Seafood Harvesters offer robust defense of Magnuson Act, urge Senate not to make harmful changes
The Seafood Harvesters of America is an umbrella group that has pulled together 14 regional fishing associations from different parts of the US to make sure that the voices of those who are successfully harvesting well managed stocks are heard in the Magnuson reauthorization.At a conference in Washington DC, last month, they had the opportunity to present their ideas to NOAA and Congressional staffers. Chris Brown, a harvester from Rhode Island, is president of the group.Chris said “The industry is in recognition that the Magnuson Act is working. The scope of the Act does not need to be expanded to continue moving in the right direction. ”As a commercial fishermen, “there is one document that guides our actions: the Magnuson Act. We do not subscribe to the beliefs that there should be dissimilar standards between the commercial and recreational fishery."In making comments about Magnuson, the Seafood Harvesters make these points:"The Magnuson Stevens Act is working extraordinarily well and is a statute Americans should be proud of. In the 1980s and ‘90’s, many stocks around the Nation suffered significant declines. This resulted in untold job loss and severe economic harm to coastal communities across America. However, through considerable sacrifice on the part of the commercial fishing industry, significant progress has been made to rebuild overfished species and today they are the exception, not the rule. In 1999, NOAA listed 98 stocks as overfished; by 2012, only 40 stocks were overfished and 34 previously depleted fish stocks have been rebuilt. While there is still room for continued improvement, Harvesters are proud of the fact that 91% of U. S. fishery stocks are not experiencing overfishing. As previously mentioned, scientifically based fisheries management is the key to ensuring we continue this trend into the future. The stocks our members harvest are sustainably managed and we believe the Magnuson Stevens Act should be reauthorized with minimum overall changes to ensure we do not erode any of the progress commercial fishermen have made."