Congressman Barney Frank says he will call an East Coast congressional caucus within two weeks to organize what he recognizes will be an uphill battle against environmental forces to create a more equal balance between the reconstruction of fish stocks and community interests.
Announcing his effort in a telephone interview Thursday during the Saving Seafood hour on New Bedford radio station WBSM-AM, Frank said the New England Fishery Management Council’s decision last month to cut back harvests of scallops was influenced by "some of the more rigid environmentalists."
"We have a reasonable chance, not quite 50-50," said Frank.
But he said the effort was justified because of the unrequired harm being done to the fishing communities along the Atlantic coast by regulators who misinterpret the legal principle imbedded in the Magnuson-Stevens Act to balance ecological with economic and sociological interests.
"We’re reaching out to everyone," said Bruno Freitas, Frank’s chief of staff. He said U.S. Sen. John Kerry and Congressman John Tierney of Salem, who represents Gloucester, "are on board."
Listen to Congressman Frank’s interview on the Saving Seafood hour on WBSM.