WASHINGTON — July 27, 2011 – U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine), Ranking Member of the Commerce subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard, together with fellow Maine Senator Susan Collins and their senate colleagues from Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire today asked NOAA for common-sense adjustments to New England's sector-based management system.
In a letter to Eric Schwaab, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, Snowe and a bipartisan group of Senators proposed several adjustments to the 15-month-old management plan to help the region's fishermen achieve greater predictability in their business and harvesting practices.
"In an environment in which the regulator, as stakeholders have repeatedly stated, ‘no longer has any focus on economic growth of the industry,' many fishermen are rightfully frustrated that federal regulations are working against their efforts to simultaneously sustain fisheries for future generations while optimizing their harvests in the near term," said Senator Snowe. "Working in conjunction with fishermen whose livelihoods depend on the health of the fisheries, NOAA can address these concerns through specific operational changes that will build upon and enhance the current system."
The letter asserted, "Effective fisheries management rests on reliable processes that promote stability for both fishing businesses and managers. Consistent with national fisheries policy, these adjustments will provide significant benefits both to fishermen and for the resource, and help the New England groundfish fishery move further down the path to a sustainable ecological and economic future." Text of the letter is attached.
Senator Snowe and her colleagues proposed the following adjustments to the sector-based management system:
• Explore ways to achieve a more affordable at-sea monitoring system with costs comparable to other regions of the country, and to phase in industry assumption of these costs;
• Evaluate existing regulations to be sure they remain relevant and necessary for the protection of the resource, and allow increased flexibility wherever possible;
• Update and integrate data management and sharing systems at NMFS so that accurate ACE reconciliation can occur in real time, reducing the potential holdback of allocation in the following fishing year;
• Speed up the delivery of socioeconomic information to the Council to increase transparency and improve decision-making, and to build capacity so socioeconomic data can be timely and effectively incorporated into the management process;
• Reward good fishing practices by allowing carry-over greater than 10% of underutilized quota into the following fishing year where biologically appropriate;
• Evaluate the effectiveness of permit banks; and
• Involve industry members in the identification of potential candidates for key leadership positions in the region.
Read the letter from the Senators.