| WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) — June 1, 2015 — Opening remarks have commenced on the floor of the House of Representatives regarding H.R. 1335, “The Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act.” Authored by Alaska Congressman Don Young, the legislation would reauthorize the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the federal law governing all commercial fisheries in the United States.
Last week, the House Natural Resources Committee released further information regarding the legislation’s intent to benefit American fishermen, and you can read their release here. You can watch the proceedings live from the United States House of Representatives here. |
After Harsh Winter, Delayed Start, and Under Strict Management, Maine Glass Eel Season Ends Below Quota
WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) — June 1, 2015 — The following was released by the American Eel Sustainability Association
After a delayed start following a lingering, record-breaking winter, the 2015 Maine glass eel season ended on Sunday. Preliminary landings estimates indicate that glass eel harvesters have fallen far short of their allowable quotas for the year. According to the American Eel Sustainability Association (AESA), the winter weather that slowed down much of the region prevented fishermen from reaching their full potential. AESA notes that the low harvest also illustrates the strength of the precautionary management system established by the state of Maine and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC).
“It’s pretty clear that after such heavy snowfall this past winter, the glass eels arrived much later in the spring than they usually do,” said Matthew Probert, a member of AESA, an organization which promotes the long-term sustainability of the American eel through responsible fishery management. “Many eels are starting to show up now, even after the season has closed. But we’re not going to have a chance to catch them.”
The limited duration of the eel season is one of several input controls that limit fishing effort in the glass eel fishery. Others include gear limitations, a ban on fishing the middle third of the river, and a prohibition on weekend fishing. These measures ensure that a certain percentage of glass eels remain free from fishing pressure, whether or not the quotas are reached.
While fishermen are naturally frustrated by input measures that prevent them from achieving maximum harvest, AESA recognizes that they are an important factor contributing to the future sustainability of this species. The Association cautions that this season’s low numbers should not be misinterpreted as an indicator of low stocks or as a sign of poor recruitment, but rather as proactive, precautionary management at work.
“Even though fishermen are understandably disappointed by this season’s harvests, the glass eel market remains robust and demand remains strong,” said AESA director, Mitchell Feigenbaum, noting that glass eels were selling at an average of $2,000 per pound this season. “With an established market and sustainable management, AESA is confident that the fishery maintains a strong foundation for a successful future.”
About the American Eel Sustainability Association:
By providing the industry and interested parties with essential information and fostering innovative partnerships, AESA provides science-based solutions to achieving eel sustainability. AESA works collaboratively with partners in U.S. government agencies, foreign government fisheries management departments, private companies, international organizations, fishermen, and individual members of the public.
MSA Reauthorization Debate Underway in Congress
WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) — June 1, 2015 — Opening remarks have commenced on the floor of the House of Representatives regarding H.R. 1335, “The Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act.” Authored by Alaska Congressman Don Young, the legislation would reauthorize the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the federal law governing all commercial fisheries in the United States.
Last week, the House Natural Resources Committee released further information regarding the legislation’s intent to benefit American fishermen, and you can read their release here.
You can watch the proceedings live from the United States House of Representatives here.
New Jersey Commercial and Recreational Fishermen Agree: Magnuson-Stevens Act Needs Reform
WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) — May 29, 2015 — Today, in the pages of the Asbury Park Press, op-eds representing both the commercial and recreational fishing communities came out in support of reforms to the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA), the federal law that governs U.S. fisheries management. The op-eds, by Greg DiDomenico of the Garden State Seafood Association, and Jim Donofrio of the Recreational Fishing Alliance, both call for additional flexibility in the rebuilding of fish stocks and the revision of other burdensome regulations on fishing communities. Importantly, both perspectives agree that reforms to the MSA are essential to serving our nation’s fisheries, both commercial and recreational.
The House of Representatives is currently scheduled next week to consider a reauthorization and revision of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, H.R. 1335, the “Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act,” authored by Congressman Don Young (R-AK). H.R. 1335 recently gained the support of a diverse group of over 150 fishermen, businesses, and organizations, who wrote to the House Natural Resources Committee urging the passage of the bill.
Read the op-ed from Greg DiDomenico of the Garden State Seafood Association here
Read the op-ed from Jim Donofrio of the Recreational Fishing Alliance here
NH Senator Ayotte Blasts NOAA; Industry Declares ‘No Confidence’ in Agency Science
WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) — May 26, 2015 — Long-simmering frustrations in the fishing community with the accuracy of NOAA’s stock assessments and the quality of the management based on their findings became a focal point of a recent hearing of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, when Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) questioned NOAA Administrator Dr. Kathryn Sullivan about federal regulations that have sharply reduced catch levels for cod by 95 percent over the last five years.
