In another historic show of solidarity, United States fishermen will gather at Upper Senate Park in Washington, D.C. next month in an organised demonstration supporting sensible reform of the Magnuson Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management Act.
This is a follow-up to a rally in two years ago that brought some 5,000 fishing vessel owners, fishermen and people in fisheries dependent businesses from all over the country to Washington. Twenty plus members of the Senate and House of Representatives spoke regarding efforts to reform Magnuson. The new rally is scheduled for March 21st at 12 noon.
Signed into law in 1976, the 36-year-old law "most notably aided in the development of the domestic fishing industry by phasing out foreign fishing," according to the National Marine Fisheries Service. In recent years however, the act has been transformed from its original intent into a weapon employed by a handful of mega-foundations and the so-called marine conservation organizations they subsidize aimed at reducing overall participation in our nation's rich fisheries while driving both commercial and recreational fishermen off the water.
Read the complete story from Fish Update.