November 18, 2013 — Commercial fishermen in Montauk got a chance to meet with a new group of advocates for fisheries reform at Inlet Seafood last Friday afternoon.
The Center for Sustainable Fisheries, based in New Bedford, Mass., is planning to do nothing short of rewriting the 1976 federal Magnuson-Stevens Act, which they believe stifles fishermen while doing little to protect the health of fisheries.
Bonnie Brady, the executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association and the wife of Montauk fisherman David Aripotch, serves on the board of the Center for Sustainable Fisheries, and she brought some of the new group’s volunteer board members to Montauk on Nov. 15 to explain their plans. They’re currently traveling throughout the country trying to drum up support for their work.
Dr. Brian Rothschild, the former Dean of the School for Marine Science and Technology at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, serves as the president of the new group, and former Congressman Barney Frank serves as Chairman of the Board.
Attorney Scott Lang, the former mayor of New Bedford, Mass., who has filed several lawsuits over fisheries law, serves as secretary of the board.
Read the full story at the East End Beacon