Snowe Offers Plan to Rewrite Fisheries Rules ; the Senator's Legislation Would Relax the Regulations That Many Believe Are Driving Mainers Out of the Groundfishing Industry.

Summary

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Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe launched an ambitious effort Wednesday to rewrite federal fisheries law and relax rules she says are too rigid and too damaging to fishing communities.

Snowe's proposal, called the Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 2004, would eliminate one of the most controversial provisions in existing law: that all depleted fish populations must be rebuilt to healthy levels within 10 years. That requirement is the driving force behind dramatic new restrictions that Snowe has said are unfairly threatening Maine's 400-year-old groundfish industry.

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Snowe Offers Plan to Rewrite Fisheries Rules ; the Senator's Legislation Would Relax the Regulations That Many Believe Are Driving Mainers Out of the Groundfishing Industry.

"Of the hundreds of fisheries on our nation's coastline, no two are exactly alike," Snowe, a Republican, said in a prepared statement Wednesday. "It has become clear in recent years that implementation of the act has not fully reflecte...

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