November 16, 2020 — Leaders from all segments of the US seafood industry are opposing an ocean climate bill that would create massive Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) prohibiting commercial fishing across at least 30 percent of the nation’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) by 2030.
On Monday 800 members of the seafood industry, including Trident Seafoods CEO Joe Bundrant, Silver Bay Seafoods CEO Cora Campbell, Arctic Storm Management CEO Doug Christensen, Lund’s Fisheries President Wayne Reichle, Fortune International President & CEO Sean O’Scannlain and dozens of associations and independent fishermen, signed off on a letter sent to Democratic Arizona Rep. Raul M. Grijalva that said the legislation “puts the viability of our industry under a second dark cloud of uncertainty, for no discernable reason attached to meaningful improvements in conservation outcomes.”
Grijalva introduced the 300-page package of legislation to invest in ocean-based energy solutions, including offshore wind.
“This bill appears to ignore that expertise and process and just walls off parts of the ocean to fishing,” said John Connelly, president of the National Fisheries Institute (NFI), who also signed the letter.