During the hearing, Sen. Ayotte cited a petition delivered to Congress by nearly 150 Northeastern groundfishermen, which declared a vote of no confidence in the NOAA assessments. The petition states that the official status of Gulf of Maine cod, as determined by NOAA’s most recent 2014 assessment, “does not remotely match what fishermen (we) have seen on the water over the past year.”
“Fishermen have little faith in what is being reported,” said Jackie Odell, the Executive Director of the Gloucester, Massachusetts-based Northeast Seafood Coalition, which represents the majority of the New England groundfish fleet and organized the petition. “They have been consistently catching fish that, according to the assessment, do not exist.”
Sen. Ayotte also questioned the rationale behind the cuts, as well as noting to Dr. Sullivan the legal requirement, under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, for NOAA to factor into its decision-making the economic costs of its regulations. This year’s Gulf of Maine cod quota is a 75 percent reduction over the 2014 quota, and overall, the cod quota has been reduced a total of 95 percent in this decade.
“I do not know a business that could take a 95 percent cut and continue to operate,” the Senator said. “How do we justify [cutting the catch limits] 75 percent in one year, and then 95 percent over five years?”
Sen. Ayotte expressed her support for one of the key recommendations of the Northeast Seafood Coalition’s petition: the creation of an independent blue ribbon panel, coordinated by either the National Research Council or the Government Accountability Office and comprised of scientists, academics, government officials, and industry leaders, to examine the underlying problems with NOAA stock assessments. The panel would present binding recommendations to improve groundfish stock assessment science and management.
“Allocations have been set so low that fishermen have spent most of their time trying to avoid fish, fish that NOAA says aren’t there,” Odell said. “We do not have the luxury of waiting 3 to 5 years for a new assessment.”
View the petition signed by the groundfish industry delivered to the US Senate here
View the petition signed by the groundfish industry delivered to the US House here
View a release on the hearing from Senator Kelly Ayotte here
NEW BEDFORD STANDARD-TIMES: White House putting politics ahead of fishery science
May 22, 2015 (Saving Seafood) — The following editorial was published today by the Standard-Times of New Bedford, Massachusetts. The newspaper takes issue with the “empty arguments” of the White House in opposition to the House Magnuson-Stevens Act reauthorization bill. The newspaper argues that the White House has “bought into a policy reminiscent of the weakly argued, ideological, biased rhetoric occasionally presented in regard to fishing policy by the less, shall we say, reasonable environmental groups.”
For the past 14 years, New Bedford has ranked first in the nation for the commercial value of fish landed. The port is home to a large segment of the Atlantic scallop fishery, the surf clam and ocean quahog industry, a significant number of groundfish vessels, and other fisheries including monkfish, red crab, lobster, skate, mackerel, butterfish, summer founder, scup and black sea bass.
Something happened Monday that made us wonder if there wasn’t finally some progress being made in fisheries management.
About 150 businesses, organizations and individuals with interests in the fishing industry on the East, West and Gulf coasts expressed their support for the U.S. House of Representatives’ Natural Resources Committee work on reauthorizing the act that regulates U.S. fisheries.
After years of losing battles with regulators, of finding too many deaf ears in Congress, of jaw-dropping incredulity over what appeared to be indiscriminate or capricious management that has decimated the Northeast groundfishing fleet, we thought it remarkable to read their letter to the committee chairman:
“This bill is the product of two years of hearings … and strikes a good balance between maintaining the essential conservation goals of the Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and improving that Act with some carefully crafted amendments to provide fisheries managers with needed flexibility. If enacted, HR 1335 will continue the rebuilding of depleted fish stocks, provide transparency, streamline the management process, and ensure that more scientific information is available to deal with data-poor fish stocks. We believe HR 1335 builds on the conservation tenets which are already part of the Act while providing economic relief to those coastal communities that have been frustrated by the rigidity of the Act.”
Now, however, we see a letter to the Natural Resources Committee from the White House stating that presidential advisers would recommend a veto of House Resolution 1335 if it were to pass in its current form.
We would suggest that the advisers who drafted this letter have either failed to do their homework, or have bought into a policy reminiscent of the weakly argued, ideological, biased rhetoric occasionally presented in regard to fishing policy by the less, shall we say, reasonable environmental groups.
