According to a news report local fishermen are facing lot of troubles due to increasingly strict rules that regulate commercial fishermen. Now they want to stand on the steps of the U.S. Capitol Wednesday with thousands of his fellow fishermen from across the country as they demand changes to the regulations they say are putting them out of business.
A local fisherman said that it is hard to say whether it is going to make any difference but the way things are going all will be out of business by next year. The “United We Fish” rally may be the first time that the country’s commercial fishermen have spoken as one. Fishing regulations have often pitted one group of fishermen against another as they tried to protect their shares of the dwindling quotas allocated by the government.
Rally organizers want Congress to change aspects of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the federal legislation that oversees the commercial fishing industry. Fish such as summer flounder, for example, are so plentiful that they can not avoid catching them even while targeting other species. Because regulations prohibit them from landing the fish at certain times or in certain amounts, they have to throw back the dead fish.
Establishment of sectors also worried fishermen as it allocates a certain amount of fish to fishermen in a certain area who then decide how to manage the quota. The individual fishermen would receive a portion based on past landings. It is told that the sector system requires fishermen to pay steep entrance fees and spend money on administrative fees and employees for the sector, as well as new computer tracking systems and other items.
