Saving Seafood

Senate Commerce Committee Advances Fishing, Maritime Commerce Bills

WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) — May 19, 2017 — Yesterday, the Senate Commerce Committee approved several bills affecting fisheries and maritime commerce, including a bill that would streamline vessel discharge rules and a bill that would ban the commercial trade of shark fins in the U.S.

The Vessel Incidental Discharge Act (VIDA), approved as part of the U.S. Coast Guard Reauthorization Act of 2017, would replace a patchwork of federal and state rules regulating incidental vessel discharges, such as ballast water, with oversight by the Coast Guard. It would require commercial vessels to apply the best available technology to meet discharge standards set by the Coast Guard, and would carve out an exemption for commercial fishing vessels from the EPA’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) vessel discharge permits.

The approval of VIDA was a major step forward for the maritime commerce industry, which has pushed for changes to discharge regulations since 2007. The Coast Guard Reauthorization Act received bipartisan support, with Senators Dan Sullivan (R-AK), John Thune (R-SD) and Bill Nelson (D-FL) serving as sponsors.

Another bill, the Shark Fin Trade Elimination Act of 2017, was approved by a voice vote. The legislation, which was introduced by Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and is backed by the environmental group Oceana, would prohibit the commercial use of shark fins in the U.S. It is strongly opposed by commercial fishermen, as well as by many shark biologists.

While the bill was approved by a voice vote, Sen. Sullivan, who serves as chairman of the Commerce Subcommittee on Oceans and Fisheries, registered a formal “No” vote – the only one to do so. Sen. Nelson also indicated he had received feedback from many Floridians who were concerned that the bill would harm commercial fishermen in Florida. Commercial fishermen are expected to continue fighting the legislation as it moves through the Senate and House.

In addition to VIDA and the Shark Fin Trade Elimination Act, the Committee approved four bills, including an amendment to the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Act of 1998. Introduced by Sen. Nelson, this bill aims to fight harmful algal blooms that have plagued Florida in recent years.

The Committee also approved the Reinforcing American-Made Products Act of 2017, the Maritime Administration Authorization and Enhancement Act for Fiscal Year 2018, and a bill to make technical amendments to certain marine fish conservation statutes.

Senators to Trump Administration: Don’t cut Coast Guard budget

March 15, 2017 — Mexico isn’t going to pay for that wall and neither will the Coast Guard, if a bipartisan group of U.S. senators have their way.

According to reports, the FY 2018 Presidential Budget Request could seek an almost 12 percent cut in the service’s budget, apparently in an effort to help pay for increased expenditures elsewhere in the Department of Homeland Security.

A letter sent by Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Gary Peters (D-MI), Patty Murray (D-WA), Roger Wicker (R-MS) and eighteen other senators urges Office of Management and Budget Administrator Mick Mulvaney not to make what could be a $1.3 billion dollar cut to the Coast Guard budget.

The senators note that President Trump has committed to stopping the flow of illegal drugs into the country, protecting its borders, investing in national security, and improving support to armed service members and their families. The Coast Guard plays an outsized role in all these areas and  the senators say thatits budget should be increased rather than gutted.

“We are concerned that the Coast Guard would not be able to maintain maritime presence, respond to individual and national emergencies, and protect our nation’s economic and environmental interests. The proposed reduction… would directly contradict the priorities articulated by the Trump Administration,” wrote the Senators. “We urge you to restore the $1.3 billion dollar cut to the Coast Guard budget, which we firmly believe would result in catastrophic negative impacts to the Coast Guard and its critical role in protecting our homeland, our economy and our environment.”

Read the full story at Marine Log

Read the full letter here

Sens. Murkowski and Sullivan say no to Coast Guard cuts proposed by White House

March 13, 2017 — WASHINGTON — Alaska’s Republican senators won’t support proposed major budget cuts for the U.S. Coast Guard, they told the White House Office of Management and Budget in a letter following reports of major cuts in President Donald Trump’s draft budget.

