I was thrilled to learn yesterday that a House committee is drafting a change to the Magnuson-Stevens Act in an effort to reinstate sound management practices on the federal level.??
The U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources is attempting to write an amendment that would ensure “informed decisions based on sufficient scientific information,” committee Chairman Doc Hastings told the Gloucester (Mass.) Daily Times.??
While many New England groundfishermen are relieved for a one-year emergency management rule that allowed the New England council to cut cod quotas by 22 percent instead of 80 percent (which would have been justified if the trawl survey were not suspect), they are understandably concerned about what happens in 2013 without new science or a change to the method of gathering the data.??
We can only hope the answer lies in this new legislation and that it sees the light of day.??
Federal managers have nothing to fear from cooperative research and data. It’s time we brought the expertise of fishermen to the table across the country.
