Purse Seine Vessel Owners Association Joins the Harvesters

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:October 6, 2014

Purse Seine Vessel Owners Association Joins the Harvesters

Most Urgently Working Together to Extend Moratorium on Discharge Requirements that Could Send Commercial Fishermen Off the ‘Fish Cliff’

Washington, DC – Seafood Harvesters of America President Chris Brown welcomes the coalition’s newest member, the Purse Seine Vessel Owners Association (PSVOA), representing 300 members along the West Coast and throughout Alaska. PSVOA Executive Director Bob Kehoe expressed his excitement about becoming a member with the following statement:“PSVOA is pleased to join the Harvesters as a united voice of accountability for sustaining American caught seafood for tens of millions of consumers across the country. As we heard during the Senate debate in Kodiak, we are fortunate to have Senator Begich taking action on economically critical commercial fishing issues, most imminently of which is his promise to extend an existing moratorium on incidental discharge requirements expiring on December 18. Working together, with the Harvesters, our priority is to extend this moratorium and save thousands of commercial fishermen from a ‘fish cliff’ of burdensome red-tape and costly fines for the normal operations of their boats.”###Background:• Purse Seine Vessel Owners' Association (PSVOA): About -- http://psvoa.com/• Alaska Dispatch News: Laine Welch: Coastal senators unite on fishing boat discharge permits -- http://www.adn.com/article/20140803/laine-welch-coastal-senators-unite-fishing-boat-discharge-permits• Blank Rome: SMALL VESSEL GENERAL PERMIT GOES INTO EFFECT -- http://www.blankrome.com/index.cfm?contentID=37&itemID=3403Seafood Harvesters of America (“The Harvesters”), an umbrella association representing 15 commercial fishing organizations from Alaska to the Gulf of Mexico north to New England. For more information, please visit seafoodharvesters.org or contact (202) 888-6296.