Florida commercial fishermen joined a push in Washington, D.C., this week to slow a federal push toward mandating catch-share programs for many food fisheries.
"Catch shares were supposed to be a bottom-up thing with fishermen working to submit management plans," Kelly said. "Instead, NOAA is trying to force this down our throats."
Fishermen say that in fisheries that have instituted catch shares, the result has been a consolidation of the industry, favoring the corporate fishing fleets at the expense of individual fishing families.
Some conservation groups, notably the Environmental Defense Fund, contend that catch shares will be far more effective than current regulations in protecting fish populations from becoming overfished.
At a Feb. 3 federal workshop in Key Largo, dozens of fishermen spoke out against catch shares. Connecticut commercial fisherman Joe Gilbert interrupted his Keys vacation to attend the session, pointing to his experience in New England.
"What's happened is disgraceful," Gilbert said. "Catch shares are promoted by the winners … jobs have been lost to consolidation, and the right to fish is down to a very few."
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