February 19, 2014 — This past Friday, the fishing community including local NOAA officials, academics, members of the RI Department of Environmental Management as well as commercial and recreational fishermen provided Rhode Island's congressional delegation with input on the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act Reauthorization. The act, which is commonly called the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA), will come before congress for renewal this year.
The Magnuson-Stevens Act is the primary law governing marine fisheries management in the United States. It was originally enacted as the Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976 and amended many times. The two recent amendments were the Sustainable Fisheries Act of 1996 and then the MSA of 2006.
Senator Shelton Whitehouse, D-RI, organized the input session for the congressional delegation and fishermen at the Coastal Institute on the URI Bay Campus. Senator Whitehouse said, "We are in the process of considering the Act and want your input. As you know this is not the only opportunity for input, many of you have and will continue to connect with us about fisheries issues and the MSA but his is a good start."
Congressmen James Langevin, D-RI, in opening comments spoke about a draft MSA bill being circulated by Representative Doc Hastings, R-Wash, "The draft bill proposed by Representative Hastings would strip away a lot of the gains of the Magnuson-Stevens Act." Director Janet Coit of the Department of Environmental Management said that the Hastings bill would weaken Annual Catch Limits (ACL), which have served us well to rebuild fish stocks in RI and the nation.
A common theme related by fishermen and fish managers at the meeting was fishermen participation in data collection and research. Ted Platz, commercial fishermen and an active member of the fishing community and monk fishery said, "We need fishermen to play an active role in fishery research." The collaboration between researchers and fishermen is key, the days of relying on just government sponsored research are gone. It has proven not to be effective.
As a member of NOAA's Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee's Recreational Working Group and an active member of the Rhode Island recreational fishing community, I testified at the hearing.
Highlights of my testimony are noted below.