The Pew Environment Group along with 80 congressional leaders, hundreds of scientists and environmental and fishing organizations, and nearly 200,000 members of the general public have urged the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to rewrite its proposed fisheries rule that would undercut the nation’s bedrock environmental law, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
According to Pew many public comments the administration received supported the need for a strong NEPA rule to protect America’s marine fisheries. Lee Crockett, director of federal fisheries policy for the Pew Environment Group, told that the oceans are under assault from global warming, pollution and industrial-scale fishing, yet NMFS has proposed weakening the one law that protects entire ecosystems.
According to Crockett the NEpa proposal isn’t just bad for our oceans, it’s also bad for the fishermen who depend on them for their livelihood. He said that the proposal vests too much authority in the fishery management councils while limiting the public’s ability to participate in the environmental review process. It also provides too little guidance on how NEPA can be used to evaluate and minimize fishing’s impacts on marine ecosystems.
It is said that eighty members of Congress, including five House committee chairs, have signed letters to NMFS calling on the administration to craft a proposal that protects, rather than threatens ocean ecosystems. A similar letter was also signed by 79 leading scientists and 160 environmental organizations and commercial and recreational fishing associations urging NMFS to protect the nation’s ocean environment.
