May 30, 2015 — Stock assessment processes could be improved right now, under an FY 16 appropriations bill reported in Congress. The House Appropriations Committee reported the Commerce, Justice, Science & Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016, (H.R. 2578), which officially was placed on the congressional website on Saturday, May 30, 2015 The bill was placed on the Union Calendar for a vote. The bill calls for some improvement in the way NOAA handles fish stock information, even before reauthorization.
The bill includes $828.743 million for the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and approves NOAA’s plan to restructure its budget. The committee said that NOAA needs to improve its stock assessments and OK’d increasing use of electronic monitoring and reporting, such as e-logbooks and video to help measure catch and provide more accurate stock counts. It ordered NOAA to continue to provide Congress with quarterly briefings on its methods of assessing stocks, costs of its surveys and how it uses data.