Washington

WASHINGTON – March 16, 2010 – The House Natural Resources Committee, Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife, led by Del. Madeleine Z. Bordallo (D-GU), held an oversight hearing on "Catch Shares as a Management Option: Criteria for Ensuring Success. See the video here.

Algae blooms that create the "red tide" known for killing fish and tourism in Florida would become a focus of government study under legislation the U.S. House approved Friday.

Lawmakers voted 251-103 for the bill, which calls on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to develop a strategy for dealing with algal blooms and coordinate research on the subject.

The ocean studies could cost up to $34 million a year, with another $7 million per year for freshwater studies, although specific funding would be determined in later legislation. The goal is to monitor or control the outbreaks.

"Red tide is not a Florida problem. It is a national problem with far-reaching implications for the health of our oceans, lakes and waterways," said Rep. Connie Mack IV, R-Fort Myers.

Read the complete story at Pensacola News Journal.

NEW BEDFORD — Sen. John Kerry and Rep. Barney Frank have thrown their support behind the city’s applications to the New Bedford Harbor trust, arguing more emphasis should be placed on projects in the harbor and its immediate vicinity.

Kerry and Frank laid out their case in a letter sent last week to officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the state Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.

“Contamination in New Bedford Harbor has adversely impacted many natural aspects of the harbor environment, as well as how residents utilize the harbor and surrounding areas,” wrote Kerry and Frank.

“We (are) concerned that of the $19.1 million of the funds expended from the trust to date, only about a third has gone to projects in New Bedford or the harbor.”

Read the complete story at The South Coast Today [subscription site]

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The Obama administration is trying to dash rumors that it planned to ban recreational fishing in marine waters and the Great Lakes in the wake of a series of Internet posts warning that such a prohibition was imminent.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief Jane Lubchenco told a House panel yesterday that her agency had no plans to halt fishing. And National Marine Fisheries Service chief Eric Schwaab released a statement last night saying NOAA "is committed to adopting policies that will ensure that current and future generations have the opportunity to enjoy the great tradition of recreational fishing."

The rumors apparently started with an online column Tuesday on ESPN's outdoors Web site, which said the administration's new oceans policy could prohibit fishing in oceans, Great Lakes and inland waters. Robert Montgomery's column questioned whether environmental groups have had undue influence on the plan.

The news blog Drudge Report reposted the column, and dozens of right-wing bloggers wrote yesterday that President Obama would ban recreational fishing.

Read the complete story at The New York Times.

A congressional subcommittee has called for the first public airing before federal lawmakers of the Obama administration's nationwide push for the kind of "catch share" fisheries management that's due for a May 1 launch in New England.

The hearing next Tuesday before the House Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife, will feature at least two West Coast groups that have been critical of the push for catch shares, the Times has confirmed.

Representing the administration will be new National Marine Fisheries Service head Eric Schwaab.

The oversight hearing will be the third in the last two weeks on fisheries issues, and it comes as scrutiny of catch shares remains high in the wake of the "United We Fish" rally in Washington last month.

Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, March 11, in a one-on-one phone conversation with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe, Ranking Member of the Senate Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries and Coast Guard, reiterated her opposition to list bluefin tuna as an endangered species under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wildlife Flora and Fauna (CITES). Senator Snowe called the decision reckless and said it would ultimately prove ineffectual and cause disproportionate harm to the U.S. bluefin tuna fishery.

“Today, I reiterated to Secretary Salazar my strong opposition to listing bluefin tuna under CITES,” said Senator Snowe.  “It is the wrong policy decision at the wrong time for this fishery and for our coastal economy.  ICCAT has committed to scientifically-based catch limits that will rebuild the population, and we should give proper fisheries management the chance to do its job instead of imposing restrictions that quite simply will not achieve the desired outcome of rebuilding bluefin populations.”   

