The Environmental Defense Fund plainly states its purpose on its Internet page: “We are passionate environmental advocates who believe in prosperity and stewardship. Grounded in science, we forge partnerships and harness the power of market incentives.”

EDF’s work in fisheries management has not been insignificant and has not endeared it to fishermen in the Northeast.

Development of and advocacy for the two-year-old catch shares system here have contributed to a belief on the waterfront that EDF’s commitment to prosperity and partnerships is calculated lip-service that belies a more radical agenda to simply run fishermen out of business.

Fishermen’s predictions that catch shares would consolidate allowable catch into the hands of a few deep-pocketed fishermen have largely come to pass.

That hasn’t stopped EDF’s Johanna Thomas from trying to find and engage those partners. Thomas is a strategic adviser for EDF in New England and the Mid-Atlantic, with experience in the catch shares system on the West Coast.

She visited with The Standard- Times editorial board about a year ago and again in April, and both times she expressed how important she thinks it is to work with fishermen in order to keep them fishing in a sustainable way.

EDF’s history, outside of fisheries, has been one of making a difference. It was launched in the late 1960s when a group of scientists banded together to try to ban the use of DDT. The causes taken up since then run the gamut, from seeking a ban on whale hunting to pushing McDonald’s for biodegradable packaging.

EDF’s creed includes the word “stewardship,” and we would urge the fund to be aware of its own responsibility to be good stewards of its considerable political capital.

Thomas was in New Bedford again last week to meet with the mayor and School of Marine Science and Technology (SMAST) scientists on trying to improve the relationship with fishermen. However, local fishermen, SMAST scientists and political leaders are justifiably skeptical as a result of years of bad regulations and punitive enforcement of unreasonable environmental standards.

We are convinced that Thomas’ efforts in New Bedford on behalf of the fishing community are far more than lip-service, and we hope to see her success in finding the partnerships that will address the struggles of dealing with the more and more stringent regulations of fisheries rule makers.

And we likewise hope that as EDF puts more resources into the area — financing for struggling small fishermen, for example — the waterfront community will respond and benefit from a climate of cooperation.

— The Standard-Times of New Bedford (Mass.)