SEAFOODNEWS.COM by Michael Ramsingh – May 21, 2015 — Just days after Alaskan Congressman Don Young’s legislative proposal HR 1335 to amend and reauthorize the Magnuson Stevens Act garnered support from a comprehensive group of industry participants, the White House issued a statement saying it would veto the current bill if it made to President Obama’s desk.
According to the White House its position on Magnuson is that the law in its current form “provides the flexibility needed to effectively manage the Nation’s marine commercial, recreational, and subsistence fisheries. In contrast, H.R. 1335 would undermine the use of science-based actions to end and prevent overfishing.”
Earlier this month Seafood News Editor John Sackton also took issue with Young’s draft proposal, saying the “revisions create conditions for massive destabilization of US fisheries.”
Sackton wrote in the eight years since the last MSA reauhtorization in 2007 US Fisheries in general have shown remarkeable success, with a few notable failures. Under Young’s proposal Sackton said the management successess could be harder to come by.
The White House’s annoucement follows a separate letter that was sent this week to the Chairman of of the House Committee on Natural Resources supporting passage for most of Young’s proposed bill. The letter was signed by a comprehensive group of US fishing associations, seafood companies, commercial fishing vessels and individual industry participants. It should be noted the signees said they would not support HR 1335 if it passed with an amendment that would place Gulf red snapper management in the hands of the State Councils rather than federal regulators.
“We are opposed to any effort to further amend HR 1335 with language that exempts the Gulf of Mexico red snapper fishery from the Magnuson Stevens Act. There is a process in place under existing law to deal with the complex issues surrounding this fishery and HR 1335 builds on that process with several provisions that will provide data to inform that process,” the letter said.
The Gulf proposal was one major point of contention included in Young’s MSA proposal that Sackton said carried the potential to change Fishery Councils “from being regulatory bodies that applied science to fishery management to allocation bodies making political decisions about fish based on who can mobilize the most votes and support.”
HR 1335 still has to get Senate approval before it making it to the Oval Office where more changes could be proposed before final passage.
This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.