Senator Stevens wants to curb overfishing

Dec 28, 2005

Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, is calling to boost safeguards for the nation's coastal fisheries to curb overfishing.

In the Senate Commerce Committee, Stevens introduced debate to force the nation's 13 fishery management councils to follow scientists' recommendations on fishing quotas, the Christian Science Monitor reported Wednesday.

However, many members of Congress are against tougher controls because of fears the controls could cause economic harm to local fishing communities.

"There's been a significant amount of pressure to go back to the way things were," says Lee Crockett, of the Marine Fish Conservation Network in Washington. "This (Stevens) bill as it stands now would preserve the 1996 shift to sustainability. That's first and foremost the most critical feature of the legislation."

The Stevens-sponsored bill required any amount of fish caught in excess of a fishing quota to be deducted from the following year's catch, but Massachusetts Sens. John Kerry and Edward Kennedy, both Democrats, and other New England politicians wanted language that softened the quota requirements, according to Mark Powell, national director of fish conservation for the Ocean Conservancy in Washington.

Copyright 2005 by United Press International

Explore further: The tea party and the politics of paranoia

add to favorites email to friend print save as pdf

Related Stories

Calculate your nitrogen footprint

May 15, 2013

Carbon footprints are a familiar way to assess how green your lifestyle is, but now you can also measure your nitrogen footprint using a new tool, the N-Calculator.

Plans for giant Antarctic marine sanctuary falter

Sep 14, 2012

(AP)—Antarctica's Ross Sea is often described as the most isolated and pristine ocean on Earth, a place where seals and penguins still rule the waves and humans are about as far away as they could be. But ...

Recommended for you

The tea party and the politics of paranoia

18 minutes ago

Members of tea party claim the movement springs from and promotes basic American conservative principles such as limited government and fiscal responsibility.

The new retirement: No retirement?

58 minutes ago

For growing numbers of Americans, the new retirement may really mean no retirement. That's the conclusion of an article in the current issue of the ISR Sampler, the annual magazine of the University of Michigan Institute ...

Striking a balance on taxes

58 minutes ago

Now that April 15 has come and gone, most Americans have turned their attention away from taxes. But MIT student Stefanie Stantcheva continues to ponder the trade-offs associated with taxation.

Social media puts HR ethics under the spotlight

1 hour ago

Social media has definitely changed the game for job-seekers and recruiters. Traditionally, HR recruiters placed an advertisement, sifted through the responses, and interviewed the shortlisted candidates ...

User comments : 0

More news stories

The new retirement: No retirement?

For growing numbers of Americans, the new retirement may really mean no retirement. That's the conclusion of an article in the current issue of the ISR Sampler, the annual magazine of the University of Michigan Institute ...

Striking a balance on taxes

Now that April 15 has come and gone, most Americans have turned their attention away from taxes. But MIT student Stefanie Stantcheva continues to ponder the trade-offs associated with taxation.

Social media puts HR ethics under the spotlight

Social media has definitely changed the game for job-seekers and recruiters. Traditionally, HR recruiters placed an advertisement, sifted through the responses, and interviewed the shortlisted candidates ...

Theorists weigh in on where to hunt dark matter

(Phys.org) —Now that it looks like the hunt for the Higgs boson is over, particles of dark matter are at the top of the physics "Most Wanted" list. Dozens of experiments have been searching for them, but ...

Coral reefs 'ruled by earthquakes and volcanoes'

(Phys.org) —Titanic forces in the Earth's crust explain why the abundance and richness of corals varies dramatically across the vast expanse of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, a world-first study from the ...