FEDS DECLARE FISHERY DISASTER IN NEW ENGLAND

[xchrom]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_FISHING_DISASTER_DECLARATION?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-09-13-11-11-20

BOSTON (AP) -- The U.S. Commerce Department has declared a national fishery disaster in New England, opening the door for tens of millions of dollars in relief funds for fishermen.

U.S. Sen. John Kerry said he's secured a commitment from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to include $100 million for fishermen and fishing communities in emergency assistance legislation. He said the job after Thursday's declaration is to fight for the money in a potentially reluctant Congress.

Kerry and others have long pursued the disaster declaration, saying the industry is being devastated by federal fishing regulations.

They say fishermen have been following rules designed to stop overfishing, but key fish stocks continue to decline, mandating ruinous catch limits.

[phantom power]

1. "ruinous catch limits" -- well, we can always remove the limits, and then...

the problem will be solved, very permanently, for everybody.

[leftyohiolib]

2. too many fishers

[happyslug]

7. No one is calling for the limits to be removed

Everyone is saying this is a disaster and something has to be done, but NO ONE is advocating setting the limits higher. All this is is assistance to the fishermen to help them survive till the fish stocks recover. Everyone accepts the fact the fish stocks have to recover and that means servere limits, thus why bring up removing the limits?

[msongs]

3. kill all the fish then complain there are none left? whatta scheme nt

kill all the fish then complain there are no fish left?

[GliderGuider]

4. Hey, it worked for us up here in Canuckistan with our cod fishery...

Yes, there's a disaster, but it's a lot worse for the fish than the fishermen.

[stuntcat]

5. +1,000

ty. It's one of those stories that is not going to get better, not in this decade anyway.

[AverageJoe90]

6. You may be correct, unfortunately. nt

[happyslug]

8. No one is saying the limits are WRONG, everyone is for them

This assistance is to help them survive till the fish stocks recover. Everyone accepted something had to be done and the Federal Government did it by setting very low catch limits. The problem is that it appears the limits were NOT set low enough and thus the limits must be set even lower. This means a lot of people will no got out to fish, for they had hit their limit.