How large of a role should the federal government have in regulating fishing fleets?
Republicans and Democrats on the House Committee on Natural Resources discussed this question Tuesday in Washington, D.C., as part of renewed efforts to reauthorize and potentially amend a 40-year-old law that works to prevent overfishing and provide aid to fishing fleets.
Committee member and California 2nd District Rep. Jared Huffman said after the hearing Tuesday that Democrats and Republicans have many agreements when it comes to fishery regulations and management.
However, he said previous attempts in recent years to amend and reauthorize the law have stalled because of “poison pill” riders that would exempt fisheries from conservation policies such as the Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Protection Act.
“Instead of making meaningful improvements to our most important fisheries statute, this process has focused on weakening fundamental environmental protections in place of making meaningful improvements to our important fisheries management framework,” Huffman (D-San Rafael) said in his opening statement at the committee hearing. “This partisan process does a disservice to hardworking fishermen across the country including those in my district.”
Members from both sides of the aisle were in agreement that the law — known as the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976 — has worked to prevent overfishing and replenish overfished stocks as was intended upon its passage.
The Magnuson-Stevens Act also created eight fishery management councils throughout the U.S. which are responsible for creating management plans for their region’s fisheries. The plans must be approved by the National Marine Fisheries Service.
Several changes to the law have been made since 1996, such as setting annual catch limits and a 10-year timeline to rebuild overfished or depleted fish stocks. Republican committee members such as Alaska Rep. Don Young said these changes have taken a one-size-fits-all approach rather than provide more flexibility for regional fishery management councils to manage their own fisheries.
Earlier this year, Young introduced a bill — HR 200 — which would have annual catch limits take into account changes a region’s marine ecosystems as well as the “economic needs of the fishing community.”
The bill would also create a more open-ended timeline for rebuilding overfished stocks rather than setting a 10-year time frame.
“I expect to pass my legislation with or without bipartisan support,” Young said.
Huffman said that Young’s bill still contains exemptions from the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Protection Act, though he said he is confident that he and Young will be able to work out their differences to bring forward a bipartisan bill. Huffman said he agrees there should be some flexibility for rebuilding fish stocks, but said the success of the law in replenishing overfished stocks has been because it has regulatory teeth.
The recently appointed National Marine Fisheries Service Assistant Administrator Chris Oliver said he does not support doing away with catch limits or fish stock rebuilding requirements as they have been “fundamental” in restoring overfished marine populations.
“But I do believe additional flexibility in how we apply annual catch limits and accountability measures and rebuilding schedules could help address some of the issues we’re dealing with,” Oliver said.
The Pacific Fishery Management Council, which sets fishing catch limits and management plans for California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho, stated large-scale changes to the law “are not warranted, and any changes made should be carefully considered,” according to a statement from the council’s Outreach Officer Jennifer Gilden.
Huffman introduced a draft bill that is the Democrat’s response to Young’s legislation, though Huffman said his bill is just a starting point for what he hopes will become a bipartisan bill.
Huffman’s bill would allow for ecological and economic factors to be included when establishing catch limits and require the Secretary of Commerce to partner with states to improve fishery data collection.
While there was agreement among Republicans and Democrats on the need for more efficient and accurate data collection, there were differences of opinion on what sources of data should be used.
Speaking animatedly, a Republican Virginia Congressman Rob Wittman called for the National Marine Fisheries Service to use more data gathered by the fishing industry when setting catch limits and management programs.
“If data doesn’t come from that haloed group of regulators within a fisheries management community in the federal government, it’s chastised: ‘We don’t want this. It can’t be accurate because it didn’t come from the divinity that exists within the federal fisheries managers,’” Wittman said.
Huffman said there needs to be some “quality assurance” for the data.
“But we can definitely agree that if state agencies and others are developing good data, that could be included,” Huffman said.
The bills being considered also seek to address what Huffman called the law’s “broken” disaster relief mechanism for when fishing fleets fall on hard times. Under Huffman’s proposal, the Secretary of Commerce would have up to 120 days to decide whether to declare a fisheries disaster after a state governor has requested one.
After California Gov. Jerry Brown requested a disaster declaration in February 2016 for the 2015-16 crab season that was marred by toxic algae outbreaks, then-Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker did not declare a disaster until January 2017.
The bill would also require the Secretary of Commerce to come up with an estimated cost for recovery within 30 days after making the disaster declaration. Congress has yet to appropriate the $140 million requested to aid California’s crab fishing fleet and the Yurok Tribe’s salmon fishing fleet since the disaster declaration was made. California and Oregon requested another disaster declaration in May for this year’s salmon season.
The full hearing can be watched online at youtu.be/1RI-CuK6PJQ.
Will Houston can be reached at 707-441-0504.
