In response to John Sackton’s editorial on the reauthorization of the Magnuson Stevens Act as well as Rod Moore’s response, I offer the following.

As someone who has operated under Magnuson Stevens Act and American Fisheries Act since the inception of those laws, and involved in the groundfish industry in New England for more than 40 years, and having served on the NEFMC for 9 years, I for the most part agree with Rod Moore.

The rigid arbitrary rebuilding timelines and unrealistic rebuilding targets that almost no one thinks are realistically achievable and that do not reflect current ecological conditions, along with very thin survey data that some would argue is not statistically valid, constitute a recipe for failure.

The whipsaw of drastic changes from one year to the next in the assessments all point to the much needed flexibility on rebuilding time lines and targets.

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