On the recordJune 1, 2015
I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. MacArthur), another hard-working member of our committee. Mr. MacARTHUR. Mr. Chairman, there are probably almost as many boats as people in my district, and that is because I represent one of the most beautiful stretches of the Atlantic Ocean, from north to south, the southern part of the Jersey Shore. I have thousands of charter and commercial fishermen and tens of thousands of recreational fishermen who either make their living from the sea or get some respite and go out and do some recreational fishing. I hear from them all the time that the current Magnuson-Stevens Act is simply not working any more for them. It is outdated. It is arbitrary. We are continuing to protect fish stocks that have been completely rebuilt, and it is based on knee jerk, not sound science today. It is desperately in need of reform. The economic impact in my State alone is $1.3 billion from the recreational side and over $2 billion from the commercial side. It is 30,000 jobs. There is nobody who lives along the coast who wants to go back to the Wild West days when anyone can catch whatever they want and destroy the fish stocks. Nobody wants that, but the current system is not working, and it needs to be reformed. This is a good bill that offers real solutions. It preserves fish stocks; yet it recognizes the needs of our fishermen, and it relies on fact-based science.…
