WASHINGTON —March 22, 2012 — Hundreds of fishermen converged on Capitol Hill Wednesday, fewer than for the first “United We Fish” rally in 2010, but this time more elected officials came to speak — a sign the industry is successfully pushing the often-arcane debates of fishery management into the political mainstream.
The rally was held to ask Congress to ease rules on the length of fishing seasons and sizes of catches, which the fishermen say make it harder for them to make a living.
Most of all, activists want a change in the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to end the congressional mandate that fish stocks must be rebuilt within 10 years.
Political pressure from New Jersey has led to one exception so far — a three-year extension for the summer flounder restoration program.
Environmental groups adamantly oppose easing the deadline, warning that would return fisheries to days when economic interests routinely trumped scientists’ recommendations to reduce catches.
Bogan said those three years gave an industry group — the Save the Summer Flounder Fishery Fund — time to engage an independent fisheries scientist whose work led to federal officials raising their estimate of the stock size.
That was followed up by the summer flounder themselves, with “the biggest (spawning season) ever counted,” Bogan said. “Now they hold it up as a poster child for staying the course, and not changing Magnuson.”