Oceans in Trouble: contact senators re: Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Act

[wordpix2]

Bill is S.2012

http://www.patagonia.com/enviro/oaw/magnuson_stevens.shtml?sssdmh=dm23.79458&project=oaw2

snip: Our oceans are in serious decline and need help now. Overfishing, marine habitat destruction, coastal development and pollution are pushing our ocean systems to the brink of collapse. Congress now has the opportunity to reverse this current course by reauthorizing and strengthening the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA), the primary law governing fishing in U.S. ocean waters. This opportunity only comes once every 10 years, so the Senate needs to hear from you today!

The bill created to reauthorize MSA, S. 2012, contains important provisions that will strengthen the environmental protections in the MSA, originally enacted in 1976. However, there are significant ways that the Senate can further strengthen S. 2012. The most important changes include strengthening the provisions in the bill requiring fishery managers to adopt annual catch limits consistent with the recommendations of independent scientists, and holding managers accountable if they exceed these limits. Because the bill is reauthorized only once a decade, now is the time to tell our Senators to make these important changes.

[northofdenali]

1. And it's Alaska's far-right ANWR-screaming Senator

none other than Uncle Ted Stevens, who is co-sponsor. It's a good act; fortunately, I know my other Senator, Lisa Murkowski, is far enough into Ted's pocket to vote yes.

[Blue_In_AK]

2. The one thing I can think of that Ted's done right. :-)

[northofdenali]

3. Yeah, he rocks on this one. He's pushed to protect the

fisheries for years. Believe it or not, he wasn't a bad guy back in '72 when he was first elected (after Nick Begich and Hale Boggs were killed in a plane wreck). I had a HS graduation "congrats" note from him that year, written on recycled paper.

Power corrupts.

[Blue_In_AK]

4. I've been here since '75...

I remember "good" Ted, too. When HUD sold me my present home with a very bad roof that they covered up and lied to me about, his office seriously went to bat for me with the HUD guys in DC. Didn't do any good, but at least he tried. I've voted for him several times, but I've been very disappointed with him of late. It's kind of ironic that both Ted and Don Young hold their positions because of the deaths of Democratic congressmen (Bob Bartlett in the Senate and Nick Begich in the House). That's why I keep reminding people that Alaska was once Democratic and could be again. Our state is certainly not a lost cause, no matter how it appears.

[northofdenali]

5. I wish there were a lot more of us old-timers, Blue

once the pipeline boom hit and the oil companies started importing their neocon oil workers from the South, things went to shit, at least here in Fairbanks. I think back on the pre-pipeline boom with strong nostalgia, even though the state, and everyone else, was broke.

Unless we can keep some of our young folks, which I don't see happenening unless they're employed by the oil or fisheries industries, most hope of "liberalizing" Alaska is gone. I'm not giving up, nor will "they" run me out, but I do despair at times.