Ocean conservationists are praising former President Bush for passing tough measures to end overfishing in US waters before leaving the White House. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which overseas US oceans policy, have issued the rules last week. It is said that these new rules will forced the nation’s eight regional fishery management councils to draw up measures to end overfishing by 2010. Fishery managers will need to establish catch limits and goals for each overfished stock.
NOAA said that these rules provide for “strong accountability measures” to enforce catch limits. Generally, ocean conservationists praised Bush for approving the rules before his departure. Conservationist Chris Dorsett told that overfishing is one of the core problems facing U.S. and world fisheries. He added that everyone is in agreement that this a good road map for the Obama administration to end overfishing.
James Cowan, a fisheries oceanographer at Louisiana State University, informed that a lot of people affected by it have a hard time believing the science. Mark Millikin, a fishery manager with NOAA who specializes in overfishing, opined that the rules cleared up statutory questions posed by regulators with the regional councils. Recreational and commercial fishing is big business in the United States, worth about $185 billion in sales in 2006, confirmed NOAA. So the government has taken stern measures to help the industry fighting overfishing.
