Washington

March 28, 2014 — Advocates for changes to recreational fishing management were on Capitol Hill Wednesday to educate members of Congress and media on the recently released Vision for Managing America’s Saltwater Recreational Fisheries.

Johnny Morris, founder and CEO of Bass Pro Shops, and Scott Deal, president of Maverick Boats, co-chairmen of the Morris-Deal Commission, joined partners from the American Sportfishing Association, the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, the Center for Coastal Conservation, the National Marine Manufacturers Association and the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership on Capitol Hill and for National Press Club briefing events.

The group first met with the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, kicking off its first briefing of the year, according to the NMMA. Congressional staff, members of the foundation’s board and representatives of the recreational fishing and boating communities filled the room.

Read the full story here

WASHINGTON — March 26, 2014 — Congress is currently revising the Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management Act, the law that governs our nation's marine resources. Recreational saltwater anglers and the sportfishing and boating industries are intensifying efforts to ensure that their social, conservation and economic priorities are well represented in the legislative process.

Today, in a series of meetings on Capitol Hill, the Commission on Saltwater Recreational Fisheries Management co-chairs, Johnny Morris, founder and CEO, Bass Pro Shops, and Scott Deal, president, Maverick Boats, briefed members of Congress and media on the commission's recommended changes to the Magnuson-Stevens Act. The commission, composed of anglers, scientists, former agency administrators, conservationists, industry representatives and economists, wants to ensure that saltwater recreational fishing becomes a priority of NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service.

"Our commission offers a clear path to better stewardship of America's marine fishery resources," said Morris. "Today we ask Congress to join us on that path. We extend the invitation on behalf of all current anglers and future generations of anglers who will enjoy our nation's resources for many years to come."

Previewed in February during the 2014 Progressive Miami International Boat Show in Miami, Fla., A Vision for Managing America's Saltwater Recreational Fisheries outlines recreational fisheries management issues that need to be addressed in the Magnuson-Stevens Act reauthorization.

Read the full story at PR Newswire

March 14, 2014 — Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren has signed onto proposed federal legislation that would develop uniform standards for vessel discharges and restore an exemption from portions of the Clean Water Act previously enjoyed by commercial fishing boats.

Warren is co-sponsoring the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act legislation filed by U.S. Sens. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., that is meant to streamline regulations and eliminate redundancies.

Rubio initially filed the bill in 2012, but it died in committee.

A similar bill, supported by the Northeast Seafood Coalition, was filed in the House last year by Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-N.J. That bill, which would place a moratorium on fines for incidental discharges from commercial vessels under 79 feet, was incorporated into the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2014 and passed last month by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

The House bill pointed out that, beginning in December, commercial fishermen, charter and tour boat operators must obtain individual permits from the federal Environmental Protection Agency to discharge, among other items, deck wash, bilge water and condensation from air conditioning systems or face fines of up to $32,000 per violation.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times 

 

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren joins the legislation's authors as a co-sponsor.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The issue of vessel incidental discharge was the subject of a Congressional hearing last week before the House Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation. A summary of the issue, related testimonies, and a video of the hearing is available here:

WASHINGTON — March 12, 2014 — The following was released by the office of Senator Elizabeth Warren:

United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D – Mass.) has co-sponsored legislation that would require the Coast Guard, in consultation with the EPA, to establish and implement uniform national standards and requirements on ballast water and other discharges related to normal vessel operation. This bipartisan bill, the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act, was introduced by Senators Mark Begich (D – Alaska) and Marco Rubio (R – Fla.). The legislation would restore the longstanding exemption for fishing boats, charter boats, and other small vessels from onerous requirements and liability.
 
“I’m pleased to support the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act, which would strengthen and streamline complicated discharge regulations while ensuring that commercial fishing boats, charter fishing operators, and other small commercial vessels are not unnecessarily burdened,” said Senator Warren. “We must take steps to preserve and protect our coastal waters, while also making sure Massachusetts’ vessel owners can continue to operate efficiently without the unintended liability of unnecessary fines and lawsuits.”
 
In 1973, when the EPA first implemented the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) pursuant to section 402 of the Clean Water Act, the Agency categorically exempted vessels from the prohibitions and permitting requirements of NPDES.  This exemption remained in place until 2005, when the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a federal district court ruling that the EPA’s 32-year-old regulatory exemption was beyond the Agency’s scope of authority under the Clean Water Act.  As a result the Coast Guard, which also regulates ballast water under the National Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and Control Act of 1990, and the EPA are now both regulating ballast water under separate, sometimes inconsistent federal statutes and implementing regulations. 
 
Additionally, for the first time commercial vessel owner/operators are now required to have an EPA permit simply to operate their vessels.  This complicated, inefficient, and confusing patchwork of federal and state requirements will only continue to grow until one set of environmentally sound standards is put in place.    
 
