Lawmakers urge fishing limit increases
U.S. lawmakers from the Northeast, including Sen. Olympia Snowe, met yesterday with the U.S. commerce secretary to push for emergency increases in catch limits for some groundfish species.
Snowe and 12 other congressional delegates told U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and other federal fishing regulators that raising catch limits is crucial to keep the industry viable, according to reports from the Associated Press and Maine Public Broadcasting Network. New federal regulations that took effect May 1 set catch limits on fishermen working in groups called sectors, and require that fishing for all species must be halted if a sector exceeds catch limits for one species. Lawmakers argued that limits on some species, such as pollock and some flounder, are so low fishermen could quickly meet catch limits and be forced to shut down.
Snowe and others asked Locke to implement emergency measures to increase catch limits for some stocks, and asked the Obama administration to provide economic help to fishing industries in the Northeast, according to MPBN. The Commerce Department did not issue any decisions or comment on the matter, according to the AP.
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