May 27, 2015 — President Barack Obama’s administration gave an early promise to stop Rep. Don Young’s changes to national fishing laws before the bill has even seen the light of a full House discussion.
The Magnuson-Stevens Act, or MSA, governs all fisheries in the federal waters from three to 200 miles off the U.S. coast, and authorizes eight regional fishery management councils, including the North Pacific Fishery Management Council that oversees fishing in the waters off the Alaska coast. It was first passed in 1976 and most recently reauthorized and amended in 2006.
Young authored and introduced the current amended reauthorization, entitled the Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act. The update intends to allow more management flexibility for the fishery councils, relieve duplicative processes, and incorporate the latest developments in fisheries management science.
It has not yet been heard in a full House session.
The White House objects to several of the MSA changes, accusing Young of complicating a successful process and thereby putting the environment at risk.
The administration turns Young’s call for flexibility and science around on the congressman as a backwards step.
“The Administration strongly opposes H.R. 1335, which would amend the Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA), because it would impose arbitrary and unnecessary requirements that would harm the environment and the economy,” reads the statement of administration policy released May 19.
Read the full story at the Alaska Journal of Commerce