There’s an alarming mistruth being played in Washington right now that catch shares cost American fishermen their jobs. Legislators are disguising politics as catch share knowledge, and falsely claiming catch shares create job loss. Those of us who are real fishermen know the argument is a fraudulent package.

One of those fishermen wrote a powerful perspective piece for the Wall Street Journal, which published today. Captain Scott Campbell, yields his real life testimony on how the Alaskan crabbing catch share program likely saved his life just as much as the crustaceans it was designed to protect.

Some of you may recognize Campbell’s name from the popular television series “Deadliest Catch.” He is captain of the Seabrooke, which harvests king crab and snow crab from sometimes 20-foot waves in icy conditions. In his piece, Campbell describes how old regulations forced fishermen to race against the clock, and risk their lives with reckless abandon. He argues that today’s catch shares have saved lives.

Once again, commercial fishing topped the list in 2010 for deadliest jobs in the U.S.  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, fishermen faced a fatality rate 33 times the average U.S. worker, Campbell wrote.

While some legislators have jumped the bandwagon to misrepresent catch shares with a persistent “jobs” claim, isn’t it time someone in Washington understands this:

When a fisherman loses his life while fishing, that fisherman also loses his job. Read Captain Campbell’s article here to learn how catch shares are sustaining American fishermen, and their jobs, in the fisheries wise enough to implement.

Here is the article: http://tinyurl.com/7sxlq2c