SEAFOODNEWS.COM by Michael Ramsingh — May 19, 2015 — A comprehensive group of US fishing associations, seafood companies, commercial fishing vessels and individual industry participants have sent a letter to the chairman of the House Commitee on Natural Resources in support of Alaska Congressman Don Young’s draft proposal to Reauthorize the Magnuson Stevens Act.
The letter mostly supports Young’s bill HR 1335, “Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act.” In the letter, the groups write the proposal “builds on the conservation tenets which are already part of the Act while providing economic relief to those coastal communities that have been frustrated by the rigidity of the Act.”
However, the letter does go on to say the groups would pull thier support for HR 1335 if an amendement to shift Gulf red snapper fishery management away from federal authorities and into the hands of the State councils is included.
“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 says.
Earlier this month Seafood News Editor John Sackton 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.
Still, the groups did object to any amendment that would take Gulf red snapper fishery management away from federal regulators. This 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.”
Following is the letter in its entirety with the full list of the singees:
Honorable Rob Bishop
Chairman, Committee on Natural Resources
U.S. House of Representatives
1324 Longworth HOB
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Chairman Bishop:
The undersigned organizations, companies, and individuals are writing to let you know of our strong support for HR 1335, the “Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act”, as it was reported by the House Natural Resources Committee on April 30, 2015. This bill is the product of two years of hearings in the 113th Congress and strikes a good balance between maintaining the essential conservation goals of the Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and improving that Act with some carefully crafted amendments to provide fisheries managers with needed flexibility. If enacted, HR 1335 will continue the rebuilding of depleted fish stocks, provide transparency, streamline the management process, and ensure that more scientific information is available to deal with data-poor fish stocks. We believe HR 1335 builds on the conservation tenets which are already part of the Act while providing economic relief to those coastal communities that have been frustrated by the rigidity of the Act.
At the same time, 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. Unfortunately, that is deemed insufficient by one radical sportsmen’s group who insists on taking the fishery out of the jurisdiction of the Magnuson Stevens Act. If this amendment is adopted, it will force us to reconsider our support for the bill.
Sincerely,
ORGANIZATIONS
West Coast Seafood Processors Association
Directed Sustainable Fisheries, Inc.
Garden State Seafood Association
Long Island Commercial Fishing Association
Florida Keys Commercial Fishermen’s
Association
Southern Offshore Fishing Association
Pacific Seafood Processors Association
Washington Trollers Association
Coalition of Coastal Fisheries
United Catcher Boats
California Wetfish Producers Association
North Carolina Fisheries Association
Western Fishboat Owners Association
United Boatmen of New Jersey
Long Island Traditions
American Albacore Research Foundation
Alliance of Communities for Sustainable
Fisheries
Lower Columbia Alliance for Sustainable
Fisheries
Bay County, Florida Chamber of Commerce
California Sea Urchin Commission
BUSINESSES
Fish-Net USA
Lund’s Fisheries Inc.
Cape Trawlers Inc.
Cape Clam, Inc.
Lund Marr Trawlers LLC
Mt Vernon LLC
Scombrus One LLC
Western Explorer LLC
Elite G LLC
Nancy Elizabeth LLC
Loper Bright Enterprises LLC
Sun Coast Calamari LLC
Pt Hueneme Ice LLC
WIFTEK LLC
Golden Nugget LLC
Golden Mountain Trading Co.
Rustin Marketing Services, LLC
Fishermen’s Dock Co-op
Knot On Duty Fishing Charters
Fishy Business, Inc.
R.I. Engine Co.
F/V BARBARA PAULINE
Salt Pond Fisheries
Yankee Pride Fisheries
Seaside Fuel
Wild Atlantic Seafood
Starfish Boats.com
Hunter Deep Sea Fishing
F/V ANNE KATHRYN
RiverCenter Marine, LLC
Montauk Fish Dock, Inc.
JH Miles & Co., Inc.
Trawlworks, Inc.
F/V MISS MADISON
The Bait Company
Seafreeze Ltd.
