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New legislation would require a third party annual economic assessment on fishing communities.
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In the last days of Jan. 2011, Senator Scott Brown (R-Massachusetts) introduced a proposed amendment to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. Appropriately enough, it is called the Fishing Impact Statement Honesty (FISH) Act of 2011.
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Compared to his fellow New England congressmen, the freshman senator has some catching up to do when it comes to protecting the fishing industry. After all, the nation's largest seaport in terms of the value of catch landed, New Bedford, is in his home state. The proposed amendment indicates Brown does indeed recognize that fishermen are struggling.
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Briefly, the Act requires that economic impact statements on the affect of fishing regulations on communities be written by a third party - not the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) - and updated annually. As it stands now, NOAA files such a statement only when a new management plan is adopted.
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In a recent speech to the North Suburban Chamber of Commerce in Woburn, Mass., Brown explained his reason for the proposal. According to Brown, "I am also fighting hard for our fishermen. Many fishermen aren't working and Gloucester and New Bedford and Fall River are being crushed by the unfair catch-share regulations. This is simply unacceptable. I'm introducing a bill that will hold the [United States Commerce Department] accountable for the impacts of their regulations on fishermen and their communities."
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The goal of the proposal is to require the Commerce Department to make such an analysis so that they, and NOAA, will recognize their fishing policies have tragic economic impacts.
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The requirement for a third party analysis under the guidance of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) is a deserved insult to NOAA, an organization under investigation for enforcement corruption and shakedowns of fishermen for financial gain. They are also currently being sued for knowingly using bad data to rush the enactment of the May 1, 2010, Northeast Region groundfish catch share program.
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Should an independent study state that the regulations are hurting fishing communities, NOAA would be forced to address the problem. If the proposal were to pass as written, the Secretary of Commerce would write and implement a plan to address the negative economic impacts on fishing communities as delineated by the study.
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If you read between the lines, Brown is saying that the federal government (NOAA) is creating regulations with absolutely no consideration for the people impacted by them. In fact, a third party is needed because the government - your government - cannot be trusted to perform an honest and thorough assessment of what it is doing.
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What a sad statement.
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