Don’t undo progress on restoring fishing stocks

If a bill proposed in Congress passes, it is likely that, in short order, we would lose the gains wrought by the hard work and sacrifice of our fishermen.

For hundreds of years, Block Island and Long Island Sounds were home to bountiful stocks of cod, summer flounder and lobster. The Connecticut coast is full of people whose livelihoods depended on those robust populations. However, our long and storied history with fishing also means we have been exploiting our resources for hundreds of years. The once abundant stocks are much diminished, and our fishermen are facing serious challenges to their future on the water.

Over 40 years ago, the government passed the landmark Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) and it reformed how fisheries were managed in the United States. MSA wove together industry, government, and other stakeholders to shoulder the work of managing American fisheries.

However, the law was not well focused on conserving fish populations — and it showed. As of 2006, just under a quarter of the fish stocks managed under MSA were overfished, and an additional 15 percent of stocks were experiencing overfishing. Trends like these meant greater instability for our coastal communities and our oceans.

This combination of overfishing, and years of inadequate management meant that our fisheries were in deep trouble and Connecticut’s long maritime tradition faced very real threats.

Fortunately, changes made to the law shifted management focus toward ending overfishing and restoring our fisheries through science-based annual catch limits and requirements for rebuilding.

With MSA’s new focus, we are managing to turn things around. Since 2006, the number of stocks facing overfishing nationwide has fallen by half, while only 20 percent of the nation’s stocks managed under MSA are now overfished. Closer to home, since facing imminent doom in the mid-1990s, the southern New England scallop fleet has become one of the nation’s most valuable fisheries. While more work is needed in other fisheries, clearly, the current MSA offers the industry, scientists, and the public the tools needed to work together to rebuild our fisheries.

Even with signs of success, the very same tools that have brought us to this point are now under threat. The U.S. House of Representatives has moved a bill forward that attacks the fundamental core of the MSA by exempting many fish populations from annual catch limits and gives managers the license to delay necessary rebuilding of depleted fish stocks. If passed, it is likely that, in short order, we would lose the gains wrought by the hard work and sacrifice of our fishermen.

While there are opportunities to update the MSA, those should be to give managers the tools to address changing ocean conditions, shifting stock populations, and to better protect essential habitats and forage fish, not to undermine the parts of the law that are bringing us back from the brink.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Rep. Joe Courtney and the other members of the Connecticut delegation have the opportunity to make sure that the MSA stays strong and grounded in science. Our communities and oceans deserve it.

Matthew McKenzie is a Connecticut obligatory delegate to the New England Fishery Management Council and an associate professor, History and Maritime Studies, at the University of Connecticut