BOSTON (AP) — Congress passed a law Tuesday that fishermen say will bring fairness to fish-sharing negotiations with Canada and likely lead to a higher catch limit on a key New England species.
Every year, negotiators decide how much each nation can pull up in a rich section of the Georges Bank fishing grounds that includes both U.S. and Canadian waters. The new law allows the U.S. to deal with Canada without being held to the tight 10-year timeline to rebuild the fish stocks, which applies in all other American waters.
Without the pressure of that timeline, Canada can allow its fishermen to catch more of a given species in a given year. The change evens things out, lawmakers said.
"For too long, our fishery managers have been placed at a competitive disadvantage in negotiating catch limits with their Canadian counterparts because of an erroneous interpretation of the law," said Sen. Olympia Snowe, a Maine Republican, who led the push for passage of the law with Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Barney Frank.
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