We are particularly astounded by the policy statement’s assertion that: “HR 1335 would undermine the use of science-based actions to end and prevent overfishing. The current requirements of MSA are working.” Likewise, the encouragement to the committee to look back to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s proposed rule from January as being sufficient leaves us scratching our heads.
In the first case, we would point out that the current requirements of the MSA are definitely not working in the Northeast Fisheries, not by any measure that considers all 10 of the act’s national standards. Landings of groundfish diminish each year, despite the 100,000 tons of total allowable catch left in the ocean annually.
In the second case, that proposed rule of NOAA’s the advisers enthusiastically recommend notes quite clearly that 36 percent of rebuilding stocks reviewed in a 2012 report by the National Research Council “were later discovered to have never been overfished.”
Which brings us to another point: HR 1335 aims to – and must – replace the term “overfished stocks” with “depleted stocks,” because any scientific, unbiased and objective assessment of what is happening to fishing stocks must admit that there is more than fishing affecting the fish. The White House policy advisers stubbornly hold on to that term, “overfishing,” when water temperatures, salinity, natural population fluctuations, inadequate surveys and more may reasonably be assumed to be playing a more significant role in NOAA’s stock assessments.
Considerations of space prohibit further critique of this policy statement, which was delivered to Natural Resources despite HR 1335 still being far from ever making its way to the Oval Office.
In a report by Standard-Times reporter Steve Urbon this week, Conservation Law Foundation senior attorney Peter Shelley interpreted the bill as reintroducing “a lot of politics into fisheries management.” Looking at the bill and its accomplishment of making management more responsive to science, and contrasting it with the empty arguments of the White House policy statement, it seems very clear where politics fits into this.
Obama threatens veto of Chairman Don Young’s House Magnuson-Stevens Reauthorization Bill
WASHINGTON — May 20, 2015 — The following is an excerpt from a story that originally appeared today at Trade Only Today:
Despite widespread support for a bill that would change the rules and requirements around saltwater fishing, the Obama administration said it will veto the bill if it passes.
On Saturday a diverse group of 20 businesses, 51 organizations and 80 individuals representing fishermen and fishing communities from the East, West and Gulf coasts jointly signed a letter supporting HR 1335, the “Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act.”
They delivered the letter to Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, supporting the bill, which would reauthorize the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the document that governs saltwater fishing regulations for the commercial and the recreational industries.
Supporters of the reauthorization, which was authored by Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, said it would maintain the successful aspects of fisheries management under Magnuson-Stevens while providing much-needed flexibility and economic relief to fishing communities.
The letter does state opposition to a proposed amendment that would give states control over red snapper management, saying that “one radical sportsmen’s group … insists on taking the fishery out of jurisdiction of the Magnuson-Stevens Act.”
“This proposed change, supported largely by recreational fishing interests, would, according to the signatories of the letter, undermine the process in place under existing law to deal with the complex issues surrounding this fishery,” said a statement from the advocacy group Saving Seafood.
The text of the White House Statement follows:
The Administration strongly opposes H.R. 1335, which would amend the Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA), because it would impose arbitrary and unnecessary requirements that would harm the environment and the economy. The MSA currently provides the flexibility needed to effectively manage the Nation’s marine commercial, recreational, and subsistence fisheries. In contrast, H.R. 1335 would undermine the use of science-based actions to end and prevent overfishing.
The current requirements of MSA are working – the percentage of stocks that are subject to overfishing and the percentage that are in an overfished state are at historic lows. H.R. 1335 would interfere with the tremendous success achieved in rebuilding overfished fisheries by setting rebuilding targets that are not based on sound, credible science, and that unnecessarily extend the time to rebuild fisheries. In making these changes, H.R. 1335 introduces a series of ambiguous provisions that could improperly extend rebuilding periods, delaying the significant economic and environmental benefits of rebuilt fisheries to both fishermen and the Nation as a whole.
H.R. 1335 would exempt fishery management actions from the requirements for environmental analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act and replace them with a new set of standards. This provision is unnecessary, as the regional fishery management councils have integrated environmental analyses into an overall framework that is both timely and effective. For similar reasons, the provisions regarding the Endangered Species Act, the National Marine Sanctuaries Act, and the Antiquities Act are unnecessary and likely to give rise to confusion. Rather than reducing burdens on the fishery management councils, these provisions of H.R. 1335 would interfere with a well-established and integrated system and would create confusion, delay, and the potential for litigation.
