Those changes led fishing industry insiders to accuse the federal agency of using fisheries research money to fund what they say are untested catch-share programs.

Interested readers are urged to watch the TV documentary and listen to the radio roundtable linked in the additional resources at the end of this article. 

by Jonathan Hemmerdinger
Saving Seafood Contributing Writer

Cooperative research spending cuts and a transfer of funds into a new catch-share line item has sparked debate between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the fishing industry over the agency's treatment of science and research funds in its 2011 federal budget request.

At issue are reductions of $10.4 million from "Cooperative Research" and $6.9 million from "Fisheries Research and Management Programs" in the budget request. At the same time, the agency requested $36.6 million for a new "National Catch Share Programs" line item. NOAA also requested that an additional $17.4 million be transferred into the catch-share category.

Those changes led fishing industry insiders to accuse the federal agency of using fisheries research money to fund what they say are untested catch-share programs.

"If you want to push catch shares, make damn sure you have good science to support it. Removing [funding] from cooperative research is basically disallowing good science to be collected," said Jim Ruhle, who participates in a multi-state and federal cooperative research effort.

NOAA is "cutting true science to fund unproven catch shares," said Bonnie Brady, executive director of the 300-member Long Island Commercial Fishing Association. "They are cutting the very science with which we determine population levels of fish."

Lawmakers also criticized the budget. Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) told Saving Seafood the reduction in research funds is “exactly the opposite of what the National Marine Fisheries Service should be doing.” The agency should get “the science right before making this major shift” towards catch shares.

And in a March 3 media release, Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) said, “I am deeply troubled that this budget for 2011 does not put nearly enough emphasis on providing an investment in sound fisheries science so our regulators are not forced to use insufficient data to make decisions that affect lives, jobs and entire coastal communities.” A spokesperson told Saving Seafood that Sen. Snowe will send a letter to Senate appropriators asking for an increase to the fisheries research budget for fiscal year 2011.

Funds transferred, said NMFS official

Gary Reisner, chief financial officer of NMFS, said the line-item research reductions are misleading and his agency, for the most part, has not cut science.

Reisner said the additional $17.4 million requested for the catch-shares budget category included $11.4 million in funds transferred out of "Fisheries Research and Management Programs" and into the catch-share category. But Reisner said the transferred funds--$6 million for Limited Access Privilege Programs (catch-share type plans) and $5.4 million for New England sector management--were already being used for catch shares in the past. And he said the money was designated for catch-share implementation and development—not research.

"We took [catch share] money out ... and moved" it. There is "no change in science and research activities associated with that transfer," he said.

As for the $10.4 million reduction from cooperative research, Reisner said roughly $6 million—the portion previously used for catch-share cooperative research—was also transferred into the new catch-share budget category. Those funds will be for "the same types of things" in 2011 as they were in 2010, he said.

The remaining $4.5 million cut from cooperative research, however, is a "real reduction" from 2010, Reisner said. But, he added, 2011 cooperative research funding will still be higher than it was two years ago. (Funding jumped in 2010 to $17 million from roughly $11 million, he said.)

We are "still above our long-term levels for cooperative research. With budgets in general, it is two steps forward and one step back," Reisner said.

New England funding

In addition to declining nationwide, funds designated specifically for cooperative research in New England fell to roughly $6 million in the 2011 budget from roughly $10 million in 2010, said NOAA spokesperson Monica Allen.  Congressional sources said those cuts may result in significant program changes, such as the reduction or elimination of trawl surveys in Maine.

Federal funds designated for catch shares in New England, however, increased in the 2011 budget to $22.95 from $18.6 in 2010.

Although Congress hasn’t approved the funds and exact costs are unknown, the agency predicts the $22.95 million will be distributed as follows:

* $6.9 million for at-sea and dockside monitoring

* $2.7 million for improvements to data management systems and implementation of electronic vessel reporting.

* $6 million for cooperative research.

* $7.4 million for administrative costs, including staff and industry outreach expenses, and for economic and social-science analysis.

Julie Wormser of the Environmental Defense Fund said the increase in sector funding is critical to ensure a smooth launch of the new management plan. "NOAA has really recognized this is a big change for New England and has stepped up with federal investment to make it easier," she said.  The federal governing is assuming a lot of the costs to set up the system."

She added, “[Funding] wasn't cut, it was concentrated in New England. We are making out much better under the catch-share" line item.
 
Additional Resources:


WBSM's Saving Seafood hour A roundtable discussion of the benefits of Cooperative Research with Tor Bendiksen – Foreman at Reidar's Manufacturing, designers and builders of innovative gear used on trawlers and scallopers; John Hoey – Director, Northeast Cooperative Research Program, Northeast Fisheries Science Center; Captain Jimmy Ruhle – president of the Commercial Fishermen of America and participant in the Northeast Area Monitoring & Assessment Program.

Cooperative Fisheries Research Documentary An informative 45 minute documentary on cooperative fisheries research -- featuring New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang, Professor Kevin Stokesbury and James Gartland.  The documentary was shot on board the North Carolina vessel Darana R in late 2009 during a series of research tows conducted by scientists from the College of William and Mary off the coast of  Massachusetts near Martha's Vineyard. [Video courtesy of New Bedford Government Access Television.]

CFA President Jim Ruhle on the Importance of Cooperative Research Fisherman and cooperative research champion Jim Ruhle spoke to Saving Seafood about his involvement in the Northeast Area Monitoring & Assessment Program, a multi-state and federal effort to collect fisheries data and information for use by government agencies, the fishing industry and researchers.