Several national outlets have reported on a draft White House budget request to Congress that includes $1.3 billion cut from the Coast Guard’s $9.1 billion budget. The Coast Guard cut is reportedly aimed at helping pay for a wall on the southern border shared with Mexico.

Alaska Sens. Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski and Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker were the only three Republicans among 23 senators to sign the letter. The rest were Democrats.

Cutting into the Coast Guard budget could mean a far lower chance of bolstering the dwindling U.S. fleet of icebreakers, at a time when shipping traffic is increasing in the Arctic. Senators warned this is not the time to “kick the can down the road” on the Coast Guard’s aging fleet.

“We strongly urge you to refrain from any such cuts. The Coast Guard budget has suffered a steady decline since 2010, which resulted in negative impacts to Coast Guard missions, infrastructure, delays in necessary recapitalization efforts, and has generally constrained Coast Guard operations,” the senators wrote in a letter to OMB Director John Mulvaney.

Sullivan’s office was involved in crafting the letter, which was ultimately released by Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Washington.

Read the full story at Alaska Dispatch News

Alaska’s US senators push Trump nominees to guard fisheries, rural areas while cutting regulations

January 23, 2017 — WASHINGTON — Alaska Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan pressed Cabinet nominees to consider Alaska’s uniqueness, the difficulties of rural areas and the nation’s largest fisheries at a spate of confirmation hearings this week.

Senators can publicly question President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet selections when they sit on the committee holding a confirmation hearing. For Murkowski, that means the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which held the first of two confirmation hearings for Health and Human Services nominee Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., on Wednesday, and a hearing for Education nominee Betsy DeVos on Tuesday night.

For Sullivan, that meant a hearing for Commerce secretary nominee Wilbur Ross, and the Environmental Protection Agency administrator-to-be, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt.

Several of those nominees faced controversy and opposition from Democrats. Hallways were packed with supporters and protesters Wednesday in a Senate office building where three hearings were happening simultaneously.

Murkowski pressed her nominees on how they would adjust some their conservative stances to meet her needs for rural and Native populations in Alaska. Sullivan focused on the state’s fishing industry. Both urged peeling back regulations they said are onerous and often a barrier to economic growth or healthy public services.

Read the full story at the Alaska Dispatch News

Senators Pass Bill out of Committee to Give Fishermen Voice in Grant Process, Boost U.S. Seafood

July 1, 2016 — WASHINGTON — Today, S. 3087, the American Fisheries Advisory Committee Act, introduced by Senators Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), passed unanimously out of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.

The Saltonstall Kennedy (SK) Act, enacted in 1954, provides funding for fisheries research and development. These funds are derived from a portion of fishery import duties. To inform how these funds are allocated, Congress authorized a group of experts from different segments of the fishing industry to advise on commercial fishing problems and needs. Following a 1972 law, the original American Fisheries Advisory Committee was disbanded.

As part of the S-K Act, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) administers a grant program. In the Committee’s absence, the National Marine Fisheries Service decides, by its own criteria, who receives grants. In some cases, the priorities of the fishing industry do not match those of NMFS. The American Fisheries Advisory Committee Act would bring back the board of experts, with members chosen regionally and across all sectors of the fishing industry, to bring the industry back into the process of identifying needs and funding priorities.

In 2016, NMFS issued 50 grants worth $11 million.

Read the full story at Alaska Business Monthly

Alaska asks John Kerry to raise B.C. mine pollution concerns with Canada

May 16, 2016 — VANCOUVER, British Columbia — British Columbia’s downstream neighbours in Alaska have long been concerned about mining pollution flowing across the border.

Now that B.C.’s Auditor-General has confirmed that those fears are well founded, issuing an audit recently that found the province is doing a poor job of regulating its mines, three Alaskan politicians have elevated the issue in Washington.

In a letter sent on Thursday, Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, and Congressman Don Young, urged U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to talk about it with the Canadian government.

“We write to express our continuing concerns about the development of several hardrock mines in British Columbia and their potential effects on water quality in the transboundary rivers that flow from Canada into southeast Alaska,” the letter states.

The Alaskans told Mr. Kerry that he should “utilize all measures at your disposal to address this issue at the international level.”

