Fishing News
Senators question groundfish count
The Associated Press
Gordon Smith and Ron Wyden say fishing cutbacks are hurting families' livelihoods.
WASHINGTON � Oregon�s U.S. senators have asked the investigative arm of Congress to look at the scientific methods used by federal officials to conclude that populations of groundfish were declining so much that fishing had to be sharply cut back.
In a letter this month, Republican Sen. Gordon Smith and Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden asked the General Accounting Office to investigate seven issues relating to the way groundfish population data are gathered and analyzed by the National Marine Fisheries Service.
�Fishing families up and down the West Coast have been devastated, and they have a right to expect that their government is going to use accurate data when that information affects their livelihood and the well-being of their families,� Wyden said.
Government data on groundfish are �relevant to whether families can survive,� Wyden said. �They have a right to expect it to be accurate.�
In September, fisheries managers effectively cut off bottom trawling on the Continental Shelf after scientists found that stocks of canary, bocaccio, yelloweye and darkblotched rockfish had dipped below population levels set by law.
The fishing cutbacks could have a long-term economic impact on some coastal communities in Oregon, Washington and California because scientists expect that restoring some of the fish to healthy populations could take nearly a century.
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