Fishing community discusses overfishing limit

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OCEAN CITY — Members of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council and the public took time Tuesday evening to pose questions and concerns to representatives of the National Marine Fisheries Service, a federal group that assesses and predicts the status of fish stocks and works to reduce wasteful fishing practices.


Questions and comments predominantly stemmed from the newly revised Magnuson-Stevens Act, which requires regional fishery management councils to establish annual quotas in federally managed fisheries to end over-fishing by 2010 for stocks currently undergoing over-fishing and by 2011 for all other federally managed fish stocks, according to a White House news media release.

Most of in attendance fell into roughly two categories: Folks whose livelihood depends on recreational and commercial fishing and thus desire annual catch limits to be set at the highest possible environmentally friendly mark, or vigilant environmental advocates who urged more cautious catch limits due to the inexact nature of the science and statistics associated with setting such limits.

The region's Fishery Management Council will continue meeting at the Princess Royal Hotel on Coastal Highway through Thursday.

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