With just five days left before the February 24th rally in Washington DC, Florida Republican Congressmen Adam Putnam and Bill Posey have announced that they have both signed on as cosponsors of H.R .1584, the Flexibility in Rebuilding American Fisheries Act.
The bi-partisan legislation would provide fisheries managers with additional limited flexibility when setting annual limits while simultaneously rebuilding healthy coastal fisheries. Rep. Putnam and Rep. Posey join fellow Florida representatives Ander Crenshaw (R), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R), Clifford Stearns (R), Allen Boyd (D), Ginny Brown-Waite (R), and John Mica (R) who have also pledged to support much needed reform to the Magnuson Stevens Fishery Management and Conservation Act (MSA).
Proposed changes included in H.R. 1584 and S. 1255, the companion Senate bill cosponsored by Florida Senator George LeMieux, would allow fishermen to retain reasonable access to healthy fisheries as fish stocks continue to rebuild and meet conservation objectives. It also calls for the assessment of the relationship between predator and prey and other environmental and ecological changes to the marine conditions in the stock assessment.