Coastal Jobs Creation Act Could Aid Seafood Industry

Fish have been a staple in our diet and an important part of our country's economic engine since its beginning. In 2006 alone, recreational and commercial fishing activity supported more than 2 million jobs around the United States, and Americans spent more than $69 billion on seafood.

Unfortunately, we have been too lax about protecting our marine resources and the communities and jobs dependent on the ocean. A new bill in Congress, however — the Coastal Jobs Creation Act of 2010 — could help our coastal environment, as well as fishing communities — and the jobs they support — in the Gulf of Mexico and across the nation that have been hit hard by declining fish populations.

We've damaged our nation's fish populations by overfishing (taking more fish than nature can replenish), or by failing to protect the habitats fish need to survive. In the United States, nearly a quarter of our commercially important ocean fish populations — including some tuna, cod, flounder, snapper and grouper species — are severely depleted. The collapse of the salmon fishery along the Pacific Coast presents a compelling case in point.

Once the economic mainstay of both the commercial and recreational fishing industries from California to Washington, salmon have been decimated by decades of habitat destruction, dams and water diversions. The subsequent collapse of these fish populations has resulted in vanished jobs, lost family income and declining local tax revenues. A similar story played out with different fish in New England and elsewhere around the nation. We can't afford to continue managing our scarce marine resources so carelessly.

To read the rest of the story, please go to: Miami Herald.