The Vessel Incidental Discharge Act would create national, uniform standards on ballast water discharges and replace the current patchwork system of complicated federal and state standards. These standards developed under the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act would be based on the best available technology that is economically achievable for states, and would continually be evaluated every ten years.

View a fact sheet on the legislation here

March 11, 2014 — More than a month ago, the NOAA director for the Saltonstall-Kennedy grant program said the agency was in the home stretch of determining which applicants would share in the $5 million to $11 million expected to be dispersed to grant applicants.

In the interim, February has come and gone, one-third of March is in the books and NOAA appears no closer to announcing the successful recipients than it was in late January.

“The overwhelming number of applicants and the volume of reviews needed for a robust review process takes time, but the selection process is nearly complete,” read a NOAA prepared statement sent Monday by spokesman Scott Smullen in answer to queries from The Times.

On Jan. 29, Daniel Namur, NOAA’s Maryland-based program director for the Saltonstall-Kennedy grant program, said the agency’s reviewers were “wrapping up the merit review process” and the final list of successful candidates could be finalized “within the next week.”

That has not proven to be the case. The national field of 261 applicants for the grants — including 123 from the Northeast region and more than a half-dozen from Gloucester — are still waiting to hear if they made the cut.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times 

 

March 7, 2014 — A top federal fish official will make her first trip to Alaska for ComFish in April.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, Fisheries Assistant Administrator Eileen Sobeck will attend the Kodiak event on April 17 with Sen. Mark Begich.

ComFish is an annual fisheries gathering that includes forums on current fishing issues, a tradeshow, and other activities. It began in 1980, according to the website.

“That’s really exciting to have her come here for her very first visit,” said Comfish organizer Laine Welch this morning.

Welch, who coordinates the forums and presentations at Comfish, said she sent Sobeck a letter of invitation at the suggestion of Sen. Mark Begich.

Read the full story at the Alaska Journal of Commerce

March 6, 2014 — While commercial users generally said the Magnuson-Stevens Act is working, subsistence and recreational fishers asked for a louder voice in the management process at a congressional hearing regarding the law up for reauthorization this year.

The Senate Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard held a hearing Feb. 27 to gather Alaska and North Pacific perspectives on the Magnuson-Stevens Act reauthorization currently underway.

The act, or MSA, regulates management of federal fisheries from three miles to 200 miles offshore, including in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska. It was implemented in 1976, and most recently updated in 2006. Now it’s up for reauthorization, with amendments likely.

The House Natural Resources Committee released their draft in December.

Sen. Mark Begich, chairman of the Senate oceans subcommittee, said the Senate draft could be out near the end of March, but that the committee wanted to gather as much input as possible before working on the legislation.

Read the full story at The Alaska Journal of Commerce 

 

March 6, 2014 — Today, the Senate confirmed the appointment of Dr. Kathryn Sullivan to be the new administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. She replaces Dr. Jane Lubchenco, who stepped down in February 2013. Sullivan’s background—a Ph.D. in geology, a career as an astronaut that included more than three weeks in space, and service as an oceanographer in the U.S. Naval Reserve—is ideally suited to the challenge of leading the agency responsible for the management of America’s oceans, fisheries, and the National Weather Service.

Yet despite her ample qualifications and obvious acumen, she may well look back and find that training for her space walk was easier than preparing to take the helm of NOAA. By any estimation, NOAA faces massive challenges, from the sequestration-worsened budget crunch crimping the entire federal government’s ability to carry out its congressional mandates, to the global climate crisis, to fishery management dilemmas threatening one of the nation’s oldest commercial industries.

In no particular order, here are five of the biggest issues facing the incoming NOAA administrator.

Enhancing fisheries’ profitability and sustainability

In 2006, Congress presented NOAA with a tremendous and non-negotiable challenge as part of the reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. It required the agency to effectively end overfishing in America by setting science-based annual catch limits in all domestic fisheries by 2011. Under Lubchenco’s direction, the agency achieved this ambitious goal. Nevertheless, serious challenges remain to ensure the future health of our fishing industry and the fish populations that sustain it.

While 32 fish stocks have been officially rebuilt since 2000, according to the most recent Status of Stocks report, 41 remain in an overfished state, meaning our best science suggests that their total population remains below the target level. Environmentalists, fishermen, and regulators are largely in agreement that the best way to alleviate these concerns is to improve the science used to establish these limits. But science doesn’t come cheap, so in the absence of a sudden budgetary windfall, Sullivan will have to find creative new ways to protect both the health of fish stocks and fishermen’s businesses.

One potential win-win solution is to allow a higher degree of co-management in fisheries, giving fishermen a larger role in data collection and increasing collaboration with scientists. This allows fishermen’s knowledge to enhance data collection and gives scientists the chance to explain the rigors of the scientific process to fishermen. The result is more time on the water for fishermen, and better relationships between two groups that have traditionally been at odds.