Relentless, Inc.
Huntress, Inc.
Captain Anderson’s Marina
F/V RIANDA S
F/V DEFIANT
F/V RYAN & DILLON
F/V UMIAK
F/V KAILEYANN
F/V DARANA R
Oldsquaw Fisheries Inc.
F/V TOOTS
F/V THERESA & ALLYSON
F/V JAMIE & ASHLEY
Superior Trawl
F/V EMILIA ROSE
INDIVIDUALS
Mike Sousa, New Bedford, MA
Captain Michael Pawluk, Portsmouth, NH
James Odlin, Portland, ME
Mary Kavanagh, Falmouth, MA
Wesley Peterson, Montauk, NY
Gabrielle Muench, Spring Lake, NJ
John Haran, Dartmouth, MA
Charles Felch, Seabrook, NH
Stephen Theberge, Panama City, FL
Ronnie Jett, Reedsville, VA
Jean Peterson, Mystic, CT
Chris Hull, Washington, DC
Alan Cass, New Bedford, MA
Graham Rogers, Goldsboro, NC
Frederick Bottom, Amesbury, MA
John Cole, Point Pleasant, NJ
Robert Wells, Setauket, NY
Carol Jurczewski, Riverside, IL
Gunilla Norris, Mystic, CT
Stanley Wertheimer, Mystic, CT
Vanley Hubbard, Englewood, FL
Captain Ric Anderson, Rye, NH
Susan Mangam, Tannersville, NY
Zelinda Pereira, New Bedford, MA
Manuel Pereira, New Bedford, MA
Melanie Pereira, New Bedford, MA
Peter Pereira, Lincoln, RI
Rosa Silva, Dartmouth, MA
John Rice, Edgewater, FL
James Durda, Ashaway, RI
Michael Huntley, North Kingston, RI
Alan DeBoer, Hope Valley, RI
Donald Crawford, Pawcatuck, CT
Walter Davis, Narragansett, RI
Sue Cole, Point Pleasant, NJ
Steven Bolton, Hampton Beach, NY
Callie Hovanesiar, Wakefield, RI
Jennylyn Beaudette, Ellisiville, MS
Charles Hovanesiar, Wakefield, RI
Armand Kibarian, Exeter, RI
William Callaway, Wanchese, NC
Drew Martin, Lake Worth, FL
Patricia Orlinski, Sun City, AZ
Kristine Harder, Haines, AK
E.C. Newellman, Brooklyn, NY
David Mulvey, Vermont
Fred Mattera, West Kings, RI
Debra Hathaway, Fort Pierce, FL
Robert Ruhle, Wanchese, NC
Steven Ruhle, Wanchese, NC
James Ruhle, Wanchese, NC
Jon Holcomb, Fort Bragg, CA
Jerome Ford, Lake Worth, FL
Melissa Swain, Jamestown, RI
Jim Kendall, New Bedford, MA
Rick Terminesi, Narragansett, RI
H. Russell Taub, Providence, RI
Chris Nelson, Montecito, CA
Erin McCraw, Wakefield, RI
Susan Palange, Wakefield, RI
Pama Kacsur, Lytle, TX
Dan Shannon, Carver, MA
Patrick Duckworth, Wakefield, RI
Victor Hall, Orlando, FL
Chris Scola, East Hampton, NY
Judi Keding, Plymouth, MA
Leo Robbins, Whitestone, VA
Isa Miller, East Greenwich, RI
Beth Curtis, Wakefield, RI
William Hogan, Tampa, FL
E. Jones, Rochester, NH
Brent Loftes, Narragansett, RI
Donna Feinberg, North Kingston, RI
Shawn Manville, Wakefield, RI
Peter Himchak, Little Egg Harbor, NJ
Cynthia Mills, South Kingston, RI
Robert Morris, Bristol RI
Patrick Flanigan, Swarthmore, PA
Karen Ricci, Wakefield, RI
Jim Harrington, Craryville, NY
This story originally appeared on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It has been reprinted with permission.