On March 3, 2010, the Department of Interior announced that it intends to support Monaco’s proposal to list bluefin under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), even though last November, the International Commission on Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) took strong strides towards responsible management, cutting the total allowable catch of the eastern stock to just 13,500 metric tons (more than a 40% reduction from 2009), and committing to impose catch limits that have at least a 60% probability of rebuilding the stock by 2023 following the new scientific assessment that will be presented at the 2010 meeting next fall. U.S. landings of bluefin have declined steadily from 2000-2008, due in large part to increasingly strict management provisions designed to protect this valuable species.  In 2000, US fishermen caught over 1100 metric tons of bluefin worth more than $19.1 million.  By 2008, those figures had declined to just over 300 metric tons valued at $4.7 million. 

“U.S. fishermen have led the world in efforts to reduce harvest and rebuild depleted stocks of Atlantic bluefin tuna.  Supporting policies that will further disadvantage our industry sends a terrible message to fishermen and to the rest of the world that doing the right thing and imposing strict domestic harvest reductions will only beget greater penalties,” added Senator Snowe.  “We should pursue policies that reward nations like the U.S. that manage domestic fisheries responsibly.”    

 

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Aides from the two House committees with jurisdiction over the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are working together to draft legislation to overhaul and authorize the agency for the first time, according to House Science Chairman Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.).

Gordon wants to advance a NOAA organic act this year. The bill would give a congressional directive to the science and oceans agency, which has gone without any authorizing bill for 40 years.

Republican and Democratic aides from the Science and Natural Resources committees plan to meet this afternoon as part of a "good faith" effort to advance a bill, Gordon said yesterday.

Read the complete story at The New York Times.

The Obama administration has proposed using United Nations-guided principles to expand a type of zoning to coastal and even some inland waters. That’s raising concerns among fishermen that their favorite fishing holes may soon be off-limits for bait-casting.

In the battle of incremental change that epitomizes the American conservation movement, many weekend anglers fear that the Obama administration’s promise to “fundamentally change” water management in the US will erode what they call the public’s “right to fish,” in turn creating economic losses for the $82 billion recreational fishing industry and a further deterioration of the American outdoorsman’s legacy.

Proponents say the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force established by President Obama last June will ultimately benefit the fishing public by managing ecosystems in their entirety rather than by individual uses such as fishing, shipping, or oil exploration.

Read the complete story at The Christian Science Monitor.

A letter sent by Rep. Marti Coley, R-Marianna, and signed by every Panhandle lawmaker, asks area Congressmen to review the impact a major fisheries management law has on the area economy.

“In imposing federal regulations and restrictions that require compliance at the state level, the National Marine Fisheries Service has created an environment of economic hardship for every sector of our communities,” the letter reads.

Specifically, the letter asks Reps. Jeff Miller, a Republican, and Allen Boyd, a Democrat, to review the impact that changes to the Magnuson Stevens Act have on the local economy. That law led to the early closure of the Amberjack and Red Snapper fishing seasons.

“That review should include an extensive look at the peripheral impact on fishing regulations, including lost income for sports fishing boat captains and crew,” the letter reads.

Read the complete story at the Panama City News Herald.

Florida’s newest U.S. senator told the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on Wednesday that the NOAA is wrong about the declining size and number of red snapper fish in Florida.

Sen. George LeMieux (R-Fla.) told NOAA chief Dr. Jane Lubchenco that her agency’s statistics do not match fishermen reports regarding the size and number of red snapper fish.

“If the science is bad, and we’re making draconian decisions based upon bad science, or science that we can’t believe in, that’s affecting people’s lives — that’s wrong,” LeMieux said Wednesday at a Senate Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard subcommittee hearing on NOAA's FY2011 budget request for fisheries enforcement programs and operations.

Lubchenco challenged the claim that red snapper are prospering and numerous, insisting that the data on this matter is solid.

“I think with the challenge with something like red snapper is that the calculations about what is a sustainable level of fishing, take into account how — what size the fish are," she said. "And what many of the fishermen are seeing are lots and lots of younger fish and are assuming that that means that they are recovered and that there are plenty out there. And, in fact, it’s important for those younger fish to get larger and reproduce for the future health of the fishery."

But LeMieux again invited the administrator to come to Florida to take stock of the red snapper population.

“I want to renew in closing my offer to you to come down to Florida and let’s go on a fishing boat and see these red snapper because what my fishermen are telling me is not only are there many red snapper, but there are big red snapper, not just the juvenile fish,” he said.

Read the complete story at CNS News.