New federal fishery management plan is opposed by a coalition of fishing, environmental, and consumer groups. They said that the plan is being designed in Seattle this week by the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC), a body that determines how fishery resources are used. It is also told that the plan could have negative effects for fishing communities and the environment by reducing the number of people who can fish, causing job loss.
The plan is also said to perpetuate the use of environmentally damaging fishing gear. Groups including Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, Food and Water Watch, Ecotrust, and the Crab Boat Owners Association are calling upon the PFMC to suspend decision making on the plan until further research can be undertaken and alternative programs can be considered.
According to the information the PFMC is planning to divide up the West Coast ground fishery using a program called Individual Fishing Quotas, or IFQ. The quotas, which are similar to shares of stock, will be given away free of charge to a select group of trawl fishermen, mainly large corporations, who will then essentially own all access to the fishery.
It is informed that this plan will amount to the privatization of the groundfish fishery, squeezing out many of the small fishermen. Larry Collins, President of the Crab Boat Owners Association of San Francisco, opined that this action by the Pacific regional council will give away millions of dollars of a public resource to the very fleet that overfished rockfish and other groundfish species a decade ago.
Members of this environmental, fishing, and consumer coalition will be asking the PFMC to extend the decision deadline for the IFQ plan for 6 months until outstanding questions can be resolved and further analysis of alternative plans can be undertaken.
