Call for flexibility in fisheries management is getting momentum as the political people also joining the league. North Carolina Senate President Pro Tempore Marc Basnight has voiced the demand of flexibility in Rebuilding American Fisheries Act of 2007, legislation introduced by US Rep. Walter B. Jones (R-NC-3) in November. He urged the congressional delegation of the state to support the call.
The demand for flexibility would amend the Magnuson-Stevens Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act of 2006 which would allow the federal fisheries managers flexibility in setting the deadline for rebuilding a healthy and sustainable fish stock. As per the Magnuson-Stevens Act the fisheries management councils should rebuild depleted stocks in the shortest time possible.
Basnight said that the present strategy of fishery management could create severe social and economic impacts to the struggling fishing communities of the state. He added that there should be some flexibility for managers to extend the 10-year deadline in situations where stocks are rebounding and moving towards biological goals identified by scientists. Many federal and state fisheries officials agree on this.
Based upon this the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the agency overseeing marine resource management in federal waters, has asked the Congress to authorize flexible rebuilding deadlines while authorizing the Magnuson-Stevens. Bill Hogarth, out-going NMFS director, informed that both NMFS and the administration would like more flexibility in rebuilding.
Dan Furlong, executive director of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, also supported the legislation, HR 4087, to provide a more common sense approach to management. But he warned that the 10-year time frame might result in closures of fisheries to commercial and recreational fishermen.
