The Magnuson Law, formally known as the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act comes under sharp criticism. A public appeal has been made to Congress to change this law as it has surreptitiously become the Fisherman’s Destroyer Act. It is told that very few people know the gory details of the arbitrariness and strong-arm tactics in the enforcement of this law by the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Coast Guard.
The appeal states that any law that permits horrendous enforcement tactics cannot be just. The general call so far has been to change the enforcement measures of this law. It is becoming increasingly evident however that even if this effort is successful, it will not be sufficient to meet the needs of the fisheries. There is a need to change the rules themselves.
It is told that the need for change has been admitted by the same forces that enforce this unjust law, namely the administrators at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). After 20 years of inflicting the most unconscionable hardship on the fishermen, they have recognized that it is necessary to change course.
The drivers cannot be described as other than mad scientists. It is not only the linear science to which theory clings that is wrong; it is even the application of their linear science that is wrong. The New England Fishery Management Council, openly goaded by NOAA and a coalition of environmentalists, is privatizing the fisheries — the last commons on earth.
