March 3, 2016 — The following was released by the Gulf Fishermen’s Association:
On Thursday, March 3, the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship held a hearing about “the impacts of federal fisheries management on small businesses,” but fishermen and small businesses that rely on federal fisheries management were left out of the conversation.
Attached you will find a letter with signatures that represent more than 1,000 Gulf of Mexico coastal businesses, restaurant owners, associations and fishermen who support federal management of Gulf fisheries. These fishermen and other small-business owners want committee members to know that our jobs and livelihoods depend upon healthy fish populations.
The Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management Act (MSA), the law that provides for the management of marine fish in federal waters, is working. In the Gulf of Mexico, gag and red grouper and king mackerel have been removed from the overfished list (meaning the population is no longer unsustainably low) since the law’s last reauthorization. Last year, Gulf fishermen enjoyed the largest ever red snapper quota. As those populations have increased, so has the public’s access to those fisheries. And Gulf businesses have thrived because of the MSA’s conservation and management provisions.
“Our Association’s members own small businesses that operate on the Gulf Coast, and depend on reliable access to sustainable fisheries,” said Capt. Will Ward, board member of the Gulf Fishermen’s Association. “But Senator Vitter’s proposals to expand unsustainable state management, either by redrawing maritime boundaries or transferring management responsibility whole sale, would jeopardize all of our members’ livelihood and those of countless other fishermen and coastal business owners. It was very disappointing and unwarranted that our voices were not represented at today’s Small Business Committee hearing.”
Gulf Fishermen’s Association and many others in the Gulf strongly oppose efforts that would undermine the progress we’ve made in rebuilding American fish populations and our fishing industries, including legislative proposals to extend Gulf state maritime boundaries or those that would transfer management of Gulf red snapper to states.
For more information or to request an interview with a licensed Gulf of Mexico fishing captain or small-business owner, please contact Capt. Will Ward.