July 19, 2018 — Lawmakers on Wednesday held a hearing on sharks to examine new research, conservation techniques and ways to improve understanding of the unique animals.
Bipartisan effort to fight invasive species with new bill
July 18, 2018 — When it comes to invasive species damaging New York’s lakes, forestry and gardens, Rep. Elise Stefanik and U.S. Sen. Kristen Gillibrand found some common ground.
The two lawmakers last week reintroduced the Invasive Fish and Wildlife Prevention Act to protect wildlife from invasive species such as Asian carp or the Emerald Ash Borer, which have wreaked havoc in lakes and deteriorated ash trees in New York’s forests. Gillibrand, a Democrat, and Stefanik, a center-right Willsboro Republican, brought the bill into Congress.
If passed, the act would grant the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service more oversight on invasive species regulation, and would bar such wildlife from entering the country through any means, including being sold here.
Trump’s big reorg plan gets a second and third look
July 17, 2018 — Senators this week will scrutinize the Trump administration’s extremely ambitious government reorganization plan that would amplify the Interior Department’s clout.
Some lawmakers are already applauding the general idea, though key reorganization details remain lacking, including potential costs, savings, job losses, relocations, office closures and timelines.
The Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries would merge within Interior under the plan. This, too, is an old idea. President Obama proposed something similar in 2012, using familiar-sounding language
“The Interior Department is in charge of salmon in fresh water, but the Commerce Department handles them in salt water,” Obama said at the time. “No business or nonprofit leader would allow this kind of duplication or unnecessary complexity in their operations. … It has to change.”
It didn’t change.
The plan would also merge the Energy Department’s applied energy offices on renewables, nuclear and fossil energy into one “Office of Energy Innovation.” The White House also wants to establish a new “Office of Energy Resources and Economic Strategy.”
House members did not mention or raise questions about the energy- and environment-related moves during last month’s Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on reorganization.
Those moves, though, will face the heat at Thursday’s hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, whose members have already blasted a proposal to privatize power marketing administrations.
Controversial fishing bill divides anglers and environmentalists
July 16, 2018 — Recreational fishermen are applauding and environmentalists are decrying a proposed overhaul to a 1976 fishing law credited with regrowing fish populations off the nation’s coasts.
Largely along a party-line vote, the House greenlit the measure seeking to amend what is known as the Magnuson-Stevens Act late last week.
Under the current law, regional councils delineate seasons and set catch limits for fishermen — all so fish stocks can be sustained from year to year.
The House bill seeks to cede more control to these local groups in developing recovery plans when populations dip too low. Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), who sponsored both this recent bill and the original 1976 law, said the update ensures “a proper balance between the biological needs of fish stocks and the economic needs of fishermen.”
For example, when a species is deemed “overfished,” current law requires the regional councils to develop a plan to rebuild the population that often involves placing new short-term and, at times, financially painful catch limits on fishermen. The law requires the plans to try to resuscitate the fishery as quickly as possible — in 10 years or fewer.
Critics of the current system say that time requirement is too unyielding. Instead, the House bill gives councils, which are part of the Commerce Department’s National Marine Fisheries Service, the discretion to base the time frame on “the biology of the stock of fish.”
The bill was commended by some regional seafood industry groups, who in a letter organized by the National Coalition for Fishing Communities last month lauded the bill for creating “flexibility without compromising conservation.” The bill is backed by many boating and sportsmen groups, too.
Gloucester fishermen ‘desperate’ for federal bill to ease catch limits
July 16, 2018 — A bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this week is being cheered by fishermen in Gloucester who are hoping for a lifeline for the struggling industry.
“It’s desperate. We are in a desperate situation. We need a change,” said Angela Sanfilippo, president of the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association. “It’s a good start.”
The new law would allow more flexibility for fish populations to be rebuilt, and give more authority to the regional fishery management councils, which may be more in touch with the local industry.
The bill, which passed the House on Wednesday, would change a decades-old fisheries law meant to restrict overfishing in a way proponents say can protect both fishermen and fishing stocks.
“My bill will update (the law) to ensure a proper balance between the biological needs of fish stocks and the economic needs of fishermen and coastal communities,” said Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska). “We know that each region works within their unique conditions, which is why I fought to ensure the management process will be improved by allowing regional fisheries to develop plans that meet their local needs.”
Lobster amendment could win industry support for Young’s MSA update
July 16, 2018 — By adopting an amendment submitted by the US state of Maine’s two representatives Bruce Poliquin, a Republican, and Chellie Pingree, a Democrat, proponents of Alaska representative Don Young’s update to the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA) may have won over at least one seafood group: the Maine lobster industry.
Young’s bill, HR 200, cleared the House of Representatives by a 222-193 vote on Wednesday after a heated debate that involved both sides displaying lists of commercial fishing industry organizations that they said agreed with them, for and against the measure.
The bill now awaits a Senate companion, a similar circumstance faced by Young’s attempt in 2015 to update MSA. His bill that year, HR 1335, expired when the session ended, as a Senate bill never arrived. Young and others are hoping for a different outcome this time.
The amendment proposed by Poliquin and Pingree would help pave the way for lower federal inspection fees, and wait times, on lobster sales to Europe, the Portland (Maine) Press Herald reports. Though China has been growing as a more important export destination, Europe accounted for 31% of US lobster shipments abroad in 2017, the newspaper notes.
