Opinion

March 21, 2012 – Fishermen from around the country are in Washington, D.C., this morning for a second rally in two years. February 2010's rally aimed to bring attention to the struggles of the industry under the catch limits imposed by NOAA. Today, the message is to support bills pending in Congress that would inject flexibility and practicality into the process.

That first rally prompted Sen. John Kerry to schedule a Senate hearing in Boston at Faneuil Hall, which introduced the region to NOAA boss Jane Lubchenco. It helped the disparate fisheries, with all their idiosyncrasies, discover their commonalities and leverage. It landed the issue on the radar screen of the national media. And it prompted legislators to seek changes to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.

Bills proposing change to the act will take center stage at today's rally.

One of those bills, S. 632, is known as the Flexibility in Rebuilding American Fisheries Act of 2011. One of its main features is to amend the language of the 1996 act to say that, instead of rebuilding fisheries as quickly as "possible," to do it as quickly as "practicable." It shares language with H.R. 3061, the Flexibility and Access in Rebuilding American Fisheries Act of 2011, which also includes language to allow the Commerce secretary to amend catch limits based on real-time fishing data.

Read the complete editorial from The Standard-Times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On March 21st thousands of recreational and commercial fishermen, their families, and people in fishing dependent jobs are going to gather at the U.S. Capitol to ask Congress to put the regulatory flexibility back into the Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management Act that was intended to be there when the Act was written.

This flexibility wasn’t there as a way to allow fishermen to get around effective management measures; it was there because the original authors realized that at the time neither the scientists nor the bureaucrats who were “in charge” possessed all of the knowledge necessary to manage the fish and the fisheries effectively. Hence they made allowances for participation in the decision making process they designed by fishermen whose on-the-water experience would help to fill in the management voids left by imperfect and/or inadequate science. They recognized at the time that informed judgment had a definite place in the fisheries management process and made provisions for it.

Since then that informed judgment has been replaced by arbitrary and often (usually?) unrealistic performance measures that the scientists and bureaucrats have neither the ability to effectively determine nor whose outcome they can reliably predict.

Ostensibly acting for the long term good of the fishermen and the fisheries, a handful of multi-billion dollar foundations and the ENGOs and fishermen’s organizations that they have used their power and their influence to co-opt have been responsible for this. Their argument is that just about every fisherman – other than those few who they are now subsidizing – has been and still is too mired in the day-to-day realities of making a living on the water to be really committed to sustainability. Accordingly they are going to force them to fish sustainably by getting rid of all of that “unnecessary” legislative flexibility, regardless of the short-term impact on jobs and investments in the fisheries.

Read this opinion piece from Fish Net USA.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Fisheries Investment and Regulatory Relief Act authored by Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) will make significant progress toward improving data collection and science in our nation’s fisheries. Too often fishermen are forced to follow regulations based on bad data or science.

This new law could inject more than $100 million a year into improving stock assessments and research in fisheries around the country. Moreover, it requires no new tax or fee. It will reestablish the intent of the Kennedy-Saltonstall Act passed 58 years ago and direct money collected from duties paid on fish imports to improved science and research at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).

The Charter Fishermen’s Association is proud to support this legislation as a forward step toward strengthening fishermen’s confidence in the agencies that regulate our fisheries. We will be contacting lawmakers over the coming weeks to inform them of our support for this legislation. We call on other concerned anglers across the Gulf of Mexico and around the country to the same.

Read the complete letter from Gary Jarvis at The Destin Log.

 

 

 

 

 

Last week, a U.S. District Court took an historic first step towards restoring not only the Massachusetts fishery but the entire ocean ecosystem by requiring the government to protect Atlantic herring and shad—bottom-of-the-food-chain species that are the basis of the ocean food web for the Northwest Atlantic. This decision, achieved through Earthjustice litigation, will help shape future fisheries management around the nation.

