Washington

The head of law enforcement for the nation's fisheries was on the hot seat as a congressional panel mat in Massachusettes to discuss a scathing inspector general's report.

See the news clip of the hearing at WBZ-TV 38.

 

 

 

Squeezed by tightened regulations, catch limits and a grinding economic downturn, recreational and commercial fishermen surprised members of Congress — and themselves — by coming together as a group and pressing for a better deal from federal authorities.

Their next challenge is to keep that activism going to make sure lawmakers and the Obama administration pay more attention to America's oldest industry, organizers said after the United We Fish rally attracted more than 3,000 fishermen and their families to Capitol Hill on Wednesday.

"Thanks to the Recreational Fishing Alliance for bringing us together," Massachusetts state Sen. Bruce E. Tarr, a Republican who represents the port of Gloucester, told the crowd. "I have a question: Will you stay together?"

New England and New Jersey provided big contingents to the demonstration, which was held in support of legislation sponsored by Rep. Frank J. Pallone Jr., D-N.J., and Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y, that would allow the government to extend deadlines for rebuilding depleted fish stocks.

Read the complete story at APP.

Sporting a gray ponytail and gold chain with a small anchor pendant around his neck, captain Dave Tilley hardly fits the image of the K Street lobbyist.

But last week the burly 42-year-old fisherman drove up from North Carolina to Washington, D.C. — the first time he had ever been to the nation’s capital — to persuade Members of Congress to change a law that he claims is threatening his livelihood.

“It is quite overwhelming, to tell you the God’s honest truth,” Tilley said as he joined in a spirited rally of fishermen across the street from the Capitol.

For the participants, many of whom stumbled onto buses in the wee hours of the morning last Wednesday, the trip to Washington was hardly a routine matter. Though clearly more at home when out at sea than in the halls of Congress, the rough-hewn crowd was motivated by anger at federal policy that has forced them to keep their nets out of the water.

Read the complete story at Roll Call.

For the first time since she was tapped to be the nation's top ocean administrator just under a year ago, NOAA chief Jane Lubchenco will consult Gloucester's commercial fishermen tomorrow morning about the future of their industry.

The closed-door 8 a.m. session at City Hall will include as many as 30 fishermen hand picked by Mayor Carolyn Kirk, who planned the meeting in the run-up to last week's demonstration in Washington by fishermen across the country targeting federal fisheries management and the need for legislative changes by Congress.

The meeting will come hours before Lubchenco is slated to testify before a congressional oversight hearing at City Hall on alleged abuses in federal fisheries law enforcement identified by U.S. Commerce Department Inspector General Todd Zinser.

And it comes as protests by New England fishermen, steady for years, have been building over the federal government's planned launch in May of an entirely new regulatory regime tied to hard limits on the catch for each fish stock and fishing cooperatives called sectors.

"I feel I am brokering a peace agreement," Kirk said Friday after announcing plans for tomorrow morning's closed-door meeting. "I see it as the beginning of a dialogue. What if there was a willingness to hear directly from fishermen."

Both the oversight hearing and the warm-up with Kirk and fishermen will be new ground for Lubchenco.

When she was confirmed by Congress last March, Lubchenco faced questioning from Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe, about conflicts between fishermen and regulators in New England.

But, in her only other time in Gloucester as NOAA head, Lubchenco met briefly with workers at the NOAA regional offices in Blackburn Industrial Park before leaving. She did not meet with either city officials or with anyone within the fishing industry.

Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.

A federal act imposing limits on fisheries along the East Coast has some fishermen up in arms.

Take Capt. Dave Tilley of the Continental Shelf in Morehead City, for example. Year-round for more than two decades, Tilley has loaded his 100-foot head boat with passengers and carted them off the coast of North Carolina to deep-sea fish.

But Tilley closed his doors for the first time in November, claiming that with beeliner and grouper fisheries shut down, there was no point in going out. "I have nothing else to catch," he said.

Tilley joined fishermen from Wilmington and Wrightsville Beach and thousands of others from around the country in a "United We Fish" rally outside the capitol in Washington D.C. this week, demanding that it overhaul its data gathering methods and loosen fishery limits.

They were protesting the reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which aims to snip overfishing by mandating annual catch limits and accountability measures. But opponents of the act say it is using inaccurate data to limit and close fisheries that don't need to be. These limits, opponents say, are driving them out of business.

