NECN - Broadside: Congressman Lynch on Fishing Catch Limits

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By Unknown

U.S. Congressman Stephen Lynch joined Broadside Friday to discuss an array of issues, including new fishing regulations and the Boston Marathon bombing investigation.

Mass. Attorney General Maratha Coakley filed a suit against the federal government this week to block rules that she called a "death sentence" for New England's fleet. The filing comes four weeks after major new cuts in catch limits for bottom-dwelling groundfish went into effect May 1.

Lynch, who was at the event with Coakley and the fishermen, says the science behind the regulations is "shaky".

"We've tried to work out a balanced approach here, but we've gotten no where. I think it's been ideology that's really been driving this," he says.

Fellow U.S. Congressman Bill Keating, who is on a fact-finding mission in Russia, says the bombings could have been avoided had U.S. agencies shared information better.

Lynch says he's waiting for Keating's report before he judges.

"The other thing you have to remember is our law enforcement back here, if you go by the terrorist identification - Datamart, the lists they get, the tide list - there's 750,000 names on there ... so they're looking at a list of 750,000 names, when you look at that after the fact that one person's, you know, data, it's a little bit more telling," he says.

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