A new round of debate has opened over the explicit stock-rebuilding deadlines in federal fisheries law, with the re-introduction of "flexibility" legislation by its author in the last session of Congress, Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-NJ and co-sponsors from other coastal districts where fishing businesses have been hit hard by quota cuts.
The bill H.R. 1584 would amend the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to allow exemptions to the law’s 10-year timeframe for species management plans to reach their targets. It’s a measure that goes to the heart of debates over the accountability — or lack of it — among the nation’s eight federal regional management councils.
"The goal here is to get rid of arbitrary deadlines," said James Donofrio of the Recreational Fishing Alliance, a primary mover behind the bill on Capitol Hill. "We’re looking to get the other 19 co-sponsors (from the last session) back on there, and we’re looking for a senator" to sponsor a version in the upper house, Donofrio said.