July 1, 2014 — Voting members of a pacific regional fishery council are saying a proposal by the Obama administration to expand a conservation zone in the Pacific Ocean “will economically harm” fishermen in the area in exchange for “no added conservation benefit.”
The announcement came from voting members of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, one of eight established by the Magnuson-Stevens Act. The voting members represent the state of Hawaii, territories of American Samoa and Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
“Noting that the President himself has declared that the United States “has largely ended overfishing in federally managed waters,” the council members are urging the administration to continue allowing U.S. fishermen into these areas,” the council said in a statement.