Congress approved the continuing resolution to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year Thursday. Within the legislation is an amendment inserted by North Carolina Republican Rep. Walter Jones that fishermen will cheer.
Jones’ amendment blocks a proposal from the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to put $36 million toward instituting new catch share programs, which would have imposed additional quotas on the number of fish each fisherman are permitted to be catch annually – a policy environmentalists argue is important to prevent over-fishing but which Jones says would have harmed the nation’s fishing jobs and communities.
A large swath of the fishing community supported the measure including the Recreational Fishing Alliance, American Sportfishing Association, National Marine Manufacturers Association, Saving Seafood, Southern Shrimp Alliance, Commercial Fishermen of America, Southeast Fisheries Association, North Carolina Fisheries Association, Garden State Seafood Association, Florida Keys Fishermen’s Association, Long Island (NY) Fishermen’s Association. and Food & Water Watch.
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