MSA Today: House approves Magnuson reauthorization
July 13, 2018 — The House of Representatives passed its version of the latest Magnuson-Stevens Act reauthorization on Wednesday, July 11.
H.R. 200, the Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act, sponsored by Alaska Rep. Don Young, passed primarily on party lines at 222-193. Support from the industry, however, came from all coasts as well as onshore and offshore businesses.
One of the most controversial aspects of this reauthorization has been the elimination of a 10-year rebuilding timeline for rebuilding fish stocks.
The 10-year guideline, however, is an arbitrary goal. Some fisheries recover in 2 to 3 years, and some take decades, regardless of restrictions on fishing effort. Even more to the point, regional administrators always had some flexibility in forcing managers to adhere to the rebuilding guideline or allowing for some leeway. This change is critical for fisheries managed as if there were no flexibility, like East and West coast groundfish stocks. It simply spells out the flexibility that has always been implied.
Don Young’s bill to revise Magnuson-Stevens fishing law passes in the U.S. House
July 13, 2018 — A bill amending the Magnuson-Stevens Act, sponsored by Alaska Rep. Don Young, passed the U.S. House on Wednesday.
The 1976 Magnuson-Stevens bill, authored in part by Young and named for Sens. Warren Magnuson of Washington and Ted Stevens of Alaska, was created to manage and sustain fish stocks in U.S. waters and keep foreign fishermen out. It created regional management councils that still manage local waters today.
Young’s new bill eliminates limitations on the councils that were added later, which Young says the councils need to keep fisheries stocked and support fishing communities. The bill gives the management councils more control over no-fishing timeframes to rebuild fish stocks and aims to provide more input to outside groups.
The bill passed 222-193. It goes to the Senate next, where its path for passage is unclear.
But the bill is not without controversy: Some scientists and environmental groups say Young’s revisions to the law would be damaging and result in overfishing. The Natural Resources Defense Council said the bill “threatens to unravel those four decades of progress.”
House Passes MSA Reauthorization with Support of NCFC Members
July 13, 2018 — The following was released by Saving Seafood’s National Coalition for Fishing Communities:
Yesterday the House passed H.R. 200, the Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act, which modifies and reauthorizes the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
Members of Saving Seafood’s National Coalition for Fishing Communities from around the country have been invested in improving MSA for years, and weighed in with their comments and concerns at various points in this process.
Many of these concerns were addressed during the committee process and in the discussion of amendments. Several Members of Congress cited support from NCFC members for the bill during the debate on the House floor.
From Rep. Bradley Byrne of Alabama:
Let me tell you, there are over 170 groups that have signed on to being supportive of this bill. I do not have time to read all the names to you, but let me just read a few: the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation…the National Coalition for Fishing Communities…and the Guy Harvey Foundation. This is a very broadly, deeply supported bill among people who are actually fishing. Now, it may not be supported by people who don’t fish and who don’t know anything about fishing, but for those of us who do fish…we like it.
From Rep. Garret Graves of Louisiana:
…Mr. Chairman, this bill is bipartisan. It’s why we have bipartisan support for this legislation. We have co-sponsors. It’s why the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, the National Coalition for Fishing Communities…American Scallop Association, Garden State Seafood Association, West Coast Seafood Processors Association, North Carolina Fisheries Association, Florida Keys Commercial Fishing Association, Gulf Coast Seafood Alliance, Southeastern Fisheries Association and many, many others that have a genuine stake in the sustainability of our fisheries [support this legislation].
In the debate over a proposed amendment from Reps. Jared Huffman of California and Alcee Hastings of Florida that would be detrimental to commercial fishing, Rep. Don Young of Alaska, author of the bill, quoted from a letter signed by several of our members and submitted the day before the vote. The amendment was ultimately defeated.
According to a letter authorized by the National Coalition for Fishing Communities…I want to submit for the record, if I could, the letter to the leadership of the House and to myself where they say… “We believe it will undermine the MSA, impede reforms that are desperately needed, and attack jobs in coastal communities around the country, including California and Florida,” the home states of Mr. Huffman and Mr. Hastings. I suggest this amendment is uncalled for and frankly will gut the bill and the MSA, period.
House votes to overhaul fishery management law
July 12, 2018 — The House on Wednesday passed controversial legislation that aims to overhaul how the federal government manages the nation’s fisheries.
The measure would make significant changes to a 1976 law that’s been credited with boosting fish stocks through restrictions on overfishing, among other successes.
The GOP-backed bill would give more authority to local fishery councils to set fishing standards such as limits and seasons. It would allow for longer timelines for species recovery, or no timelines at all in some circumstances, and let fishery councils use alternative standards for measuring the health of a fishery.
The legislation, which passed in a 222-193 vote, is supported by recreational fishing groups and opposed by conservationists and major commercial fishing organizations who argue that it would threaten sustainable fishing practices that have helped revitalize many important species.
“I’m proud to say that my bill protects our commercial and recreational fisheries’ interests and allow councils to do their jobs in a more streamlined and effective manner,” Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), the bill’s sponsor, said on the House floor.
“This legislation is written for fishermen, to ensure that they are able to catch sustainable yields of fish for the communities,” he added. “It is critical for the protection of coastal communities and for allowing the stakeholders to be part of the management of fisheries.”
While Republicans applauded the success of the existing law, they also said it is time to add more “flexibility” for local officials, and argued the bill wouldn’t threaten fisheries.
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 90
- 91
- 92
- 93
- 94
- …
- 314
- Next Page »