WELCOME TO BILL'S CORNER!

Dear Constituents,

After several years of public discussion about how to improve fishery policies in the United States, the Bush Administration has proposed a suite of changes to the Magnuson-Stevens Act, a public law that drives fishery management decisions. Next year marks the 30-year anniversary of the Act and the 10-year anniversary of the last time Congress reauthorized it to focus more on sustainable fishing.

We look forward to a hearty dialogue on Capitol Hill as our recommendations are considered alongside others before the Act is reauthorized once again. I am certain that 2006 will be an important year for setting U.S. ocean policy, and I look forward to taking our constituents’ ideas to the Hill for this discussion.

The bill we submitted to Congress would implement the fishery management portions of the President’s U.S. Ocean Action Plan, an outgrowth of recommendations by the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy. As discussed below, our proposal would end overfishing faster, rebuild overfished stocks quicker, and place business decisions back into the hands of fishermen while making the industry safer. Further, our proposal would strengthen the marine science that supports fishery management decisions and broaden representation on the fishery management councils.

Our proposal is aimed at increasing the number of fisheries that are managed under dedicated access privilege programs, the most common of which are individual fishing quotas. This type of management program has been successful for several fisheries in the United States. Dedicated Access Privileges (DAPs) can reduce overall regulation, allowing fishermen to decide when, where, and how to fish for bigger profits, more convenience, and increased safety. These programs reduce the “race for fish,” cap annual catches, ensure that fishing fleets do not grow beyond capacity, and promote sustainable fishing by giving individuals ownership in the fishery and incentive to conserve.

The biggest concern I’ve heard about expanding the use of DAPs is that quota shares could be consolidated into large corporations, thereby eliminating independent fishermen. I’m on record with a pledge that we wouldn’t allow this to happen. Our bill mandates consideration of this aspect. Independent fishermen have made up the landscape of our nation’s historic fisheries for generations, and we aren’t trying to change that.

Our proposal also would stop overfishing within the first two years of a rebuilding plan. The Magnuson-Stevens Act currently does not include a hard deadline to end overfishing. Rather, it includes conditions fishery managers must consider when determining when overfishing should end – conditions such as the biology of the species and impacts on fishing communities. These conditions have led to the continued practice of overfishing on many depleted stocks, such as cod in the Northeast. Overfishing on cod will phase out by 2009, and 2004 was the first year of a 22-year rebuilding plan for Georges Bank cod. If cod currently were managed under the Administration’s proposal, overfishing would end next year and the rebuilding timeframe would be much shorter than 22 years.

Some groups have responded unfavorably to this proposal, challenging that it is less conservation-oriented than the current law. Their response is based on an interpretation of current law that overfishing should end immediately. The Act currently states that overfishing should end “as soon as possible.” This wording has allowed overfishing to be phased out over many years for some species, while the Administration’s proposal would place a hard deadline of two years to end overfishing. Our proposal clearly is more conservation-oriented than current law as we seek to end overfishing so that we can more quickly rebuild depleted fish stocks.

Finally, we are proposing to increase our knowledge about recreational fishing by instituting a universal registration system for all anglers who participate in offshore saltwater fishing. The recreational fishing community has grown in both numbers and importance with regard to economic contributions to coastal communities. We need to be able to accurately account for their economic and environmental impacts. Many states have recognized the value of an angler registration. Our proposal calls for NOAA to use state databases to prevent duplication and to institute a federal registration for those states that do not register saltwater anglers. We prefer that the states have their own registration program, but we’re prepared to develop our own if necessary.

Our proposal contains many other features that we believe will lead to sustainable fishing and healthy marine ecosystems. I encourage you to visit our Magnuson-Stevens Act site, where we’ve posted fact sheets for each primary recommendation in the bill, a press release, a section-by-section analysis, and the bill itself.

I’ll keep you posted on our progress with this bill. Until next time, stay safe and happy fishing!

References

Magnuson-Stevens Reauthorization Bill Information Site