SEAFOODNEWS.COM by Ken Coons — September 15, 2014 — It was refreshing to attend a fisheries focused meeting last week at the Brookings Institution in D.C. opened by the eminent former Secretary of the Treasury Robert E. Rubin.
Instead of gloom, he stressed the economic value of fisheries to the U.S. economy and recognized the significant progress the U.S. has made in achieving sustainable fishing of the vast majority of its stocks.
The occasion was a Hamilton Project proposal by Christopher Costello, UC-Santa Barbara and the National Bureau of Economic Research.
The proposal calls for an amendment to the Magnuson-Stevens Act that would “design and adopt fishery management approaches that significantly improve fishery value, recovery and security for fishing communities as well as ecological outcomes.”
Costello’s proposal calls for evaluating the current systems of fishery management against a new approach that is focused on increasing fisheries value to those ports most dependent on fisheries economic activity
The top four “fishing intensive” local economies were identified as (1) Petersburg Alaska census area (2) Knox County, Maine (3) Hoonah-Angoon Alaska census area and (4) Pacific County, Washington.
The proposal sees many benefits in the catch share system of fishery management but notes the wide disparity in adoption of catch shares by region. 59 percent of North Pacific landings are under catch share systems, 39 percent of West Coast landings, 35 percent of Mid-Atlantic landings and 11 percent of New England landings are under catch share systems. The percentages for the South Atlantic and the Gulf were around 1 percent. Overall, roughly half the fish caught today in the U.S. is harvested under catch share management .
Responding to Costello’s proposal was a four person panel: Lee Crocket, Director U.S, Oceans, Pew Charitable Trusts ; John Mimikakis, Associate V.P. Oceans, Environmental Defense Fund; John Pappalardo, Executive Director, Cape Cod Fishermen’s Alliance and Captain Steve Tomeny , Steve Tomeny Charters.
The program was moderated by Melissa Kearney who directs the Hamilton Project and is a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution.
During the discussion of Costello's proposal, the criticisms of the catch share system were recognized and aired. (EDF is a strong proponent whereas Crockett from Pew and Oceana which was represented in the audience, have misgivings.) Lee Crockett was concerned that the proposal takes the emphasis off protecting and rebuilding the resource which he believes must come first. He also pointed out the tendency of the catch share system to create winners and losers. John Pappalardo and several others noted that some of the criticism of the catch share system resulted from the fact that quotas were being cut at the same time catch shres were being introduced. He seemed receptive to the idea of placing more emphasis on economic value and said, based on his experience as chairman of the New England Fishery Management Council, the economic implications of management measures were buried in the footnotes or other supporting material.
Steve Tomeny gave a fascinating history of his experiences with the red snapper fishery in the Gulf. He is on the board of the recently formed Charter Fishermen’s Association (CFA) which is developing a separate fisheries management plan for the charter- for-hire sector, under Reef Fish Amendment 40. John Poppalardo described the two loan programs of The Community Development Partnership that helps Cape Cod groundfish fishermen and scallopers to purchase the fishing quota they need to stabilize and grow their businesses.
The next steps for Costello's proposal would be an amendment to the MSA “to give fishing communities the information necessary to advocate for management approaches that reflect their economic, social and ecological goals." The proposal calls for additional funding for NOAA to support the analyses which would be done under the aegis of the existing regional fishery management councils. Given the substantial horsepower on the 40-member Advisory Council backing the Hamilton Project and the packed roomful of suits at this event, I assume this proposal will have some legs and will get serious attention despite the significant challenges it faces.
Click here for information on the event.
This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.