Known as forage fish, these species are a significant food source for cod, striped bass, tuna, ospreys, killer whales, river otters and countless other marine creatures. Their numbers have declined by 90 percent over the last two decades due in significant part to industrial trawlers that clear-cut the ocean floor and wipe out entire runs of river herring with a single net haul. Without these critical links, the entire ocean food chain is weakened.

Read the complete opinion piece from Earth Justice.

 

 

 

 

 

8 March 2012 – So, NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenco says she was "appalled" to learn of the abuses on her law enforcement agency's luxury boat bought by fines built on the backs of our fishermen?

She may well be. But she and first-year Commerce Secretary John Bryson would also do well to remember the old adage that actions speak much louder than words.

And despite Lubchenco's embarrassing claims of a "top-to-bottom overhaul" of NOAA enforcement personnel and policies, her actions continue to tell quite a different story as long as the likes of former NOAA police chief Dale Jones is sitting in a $150,000-plus NOAA job.

To that end, Congressman John Tierney is right on the mark in calling for a long-overdue congressional investigation of the luxury boat fiasco. And we can only hope that such a probe also opens the door to the kind of full congressional probe — with subpoena power  — of NOAA's regulatory and enforcement that's so desperately needed.

Read the complete editorial by The Gloucester Times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Massachusetts, commercial fishing supports more than 77,000 jobs. Recreational fishing is also an important part of our maritime economy and our local research institutions are world-renowned. However, today our fishermen continue to face economic peril and they are deeply frustrated by science and research they don't trust and federal regulators in whom they lost faith when abuses were exposed by an investigation.

We can take an important first step in changing the relationship between our fishermen and federal regulators by passing the Fisheries Investment and Regulatory Relief Act which I am introducing in the Commerce Committee with Senator Snowe, a Republican Senator from Maine and my longtime colleague on the Committee. In the House, Congressmen Barney Frank and Frank Guinta will be introducing similar legislation.

The cornerstone of this bill is returning the use of Saltonstall-Kennedy funds to our fishermen, as was the original intent of its creators.

In 2010, the estimated total duties collected on imports of fishery products were $376.6 million. Thirty percent of that total is approximately $113 million that should be used to improve science and help our fisheries. Unfortunately last year, only $8.4 million of that $113 million was used by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for grants for fisheries research and development projects. The remaining funds were used by NOAA for their operations.

This simply can't continue, especially given the current situation facing our fisheries. Our bill will restore the investment to help the fishermen and communities for whom Sens. Saltonstall and Kennedy originally intended it to protect.

Read the complete opinion piece from The Gloucester Times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our coastal communities support the regional and statewide economy through tourism, fishing, shipping and commerce. Gov. Patrick and I understand that we cannot overlook opportunities to invest in port communities like New Bedford and Fairhaven.

Since taking office in 2007, our administration has leveraged funding through the state's Seaport Advisory Council to invest more than $12 million to improve infrastructure and economic development for over a dozen projects in the Port of New Bedford.

As chair of the Seaport Advisory Council, I work closely with local and state officials to help improve and develop the deep-water commercial ports and fund critical infrastructure projects in our seaport communities, like New Bedford and Fairhaven. In partnership with the state Legislature, Gov. Patrick approved an Environmental Bond Bill in 2008, which has funded $42 million in infrastructure and economic development projects approved by the council.

Investments in New Bedford, one of the state's 24 Gateway Cities, continue to drive economic activity locally and regionally. Over the last five years, investments approved by the Seaport Advisory Council have helped to redevelop the Port of New Bedford, which is home to a commercial fleet of 500 fishing vessels, a growing recreational boating community, two inter-island ferry services, and an active cargo shipping industry and cruising industry.

Thanks to our investment of more than $7 million in successful dredging in New Bedford and Fairhaven, the port now carries large international vessels and cruise ships in its harbor. By deepening the channels and berths, the port now accommodates the growing shipping industry, allowing a 20 percent increase in freight activity. This also has had a positive impact on the city's fishing fleet, clearing waterways for fishermen to land more than 133 million pounds of product annually, with $306 million in direct sales. Sections of the harbor once restricted because of limited depths are also attracting new and existing business expansion, especially among the extensive ship maintenance and repair facilities in Fairhaven.