Read the full story at the Center for American Progress

March 5, 2014 — The following was released by the offices of Senator Ben Cardin and Senator Mike Crapo:

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.) Chairman of the Senate Water and Wildlife Subcommittee, and Senator Michael Crapo (R- Idaho ) have introduced a bill to leverage public-private partnerships and engage stakeholders like commercial fisherman, anglers, outfitters and other angling and sportsmen industries to make lasting improvements to the health and sustainability of our nation's fish habitats. Their legislation, The National Fish Habitat Conservation Act (NFHCA) authorizes $7.2 million annually for fish habitat restoration and protection projects that are supported by regional Fish Habitat Partnerships.

"Choosing to protect our natural resources is good for our environment and our economy. Right now we need deliberate and targeted action to stem the loss of our precious fisheries resources and millions of related jobs, by ensuring that these important aquatic habitats are better preserved," said Senator Cardin. "Our bill takes a comprehensive approach to stopping the single greatest cause of declining fish populations, by stemming the decline of healthy aquatic ecosystems that are critical to all fish species. We need to encourage healthier habitats for waterfowl and other wildlife as well as safer recreational waters for Americans to swim, boat and fish."

"The legislation we've introduced stems from Senator Cardin's and my shared goals of protecting, maintaining and improving our fish habitats," said Senator Crapo. "Instead of creating new regulations and mandates, our bill fosters partnerships between federal, regional and local stakeholders to work together to promote healthy and sustainable fish populations for our communities."

According to the most recent data available from the National Survey of Fishing , Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation http://www.census.gov/prod/2012pubs/fhw11-qkfact.pdf , in 2011, more than 90 million U.S. residents – 40 percent of all those over age 16 – participated in wildlife-related activities, including fishing, hunting and wildlife watching. These recreationists spent over $145 billion pursuing these activities, contributing to millions of jobs in industries and businesses that support wildlife-related recreation.

More than 700 species of fish can be found in the waters of North America . Fish are a cornerstone species in the ecosystem. Fish help maintain the ecological health and balance of aquatic ecosystems while providing critical sustenance to a wide variety of bird, reptile, and mammal species including iconic American species like Bald Eagles, Grizzly Bears, Great Blue Herons, and Alligators. The greatest threat to native fish species are the ecological impacts of habitat loss and habitat degradation.

Based on the successful wetlands conservation model established by the North American Wetlands Conservation Act, The National Fish Habitat Conservation Act (NFHCA) will improve the availability of financial and technical resources to support local fish habitat conservation efforts. NFHCA also better coordinates local efforts to restore regional fish habitat to assure that individual efforts will result in the greatest improvements to fish habitat across regional watersheds.

The National Fish Habitat Conservation Act is supported by the American Sportfishing Association, The Conservation Fund, Trout Unlimited, the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, and the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies.

Read the full release at the Water Environment Federation

February 26, 2014 — The following was released by NOAA:

Today, NOAA Fisheries announced that $75 million appropriated by Congress as part of the Fiscal Year 2014 federal budget will be allocated to six fisheries across the country that were declared fishery disasters by the Department of Commerce in 2012 and 2013.

Those receiving allocations from the disaster relief fund include: commercial fisheries in American Samoa following the tsunami of 2009; commercial fisheries in Mississippi following the Mississippi River flood of 2011; the New England multispecies groundfish fishery for the 2013 season; Alaska’s Chinook salmon fishery for 2011 and 2012; the Florida oyster fishery in the Gulf of Mexico due to a drought in 2012; and fisheries in New York and New Jersey following Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

”Our nation’s fisheries are critically important to the lives and livelihoods of many communities,” said Eileen Sobeck, NOAA Fisheries assistant administrator.  “NOAA Fisheries will work with affected communities, states and tribes as quickly as possible to ensure that the disaster relief funding gets allocated as quickly as possible.”

Funding recipients will have broad latitude to determine the best use of the funds to meet the unique needs of their local businesses and communities.  Funds can be used for activities that, “restore the fishery or prevent a similar failure in the future, and to assist a fishing community affected by such failure.”

There are a number of steps that have to take place before the money can be distributed. Funds are allocated out through the federal grant process. NOAA Fisheries will work with the recipients to develop spend plans and ensure that all statutory and grant requirements are addressed.  We have determined that matching requirements do not apply to states, Councils and Commissions in this particular situation.

Under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the Commerce Secretary can declare a fishery disaster, which makes it possible for Congress to appropriate funds to provide economic assistance to fishing businesses and communities, including fishermen, affected by a disaster and to support other activities addressing the disaster.

Read the full announcement from NOAA