March 18, 2013 — Congressman and US Senate candidate Stephen Lynch this week voiced his support for Congressmen John Tierney and William Keating regarding their efforts to add flexibility in the upcoming rewrite of the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
Lynch, Tierney and Keating are up against Congressman Ed Markey, who testified at the opening of hearings organised to address the rewrite of the Act that he believes is already greatly flexible.
After this testimony, Lynch questioned Markey’s words, which were rife with blame for Republicans for allegedly putting harm in the way of the fishing community.
“This exemplifies the problem we have in Washington right now,” Lynch said, The Gloucester Times reports. “The left demonizes the right, the right demonizes the left, and petty politics trump action.”
“The fishing families in Massachusetts don’t just have a problem with Republicans; they have a problem with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC),” he added.
Lynch, who serves on Keating’s Federal Fishing Advisory Board with Tierney, has explained that he agrees with Keating, Tierney and former Congressman Barney Frank on the need to add increased flexibility in catch limits and stock rebuilding schedules to the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which will soon be up for a rewrite.