Boating Industry Leaders Have Expressed Their Concern Over The Proposed Rule Expansion And The Devastating Impact It Would Have On Coastal Economies In Georgia And Across The Atlantic Coast.Last week, Congressman Buddy Carter (R-GA-01) met with local business leaders to discuss concern with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s proposed expansion of its North Atlantic Right Whale Vessel Strike Reduction Rule that would impact the recreational boating and fishing community in Georgia.
Speakers included Rep. Carter, Georgia State Representative Ron Stephens, James McCurry of the Georgia Ports Authority, Bruce Fendig of the Pilots Association and Captain Michael Kennedy of the Sea Island Company.
Boating industry leaders have expressed their concern over the proposed rule expansion and the devastating impact it would have on coastal economies in Georgia and across the Atlantic coast. In Georgia alone, the recreational boating industry is responsible for an annual economic impact of $7.8 billion, which supports more than 27,000 Georgia jobs and benefits nearly 700 of the states’ businesses.
“This is very serious,” said Rep. Buddy Carter. “What NOAA is trying to do here we all want to help with, and that is to make sure that we save the right whales […] We don’t want to see any species go extinct, but what NOAA is trying to implement here is simply something that won’t work.”
Rep. Carter has taken action to protect coastal economies and crafted bipartisan legislation that would halt NOAA’s proposal and require the agency to instead implement real-time location monitoring technology solutions that would allow boaters to maintain safe distances from North Atlantic right whales. Rep. Carter’s legislation mirrors bipartisan legislation that has also been introduced in the Senate.
For more information, visit coastalrecreation.org.
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