The Seaport Advisory Council has also partnered with state agencies including the Department of Conservation and Recreation to invest in the New Bedford State Pier. After our administration funded $3 million in building renovations, the State Pier now serves as a vibrant terminal for the city and the commonwealth. These recent renovations accommodate cruise ships and passenger boats that carry over 100,000 people to and from New Bedford on an annual basis. Once complete, investments to the State Pier will create a centralized vessel staging center to accommodate 16 vessels that will support security, public safety, patrol and other important goals of the State Pier and Port of New Bedford.

Read the complete opinion piece from The Standard-Times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you get a check in the mail asking you to relinquish your 2012 Mass. Recreational Saltwater Fishing Permit, think very carefully before you cash it. The Division of Marine Fisheries (MarineFisheries) is collaborating with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) to collect information on the state's recreational saltwater fishery to measure its economic value.

Basically, it's NOAA's bright idea and one NOAA official reportedly said that it's going to cause a commotion, which it has. NOAA has allocated a total of $145,000 to conduct the survey of which $75,000 is earmarked for cash offers as bait to lure saltwater anglers into taking it hook, line and sinker and cashing the checks in return for giving up their 2012 Mass. Recreational Saltwater Fishing Permit and thus their privilege to fish state marine waters this year.

Nearly 20,000 anglers have already bough their 2012 permits, and the checks, ranging from $15 to $500, are in the mail to about 500 anglers. Another 700 mailings include cash offers (would you be willing to not fish this year for x-amount of dollars?) and another 700 random recipients will receive a questionnaire asking how much they'd be willing to pay for the recreational saltwater permit, other than the current $10. If you get a check and cash it, you must mail your 2012 saltwater fishing permit back.

Read the complete opinion piece from The Standard-Times.

 

 

 

 

 

Simply put, the Senate is not living up to what the Founding Fathers envisioned.

During the Federal Convention of 1787, James Madison wrote in his Notes of Debates that “the use of the Senate is to consist in its proceedings with more coolness, with more system, and with more wisdom, than the popular branch.” Indeed, the Founding Fathers intended the Senate to serve as an institutional check that ensures all voices are heard and considered, because while our constitutional democracy is premised on majority rule, it is also grounded in a commitment to minority rights.

Yet more than 200 years later, the greatest deliberative body in human history is not living up to its billing. The Senate of today routinely jettisons regular order, as evidenced by the body’s failure to pass a budget for more than 1,000 days; serially legislates by political brinkmanship, as demonstrated by the debt-ceiling debacle of August that should have been addressed the previous January; and habitually eschews full debate and an open amendment process in favor of competing, up-or-down, take-it-or-leave-it proposals. We witnessed this again in December with votes on two separate proposals for a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution.

As Ronald Brownstein recently observed in National Journal, Congress is becoming more like a parliamentary system — where everyone simply votes with their party and those in charge employ every possible tactic to block the other side. But that is not what America is all about, and it’s not what the Founders intended. In fact, the Senate’s requirement of a supermajority to pass significant legislation encourages its members to work in a bipartisan fashion.

Read the Senator's Op-Ed in the Washington Post

A recent editorial in The Economist unfairly downplays and depersonalizes the fraught process of transitioning fishery management to catch shares, glossing over the fact that it can destabilize and threaten fishers’ livelihoods. Communities where these changes have been implemented can spiral into bitterness, economic havoc and sometimes, violence.

Is that so surprising? How easy would it be for you to take a pay cut, change everything about the way you did your job, and submit to rules that stripped you of the way of life that had supported your family for generations – in return for the uncertain promise that the resource on which you depend will “likely” rebound in the future? That is a brutally personal risk to take.

I agree that enacting policies to shift incentives for individual fishers do work. But to suggest that these shifts are no-brainers, or that fishermen are stonewalling because they just don’t get it, or are simply greedy, is downright careless and disrespectful.

Read the complete opinion piece from Triple Pundit.