Congressman: Rules dangerous for inshore fishermen

Gloucester, Mass. — New fishing regulations that will take effect next month underscore the need to change the national law that determines how new rules and restrictions are made, Congressman Barney Frank said.

The new rules, called Framework 42, would count each day at sea in Massachusetts Bay and along the New Hampshire coast as two days and each trip between three and 71/2 hours as 15 hours. Frank said the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which controls how the nation’s fisheries are governed, should be modified significantly before it is renewed.

“If you get the right kind of Magnuson reauthorization bill, it would provide better science more flexibility to take into account the economic effects and conservation of the threatened species,” said Peter Kovar, a spokesman for Frank.

In particular, Frank said the double counting will be dangerous for fishermen in small boats who venture out of the patch of ocean where that clock is in effect to make more money.

“The overall reductions will make it even more difficult for our fishermen to make a living, and the differential counting will be especially harmful to the inshore fishing fleet because it will tend to increase safety risks for smaller vessels that may attempt to fish in more dangerous, offshore areas to avoid” double counting, he said in a statement.

Frank, whose district includes New Bedford, said the New England Fishery Management Council should have considered several proposals introduced by fishing industry advocates and local mayors, including Mayor John Bell and New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang, that would have set catch limits for threatened species without the 2-for-1 days at sea clock.

“I am disappointed that alternative proposals, put forward by people active in the industry that could have given much needed flexibility to this framework, were not formally considered, or else excluded from the final rules,” Frank said.

He and Congressman John Tierney, D-Mass., introduced a fishing reform bill in March that calls for more flexibility in the time lines given to rebuild weakened fish stocks and greater focus on the economic impact of fishery management plans on fishing communities. It also calls for stronger safety provisions and more research to support management measures.

California Republican Congressman Richard Pombo and Frank sponsored the reauthorization bill. A revised version of the Magnuson Act has already been approved by a Senate committee this year, and several management bill versions have been introduced in the House of Representatives. Frank hopes the revised version will be taken up in the time between next month’s election and the swearing of the new Congress in January.

Last month, Pombo introduced an amendment to the reauthorization bill that would give the regional fishery councils the power to allow overfishing to occur on certain stocks that need rebuilding or management plans until two years after those plans take effect.

Conservationists, including Roger Fleming, a senior attorney with the Conservation Law Foundation, a New England-based group, oppose that addition because they said overfishing cannot continue for any amount of time.

The Magnuson-Stevens Act, a 30-year-old law that governs fishing regulations in federal waters, outlines principles for rule-making in federal waters and sets a timeframe of 10 years for rebuilding most depleted stocks. But when it comes to overfishing, the act only says that regional councils must end overfishing as quickly as possible.

Archive

Search Results

Related Photos

Framework 42 double counting criticized

The Komen Foundation recently cut ties (before announcing they would reinstate them) with Planned Parenthood and stopped funding breast cancer screenings — was that a good thing?

Site Map

Contact Weatherford Democrat