March 14, 2013 — Today, a U.S. House committee formally started the re-authorization process. And as APRN’s Peter Granitz reports, changes could be on the horizon for how the government monitors fishermen’s catch.
The Magnuson Stevens Act has been law for more than thirty years. It was last amended in 2006. It put an end to foreign fishermen legally harvesting seafood in American waters. And it’s stabilized many fisheries by enforcing catch limits.
No member of the House Natural Resources Committee present this morning indicated they’d let the program expire. And everyone who testified said it should be continued, though with some changes.
Commercial fishermen and industry representatives complained about the requirement to have human observers on vessels … recording the size of the catch and by-catch.
“If they were allowed to use less high tech methods, and cheaper methods, they would be allowed to survive.”
That’s Bob Dooley, president of United Catcher Boats. His company fishes the west coast and throughout Alaska. He says the captain is responsible for covering the cost of an observer, and it’s prohibitively expensive.
Read the full story at KTOO, Alaska Public Media