Magnuson-Stevens Bill Fails to Dislodge Poison Pill of Reallocations

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEDecember 11, 2014Magnuson-Stevens Bill Fails to Dislodge Poison Pill of Reallocations“We hope that the next Congress won’t make the same mistake of letting this economically destabilizing provision plague the next bill”Washington, DC – Seafood Harvesters of America President Chris Brown issued the following statement on Thursday regarding the introduction of the Magnuson-Stevens Reauthorization Act (S.2991), introduced by Senator Mark Begich:“The federal law governing our nation’s fisheries is working well, making the U.S. an example to the world for sustainable fishery management. However, we are deeply disappointed to see Senator Begich give in to sports fishing interests by introducing a reauthorization containing a poison pill provision that sets a dangerous precedent for replacing real science-driven accountability with arbitrary political dictates. Forcing the Gulf and South Atlantic Regional Fishery Management Councils to revisit allocations every five years could scare away banks from giving loans to many harvesters in need of upgrading the safety and efficiency of their aging vessels. So we hope that the next Congress won’t make the same mistake of letting this economically destabilizing provision plague the next bill. Congress must ensure American commercial fishermen have every chance to continue providing seafood to millions of American consumers while providing over a million jobs to our economy.”###Background:

Seafood 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.