Congressman Bill Keating wrote to Russell Smith, NOAA's Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Fisheries, following-up on a previous, and as of yet unanswered, letter dated June 21st.
WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) October 1, 2013 — Last week, Massachusetts Congressman Bill Keating wrote to Russell Smith, NOAA's Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Fisheries, following-up on a previous, and as of yet unanswered, letter dated June 21st, and signed by the Congressman and 9 other lawmakers. Both letters regard November's upcoming meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT), at which Mr. Smith will head the U.S. delegation. They have asked him to seek out an increased total allowable catch (TAC) for the U.S. fishery.
Congressman Keating and his colleagues have urged Deputy Assistant Secretary Smith to "pursue all possible means to secure an increase in the TAC for the western Atlantic bluefin tuna stock within the range of the ICCAT scientific advice."
In his follow up last week, the Congressman further remarks, "The U.S. has agreed to a series of significant reductions in TAC throughout the past decade – from 2700mt in 2003 to 1750mt in 2013 – despite doubt surrounding accuracies and evolving interpretations of the scientific data available." The original letter sent last June notes that previous TAC reductions have diminished the U.S. allocation to such a level that may "be insufficient to sustain our traditional and valuable U.S. fisheries in any given year."
Congressman Keating's letter concludes, "It is my belief that a core objective of domestic fishery managers and international fishery negotiators is to strike an appropriate balance between the biological and economic risks associated with their decisions. Thus, I again respectively urge you to take a pragmatic approach that advances the best interests of U.S. fisheries at the upcoming ICCAT meeting."
According to the Congressman's letter last week, the U.S. Section to ICCAT will soon convene to prepare for November's full ICCAT meeting in Montreal, Canada.
Read the full letter from Congressman Keating to NOAA's Russell Sherman
Read the June 21st letter from 10 Members of Congress and the Senate to NOAA's Russell Sherman