The Congressional act that is the legal backbone of U.S. fisheries management came under fire this week, as U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., requested an independent review of the science that supports the current timelines for rebuilding fish stocks.
In a letter sent Tuesday to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration administrator Jane Lubchenco, Snowe and Frank referred to the 1996 Magnuson-Stevens fishing act requirement that fish stocks be rebuilt within 10 years as an "arbitrary timeline" not based in science.
They asked Lubchenco to request an independent study by the National Academy of Science looking at the scientific justification for the 10-year mandate, at the feasibility of restoring all fish stocks simultaneously and the impact of non-fishing factors like climate change.