H.R. 1335 would also severely undermine the authority of the Gulf of Mexico Regional Fishery Management Council by extending State jurisdiction over the recreational red snapper fishery to nine miles in the Gulf of Mexico. This proposed extension of jurisdiction would create an untenable situation where recreational and commercial fishermen fishing side-by-side would be subject to different regulatory regimes. Absent an agreement among the States as to how to allocate recreationally-caught red snapper, the bill would encourage interstate conflict and jeopardize the sustainability of this Gulf-wide resource.
The Administration urges the Congress to support the Administration’s efforts to fully utilize the flexibility in the current MSA. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a proposed rule in January updating key guidelines for implementing the MSA, which would ameliorate many of the concerns that H.R. 1335 seeks to address without undermining the fundamental, science-based requirements of the MSA. H.R. 1335 would introduce uncertainty and delays in rebuilding fisheries, undermine science-based management, weaken the protections provided by other important environmental statutes, and generate sector and interstate conflicts.
If the President were presented with H.R. 1335, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill.
Obama threatens veto of Chairman Don Young’s House Magnuson-Stevens Reauthorization Bill
WASHINGTON — May 20, 2015 — The following is an excerpt from a story that originally appeared today at Trade Only Today:
Despite widespread support for a bill that would change the rules and requirements around saltwater fishing, the Obama administration said it will veto the bill if it passes.
On Saturday a diverse group of 20 businesses, 51 organizations and 80 individuals representing fishermen and fishing communities from the East, West and Gulf coasts jointly signed a letter supporting HR 1335, the “Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act.”
They delivered the letter to Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, supporting the bill, which would reauthorize the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the document that governs saltwater fishing regulations for the commercial and the recreational industries.
Supporters of the reauthorization, which was authored by Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, said it would maintain the successful aspects of fisheries management under Magnuson-Stevens while providing much-needed flexibility and economic relief to fishing communities.
The letter does state opposition to a proposed amendment that would give states control over red snapper management, saying that “one radical sportsmen’s group … insists on taking the fishery out of jurisdiction of the Magnuson-Stevens Act.”
“This proposed change, supported largely by recreational fishing interests, would, according to the signatories of the letter, undermine the process in place under existing law to deal with the complex issues surrounding this fishery,” said a statement from the advocacy group Saving Seafood.
The text of the White House Statement follows:
The Administration strongly opposes H.R. 1335, which would amend the Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA), because it would impose arbitrary and unnecessary requirements that would harm the environment and the economy. The MSA currently provides the flexibility needed to effectively manage the Nation’s marine commercial, recreational, and subsistence fisheries. In contrast, H.R. 1335 would undermine the use of science-based actions to end and prevent overfishing.
The current requirements of MSA are working – the percentage of stocks that are subject to overfishing and the percentage that are in an overfished state are at historic lows. H.R. 1335 would interfere with the tremendous success achieved in rebuilding overfished fisheries by setting rebuilding targets that are not based on sound, credible science, and that unnecessarily extend the time to rebuild fisheries. In making these changes, H.R. 1335 introduces a series of ambiguous provisions that could improperly extend rebuilding periods, delaying the significant economic and environmental benefits of rebuilt fisheries to both fishermen and the Nation as a whole.
H.R. 1335 would exempt fishery management actions from the requirements for environmental analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act and replace them with a new set of standards. This provision is unnecessary, as the regional fishery management councils have integrated environmental analyses into an overall framework that is both timely and effective. For similar reasons, the provisions regarding the Endangered Species Act, the National Marine Sanctuaries Act, and the Antiquities Act are unnecessary and likely to give rise to confusion. Rather than reducing burdens on the fishery management councils, these provisions of H.R. 1335 would interfere with a well-established and integrated system and would create confusion, delay, and the potential for litigation.
H.R. 1335 would also severely undermine the authority of the Gulf of Mexico Regional Fishery Management Council by extending State jurisdiction over the recreational red snapper fishery to nine miles in the Gulf of Mexico. This proposed extension of jurisdiction would create an untenable situation where recreational and commercial fishermen fishing side-by-side would be subject to different regulatory regimes. Absent an agreement among the States as to how to allocate recreationally-caught red snapper, the bill would encourage interstate conflict and jeopardize the sustainability of this Gulf-wide resource.
The Administration urges the Congress to support the Administration’s efforts to fully utilize the flexibility in the current MSA. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a proposed rule in January updating key guidelines for implementing the MSA, which would ameliorate many of the concerns that H.R. 1335 seeks to address without undermining the fundamental, science-based requirements of the MSA. H.R. 1335 would introduce uncertainty and delays in rebuilding fisheries, undermine science-based management, weaken the protections provided by other important environmental statutes, and generate sector and interstate conflicts.
