Stocks of red snapper in the Southeast U.S. are reportedly down to only 3% of what they should be, leading federal fisheries biologists to propose a ban.
Never one to respect government regulators or the environment, REP. JOHN LUIGI MICA has proposed legislation to dely/halt the ban. Not much chance of it passing before the August recess, but, hey, MICA's not looking to pass a law -- he wants another headline.
Fishing boat captains are not scientists and their "data" is suspect. The notion of substituting putative observations from interested parties (fishing boat captains) for scientific data is, at best, facetious.
JOHN LUIGI MICA's pork barrel politics is of the same genre as that from Michigan legislators, ever protective of GM, who blocked airbags, blocked higher gas mileage and blocked air pollution controls. Their provincialism helped lead to the bankruptcy of Chrysler and GM -- Japanese and German auto makers made cars Americans wanted, while Detroit built dinosaurs.
The sooner the red snapper limitation starts, the sooner the fish can recover and the sooner fishing can resume. Delaying the red snapper limitation threatens the health of red snapper, and the entire fisheries industry.
Rather than acting like a statesman and simply ask for a briefing or hearing, once again (regrettably), JOHN LUIGI MICA is acting like a small-bore politician, seeking to obstruct progress with a demagogic attempt at grandstanding to fishermen.
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