in the long term. In the current proposal, there are no exclusions or gear restrictions, nor would it prevent boats from other states coming up to Massachusetts EEZ waters (or boats from Mass, going to other areas)., setting nets and filling up their holds and heading back. While this may or may not happen, there are no provisions for preventing it.
In addition, those states with gamefish or no-sale provisions would be helpless to prevent wholesale slaughter from occuring three miles off their beaches. This proposal would interfere with the gamefish & no-sale provisions in these states, and is probably illegal as defined by the recently-passed Striped Bass Act.
People who are interested should send a letter to Phil Coates urging him to not vote for this proposal.