June 2, 2016 — In a mid-May letter to President Obama, the American Bluefin Tuna Association joined seven other fishing organizations, as well as New Bedford’s fishing port – the most valuable in the country – to back an Atlantic State Marine Fisheries Commission resolution opposing existing proposals for a marine monument off the coast of New England.
“The greatest difficulty ABTA has with the Atlantic monument proposal is the fact that it contains a prohibition on all forms of fishing including the types of fishing gear used by our fishermen. In this connection, we cannot state more emphatically: our fishing methods cannot possibly have a negative effect on deep sea coral or any other sea bottom attributes because we are using “surface” and “sub-surface” fishing gear, sustainable fishing methods that do not come into contact with the sea bottom. It is important to keep in mind that deep sea coral exists in this Region on sea bottom located at great depths. The fish stocks our fishermen are targeting, however, preferentially inhabit the top, not the bottom, of the water column.”