In another historic show of solidarity, US recreational and commercial fishermen will gather at Upper Senate Park in Washington, DC on 21 March 2012 starting at noon in an organised demonstration supporting sensible reform of the Magnuson Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management Act.
This is a follow-up to a rally in February 2010 that brought some 5,000 recreational, commercial and party/charter vessel owners, fishermen and people in fisheries dependent businesses from all over the country to Washington. Twenty-plus members of the Senate and House of Representatives spoke regarding efforts to reform Magnuson.
Signed into law in 1976, the 36-year-old law "most notably aided in the development of the domestic fishing industry by phasing out foreign fishing," according to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). In recent years however, the act has been transformed from its original intent into a weapon employed by a handful of mega-foundations and the so-called marine conservation organisations they subsidize aimed at reducing overall participation in the nation's rich fisheries while driving both commercial and recreational fishermen off the water, representatives of the rally explained.
Read the complete story from the Southern Kingfish Association at FIS Worldnews.