In its report ‘Investing in Our Future: The Economic Case for Rebuilding Mid-Atlantic Fish Populations’, the Pew Environment Group maintain that failing to rebuild depleted fish stock populations as quickly as possible results in lost economic opportunities for the fishing industry.
It is also reported that rebuilding summer flounder, black sea bass, butterfish and bluefish populations by 2007 would have increased commercial fishing landings by 48 percent, increased recreational landings by 24 percent, and generated an additional $570 million per year in direct economic benefits.
Lee Crockett, director of federal fisheries policy for the Pew Environment Group, told that most of the time the significant long-term economic benefits of rebuilding fish populations are overlooked. Hatteras Island commercial fisherman and gear supplier James Caldwell, said that the track record has been that fisheries managers are very conservative when it comes to increasing harvest limits even for healthy stocks that have been fully rebuilt.
Crockett expressed that his organization isn’t blind to the short-term economic pain of rebuilding fish populations quickly. He told that they are looking at ways to mitigate those impacts and to help fishermen transition to a brighter future. Pew Environment Group has urged Congress not to move forward with legislation that would authorize federal fishery management councils to extend rebuilding deadlines for species on the path to recovery so that economic dislocation could be averted.
Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) introduced the Flexibility in Rebuilding American Fisheries (HR 1584) in March. The bill has 20 co-sponsors, including NC Reps. Walter Jones and Mike McIntyre. Jones has been a strong advocate for giving the councils more leeway in setting recovery schedules, and introduced legislation nearly identical to the Pallone bill in November 2007.