Read the complete story at Lumina News.

New England’s fishing activists, including a large contingent from Gloucester, headed to Washington, D.C. on Wednesday to participate in the United We Fish rally.

Mayor Carolyn Kirk, state Sen. Bruce Tarr, state Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante and local fishermen met with legislators hoping to convince lawmakers to modify the Magnuson Stevens Act (MSA).

Armed with their reasons why the regulations placed on the fishing industry should be re-examined, the Gloucester activists packed their day with meetings, and delivered their message to the open ears of Washington lawmakers.

Despite the cold temps and constant threat of rain and snow, a crowd estimated at 5,000 people attended the protest. “I was impressed with the rally,” said Jack Flaherty, a Gloucester fisherman who drove to D.C. with friends. “The biggest crowd was probably from Florida but I met people from as far away as Alaska and also ran into several Gloucester folks. It was a good turnout.”

Read the complete story at Wicked Local.

Upset about newly imposed fishing restriction, fisherman from all over the U.S. gathered in Washington, D.C. to show support for a bill that seeks to prevent future job-killing closing of fisheries across the South Atlantic.

The South Atlantic Fisheries Management Council (SAFMC) placed a six-month ban on snapper and grouper fisheries due to alleged over fishing and potential endangerment and they have proposed closing nearly 10,000 additional square miles of the South Atlantic. The council was created under the Magnuson Stevens Act of 2006 and is responsible for managing the area up to 200 miles offshore of South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida.

Ron McManus attended the rally that took place on February 24th and had the opportunity to hear S.C. Representative Henry Brown. 

Read the complete story at North Myrtle Beach News.

Thousands of fishermen from around the country came to Washington this week to fight for their livelihood.  They say federal policies are making it tough for them to stay in business.

“We will be gone. And the people’s right and access to their natural resources will be gone," James Hull of Ormond Beach, Fla., said.  He was one of thousands of fishermen who came to the Capitol Hill rally.

They want Congress to change a law called the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which mandates fishing restrictions with the purpose of protecting stocks.  The fishermen say the restrictions are often arbitrary and based on bad science.

The fishermen say Florida is among the hardest hit states.  Right now there is a temporary federal ban on catching red snapper off Florida’s East coast. The same goes for grouper.  In the Gulf of Mexico, there’s a restriction on grouper fishing and the recreational seasons for red snapper have been getting shorter.

Read the complete story at Capitol News Connection.

An estimated 4,000 recreational and commercial fishermen descended on Washington, D.C. on Wednesday to let congress know there are big problems with fishery management, specifically the Magnuson-Stevens Act, and they need to be fixed. By all accounts, the message got across.

"The United We Fish rally showed what can you do when you're unified, what you can do when you get together and say, "I'm going going to D.C and make this work.' " said Jim Hutchinson, managing director of the Recreational Fishing Alliance, one of the lead organizers for the rally.

"It was grass roots, it was all the local shops, local captains, commercial guys and individual anglers. It was just great the way the democratic process unfolded," he said. "It was really something extraordinary."

Read the complete story at APP.

The first-ever rally for fishing rights drew between 3,000 and 5,000 people to Washington, D.C. yesterday in an effort to bring attention and action to the increasingly restrictive regulations on saltwater fishing in the U.S. Over 20 federal lawmakers joined the several thousand fishermen from around the country in the three-hour rally supporting national fisheries reform.

“The gathering was an incredible success," said Jim Donofrio, Executive Director of the Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA) and one of the key organizers of the historic rally.

At noon Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY), lead sponsor of Senate Bill 1255, the Flexibility in Rebuilding American Fisheries Act, opened the rally with a speech supporting the cause to reform the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA) to allow greater flexibility in the timetables to rebuild fish stocks. "Shame on the Magnuson-Stevens Act," Schumer said, “MSA as currently written denies fishermen access to healthy and rebuilding stocks due to arbitrary, 'time-specific' deadlines. We need flexibility to be able to thrive," Schumer promised the crowd, while charging federal bureaucrats with failure to recognize the impact of their decisions on working families. "We need to start caring about our fishermen as much as our fish.”

Read the complete story at Florida Sportsman.