SEAFOODNEWS.COM — September 10, 2014 — The Fishing Community coalition has weighed in on Magnuson reauthorization, pushing to strengthen conservation mandates and avoid disruptive reallocations.
The group represents small commerical harvesters, many with IFQ rights, who have often found themselves allied with some supportive Environmental organizations that support fishing rights and survival measures for smaller ports.
In a letter to the chairs of both the House and Senate subcommittees dealing with Magnuson Reauthorization, they criticze current drafts of the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA) as being too lose with science standards, and for allowing a patchwork of excptions and regional mandates to take hold. The group said it wants to see more focus on national standards and science-based fishery management.
The Coalition’s membership includes the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, Alaska Marine Conservation Council, Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance, Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance, Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association.
They said “We cannot realize the full potential—biologically, socially or economically—of our nation's marine fisheries without robust and well-managed fish stocks as well as strong protections for fisheries access in traditional fishing ports. A reauthorization that simply reaffirms the status quo, or, worse, moves backwards, is something our Nation’s fisheries and fishermen cannot accept. We can and must do more."
The group lists several changes it would like to see during the reauthorization process which include:
-Maintaining strong, science-based management, including stringent rebuilding timelines and an ACL process based on timely science.
-Requiring more comprehensive, real-time and cost-effective catch information and biomass estimates to feed into improved annual stock assessments.
-Strengthening requirements to reduce bycatch, particularly of species which are fully allocated to other directed fisheries; providing stability to fishing communities by ensuring opportunities for access for current fishermen and the next generation of fishermen.
-Moving towards ecosystem-based management by providing specific direction and requirements for Councils to incorporate ecosystem-based management.
-Including protections for forage fish; including more innovative approaches to monitoring and accountability including more widespread use of electronic monitoring and reporting
-Maintaining a strong and comprehensive National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process to evaluate true impacts of fisheries management through extensive public input.
-Managing our nation under a single fisheries law by applying consistent policies that prevent conflicting management standards between different regions
-Avoid disruptive federal mandates for reviews of regional allocation decisions.
"We appreciate the efforts in both the House and Senate to begin the important process of reauthorizing the MSA," the group said. "However, we are disappointed that neither of the current bills/drafts include the measures that are critical to moving our Nation’s fisheries forward."
This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.