40 



A 10 The Seattle Times Tuesaay. Marc h 31. 1992 



i EDITORIALS 



D>e Seattle CTmes 



AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER 

 Foiuidal Auguit 10, 1896 



Alden J. BUthen, 1896-1915 C B. BUthen. 19IS-I941 



Elmer E. Todd, 1942-1949 WJL BUthen, 1949-1967 



W. J. PaiHingion, 19821985 



John A. Blethen. Chairman Emeritiu 

 Frank A. Blethen, Pnbh«ber and Chief Executive Officer 

 H. Mason Siiemore, President and Chief Operating Officer 



Michael R. Fancher, Mimjy Cameron, 



Executive Editor and Vice President Editorial Page Editor 



Alex MacLeod, Cynthia N. Meagher. 



Managing editor Aiaociate Managing Editoi 



THE MAGNUSON ACT 



Aging Fisheries Act 

 overdue for an overhaul 



AMERICANS tend to ignore our oceans We worry about 

 toxic dumps while blithely pumping sewage into bays and 

 estuaries, we carefully inspea red meat, but not seafood. 

 We are a society of beef-eating landlubbers oblivious to much 

 of what goes on beyond the hieh-tide line. 



One exception vk-as the 1976 Magnuson Fisherjr Conserva- 

 tion and Management Act, which "Amervaniied the rich 

 fishing grounds in the North Paafic and other US. waters, and 

 attempted to kick an old habit of over-harvesting fishenes 

 Sixteen years later, that act is a success story, a federal law that 

 led 10 creation of a $1 billion industry, based in Seattle 



Now that aa is senously overdue for a new look The 

 regional councils that manage the fishenes are monopolized by 

 lisnemien. nddled with multimillion-dollar conflicts of interest 

 that would not be tolerated m ihe landward oil or timber 

 indusmes. 



As a result. Ihe New England council has "managed its 

 fishing grounds to the bnnk of an ecological disaster. In the 

 Pacific, high-tech trawlers targenng cod and pollock inadver- 

 lenlly scoop up and waste untold thousands of crab, halibut and 

 salmon. The federal govemmeni spends millions of dollars on 

 researrh. management and enforcement, then doles out free 

 fishing nghts with linle regard for the interests of taxpayers or 

 consumers. 



For all its successes, the Maenuson Aa also perpetuates 

 obsolete management policies that force taxpayers to subsidize 

 the fishing industry to the rune of tens o( millions of dollars 

 Last December. US Sen Slade Gorton requested Senate 

 heanngs to tiegin reviewini; these and other problems in the 

 Magnuson Act. which is due for renewal next year In 

 particular, Gorton asked the Commerce Commmee to look at 

 the makeup of the Alaska -dominated North Pacific council, 

 which has been under increasing cntiosm in recent years 



So far, there is no sign that anybody's listening. The 

 comminee has scheduled no heanngs Alaskans like the 

 process the wav n is 



Its time for Congress to tike a senous look at the Magnuson 

 Aa, at what does and does noi work First, revamp the regional 

 councils by gmng consumers and taxpayers a voice at least 

 , equal to that of the fishing proups Eliminate the council's built- 

 in tilt toward Alaska Explore ways to reduce or eliminate the 

 '■ waste of valuable protein 



Most imponant. Congress should reexamine the basic 

 assumptions of the industrv by introducing markej efficiencies 

 into the byzantine world of fishenes management Only a 

 senous overhaul of the Magnuson Aa will do justice to the 

 owners of the resource - Amencan atizens - and to the 

 memory of the late senator who shepherded the act through 

 Congress and lent it his name 



