FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 28, 2007
CONTACT:
Dave Bard, 202.486.4426
New England Fishery Council Turns a Deaf Ear to Congress
Conservationists Cite Flawed Fishery Management, Call on NOAA to Write Strong Rules to End Overfishing
Boston, Mass. — The New England Fishery Management Council continued its failed method of managing fisheries by using days at sea to control overfishing. The move comes at the same time that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Fisheries division released a report confirming that the New England council has made no progress to end overfishing since the late 1990s.
Conservationists pointed to these latest developments as reasons why NOAA Fisheries must take responsibility to end overfishing away from the New England council. The agency also needs to strong, clear guidelines to implement a newly improved federal fisheries law to avoid further mismanagement.
According to the 2006 "Report on the Status of U.S. Fisheries" released by NOAA last Friday, 47% of fish stocks in the New England region assessed by scientists were classified as overfished (population size too small), experiencing overfishing (fishing at a rate too high to be sustainable), or both in 2006. The number of stocks has remained almost constant yearly, although individual stocks have been taken off or added. This year, for example, Atlantic sea scallop was removed from the list of stocks experiencing overfishing, but winter skate was added to that list.
"New England's failure to curb overfishing and establish catch limits was a major motivator for lawmakers in Congress to amend the Magnuson-Stevens Act to require annual catch limits," said Peter Shelley, vice president, Conservation Law Foundation. "The council's management approaches have been bankrupt for years and will continue to fail fish and fishing communities in New England."
"The latest action by the New England council to stick with the failed management approach of limiting fishermen's days at sea shows that we can't trust the New England council to fix our fishery management problems," said Roger Fleming, attorney, Earthjustice. "Congress has mandated a major shift in the way we manage U.S. fisheries, and now NOAA Fisheries must develop clear, strong rules to force the councils to follow the law and end overfishing."
NOAA Fisheries is currently drafting regulations for National Standard 1, the "overfishing standard." These guidelines are designed to instruct the councils how to implement the law that Congress passed. These new regulations will improve the status of the nation's marine fisheries as Congress clearly directed. The rules will also eliminate the loopholes and management council discretion that has consistently produced such devastating ecological and social results in the New England region.
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