If the President were presented with H.R. 1335, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill.
Fishermen, Businesses, and Fishing Organizations Support House Magnuson-Stevens Reauthorization Bill
WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) – May 18, 2015 – On Saturday, May 16, a diverse group of 20 businesses, 51 organizations, and 80 individuals representing fishermen and fishing communities from the East, West, and Gulf Coasts jointly signed a letter delivered to Congressman Rob Bishop (R-UT), the Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, supporting HR 1335, the “Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act,” which would reauthorize the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. The supporters of the reauthorization, which was authored by Alaska Congressman Don Young (R-AK), state that it will maintain the successful aspects of fisheries management under Magnuson-Stevens, while providing much-needed flexibility and economic relief to hard-working fishing communities.
According to the signatories of the letter, HR 1335 will “continue the rebuilding of depleted fish stocks, provide transparency, streamline the management process, and ensure that more scientific information is available to deal with data-poor fish stocks.” This, the signatories contend, will strike the appropriate “balance” between addressing the ecological needs of fish stocks, the conservation goals of management, and the economic needs of fishing communities that are not being met by the current Act’s rigid stock rebuilding requirements.
The signatories of the letter are geographically diverse, representing the following states: Arizona, Alaska, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington. They represent many of the major fisheries and fishing regions of the United States, and while on the surface these groups may seem to have little in common, they are united in their desire to see reasonable reforms to the Magnuson-Stevens Act and additional flexibility brought to the management process.
In addition to supporting greater flexibility in federal fisheries management, the letter also opposes attempts to transfer the management of the commercial red snapper fishery from the federal to the state level. This proposed change, supported largely by recreational fishing interests, would, according to the signatories of the letter, undermine the “process in place under existing law to deal with the complex issues surrounding this fishery.”
HR 1335 was approved by the House Natural Resources Committee on April 30, and will be considered by the House Rules Committee on Tuesday, May 19 at 3:00 PM. The full House is expected to vote on the bill sometime in the near future.
View the letter to Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop here
SAVING SEAFOOD ACTION ALERT: Opportunity to Support Chairman Young’s Magnuson-Stevens Act Reauthorization
May 15, 2015 — WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) — May 15, 2015 — On April 30th, the House Natural Resources Committee reported out legislation introduced by Subcommittee Chairman Don Young (R-Alaska). In a release, Chairman Young described the bill as intending to “strengthen and reauthorize the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the primary law governing fisheries resources and fishing activities in the United States. H.R. 1335, the ‘Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act,‘ aims to improve federal fishery management in order to give Regional Fishery Management Councils the proper tools and flexibility necessary to effectively manage their fisheries.”
The Young bill has been largely supported by fishing industry interests and opposed by environmental groups. It is expected to be taken up by the House Rules Committee on Monday and could go to the floor next week.
Industry members who wish to support the bill may choose to sign onto a letter crafted by industry leaders that will be sent to House Natural Resources Committee chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) this weekend.
TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE. If you wish to add your name to the letter, please sign before noon on Saturday. The letter is currently being circulated among various pro-industry groups.
View and sign the letter in support of Magnuson-Stevens Act reauthorization here
A partial list of organizations that have have already signed the letter include:
West Coast Seafood Processors Association
Directed Sustainable Fisheries, Inc.
Fish-Net USA
Garden State Seafood Association
Lund’s Fisheries, Inc.
Cape Trawlers Inc.
Cape Clam, Inc.
Lund Marr Trawlers LLC
Mt Vernon LLC
Scombrus One LLC
Western Explorer LLC
Elite G LLC
Nancy Elizabeth LLC
Loper Bright Enterprises LLC
Sun Coast Calamari LLC
Pt. Hueneme Ice LLC
WIFTEK LLC
Golden Nugget LLC
Long Island Commercial Fishing Association
Florida Keys Commercial Fishermen’s Association
Southern Offshore Fishing Association
Pacific Seafood Processors Association
Washington Trollers Association
Saving Seafood has previously covered the ongoing developments in the Magnuson-Stevens Act reauthorization process. Links to selected stories are included below.
DON YOUNG: Magnuson-Stevens Reauthorization Moves Forward (March 17, 2015)
U.S. House Panel Advances Fisheries Law (April 30, 2015)
Seafood Coalition Opposes Changes to Gulf of Mexico Red Snapper (May 1, 2015)
JIM ODLIN: Flexibility Much Needed in Magnuson, and Will Not Harm Stock Rebuilding (May 13, 2015)
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