May 20, 2016 — WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) – Earlier this week, ocean stakeholders – representatives from fishing, offshore power, agricultural industries – testified regarding their disparate experiences working with the Obama Administration’s National Ocean Policy. Their testimonies were part of an oversight hearing by the House Natural Resources’ Subcommittee on Water, Power and Oceans, “The Implications of President Obama’s National Ocean Policy.”
“I have to wonder,” said Representative Tom McClintock (R-CA), “if perhaps some stakeholders are more equal than others.” The question of who benefits from current ocean policy framed the entire hearing.
Bob Zales, a fisherman of 50 years and president of the National Association of Charterboat Operators emphasized in his testimony the exclusion of fishery stakeholders from the formulation and implementation of the National Ocean Policy. In one telling anecdote, Mr. Zales described how his only means of participation in the planning process was a one-minute testimony during the public comment period of a hearing New Orleans.
“I drove from Panama City Florida to New Orleans – and back – in one day, to give one minute of testimony,” he said. “That one minute does nothing.”
Meghan Lapp, who represents commercial fishing company Seafreeze Ltd., echoed Mr. Zales’ testimony in her own statement, discussing the limited and frustrating interactions Seafreeze had had with planners during the formation state of the National Ocean Policy.
“They’ll listen to your comments, but they don’t do anything with them. They don’t incorporate them into whatever they are doing,” said Lapp.
In contrast, Jim Lanard, CEO of Magellan Wind, when questioned by Representative Tom McClintock about the level of input offshore power companies have had on the National Ocean Policy, protested, saying regulators had in fact listened to him. “No, that has not been my experience at all,” said Mr. Lanard.
Representative Rob Bishop (R-UT), Chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, spoke for many at the hearing when in his comments he summarized the confusion created by the National Ocean Policy.
“This National Ocean Policy was created six years ago,” he said, “and six years later they [the Obama Administration] still don’t seem to know what they’re doing.”