WASHINGTON — August 1, 2014 — The newest draft of the Magnuson-Stevens Act proposes changes to fisheries management including new fees, sustainability standards, and a possible national marketing effort.
The U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries and Coast Guard chaired by Alaska Sen. Mark Begich released the latest draft version of the act July 21.
The act, or MSA, provides the framework for fisheries management in federal waters from three to 200 miles offshore. It also authorizes the regional fishery management councils, including the North Pacific Fishery Management Council that makes decisions for federal waters offshore from Alaska.
The act is up for reauthorization, and both the House and Senate have released amended versions.
North Pacific Fishery Management Council Executive Director Chris Oliver said the newest draft seemed responsive to the council’s comments on the prior draft, which the Senate subcommittee released in April.
Oliver said he planned to review the draft, and then work with the council on how it would respond.
Generally, the council and others in Alaska’s fishing industry have said that the current act is working well, and major changes are not needed as North Pacific fisheries are already managed with some of the provisions included in the new draft.
One such element would enable councils to charge a fee for management programs that allocate a percentage of the total allowable catch, or TAC, among sectors.
Oliver said that the National Marine Fisheries Service is already working on that in Alaska, although the new provision could bring a few more fisheries into such fee a collection program.
Exactly how the draft language could affect various sectors — or which ones might have fees added — isn’t clear yet, Oliver said.
In some fisheries, such as the Gulf of Alaska rockfish program, NMFS already collects a cost-recovery fee for management. Fees also already exist for individual fishing quota programs for halibut and crab.
Freezer longline vessels operating in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands work through voluntary cooperatives; whether or not those would be included in a new fee program is not yet known, Oliver said.
The draft also requires a report on a North Pacific Observer fund and other funds supported by fishery fees.
Read the full story at the Alaska Journal of Commerce