Read the full story at the Globe and Mail

ALASKA: Senator Dan Sullivan getting immersed in fishery issues in Congress

April 11, 2016 — KODIAK, Alaska — Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan has scored seats on nearly every congressional committee that deals with issues on, over and under the oceans, fulfilling a commitment he made to Kodiak when he ran for office two years ago.

When he visited Kodiak last week, Sullivan ticked off a list of fishery-related actions he’s had a hand in getting accomplished over the last year: passage of an enforcement act to combat global fish pirating and seafood fraud; adding language to bills that lift pricey classification requirements on new fishing vessels; and a one-year water discharge exemption so fishermen don’t need special permits to hose down their decks.

He said he is “working to make sure new regulations don’t place an undue burden on the industry.

See the full story at the Alaska Dispatch News

False Claims about ‘Frankenfish’

March 24, 2016 — Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski says she opposes federal approval of genetically engineered salmon “for the health of both consumers and fisheries.” But there is no scientific evidence that suggests GE salmon will pose a significant risk to either.

Murkowski claims GE salmon may “interbreed with the wild stocks, and thus perhaps destroy them.” But GE salmon have been rendered sterile — meaning they can’t interbreed with wild salmon stocks. Geographic and physical confinement measures also limit the likelihood that the GE fish will escape and survive.

As for human consumption, scientists engineered GE salmon to grow faster than non-GE farm-raised salmon by inserting genes from two other fish into the genome of an Atlantic salmon. After these changes, the GE salmon remained nutritionally and physiologically comparable to non-GE salmon, according to Food and Drug Administration’s scientific assessments, so the agency deemed GE salmon “safe to eat.”

FDA Approves GE Salmon

The FDA approved GE salmon – marketed by AquaBounty Technologies Inc. as “AquAdvantage Salmon” – on Nov. 19, 2015. AquaBounty first submitted its application to the FDA in 1995.

By inserting DNA from other fish, the company’s scientists engineered Atlantic salmon to reach market size faster than non-GE farm-raised Atlantic salmon. As per AquaBounty’s FDA application, the GE salmon will only be raised and farmed in inland facilities on Prince Edward Island in Canada and in Panama.

AquAdvantage Salmon was the first GE animal (as opposed to a plant) approved for human consumption in the United States.

However, it’s unclear when the GE fish will reach supermarkets. Back in November, when the FDA approved the product, Ronald Stotish, the chief executive of AquaBounty, told the New York Times that “the salmon would not be in stores immediately because it would take about two years for even these fast-growing salmon to reach market size.”

In January, the FDA also issued a ban on the import and sale of GE salmon until the agency “publishes final labeling guidelines for informing consumers of such content,” the FDA said. The ban was the result of language Murkowski introduced into the 2016 fiscal budget, or omnibus, bill. 

False claims about GE salmon have come from politicians on both sides of the party divide. While Murkowski is a Republican, Rep. Jared Huffman, a Democrat from California, has said, for example, that “by approving GE salmon, the FDA is allowing the release of a new hybrid animal that could pose a danger to our wild salmon populations, damage the ecosystems they live in, and undermine our domestic commercial fisheries.”

But Murkowski has arguably been one of the most vocal and active opponents. On her website, she notes the importance Alaska’s fisheries to the economy of her state. According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the “seafood industry contributes 78,500 jobs to the Alaskan economy and an estimated $5.8 billion annually with Bristol Bay sockeye salmon … representing some of the largest salmon … fisheries in the world.” For this reason, Murkowski has “supported Alaska’s fisheries … through legislation and her position on the Senate Appropriations Committee,” as her website says.

The day the FDA approved GE salmon, Murkowski voiced her opposition on the Senate floor, claiming the FDA’s decision was “quite disturbing news to any of us who care about our wild species of salmon.” Specifically, she questioned the FDA’s ability to certify that GE salmon don’t “interbreed with the wild stocks, and thus perhaps destroy them.” In that speech, and later press releases, Murkowski called particular attention to GE salmon’s threat to Alaskan salmon stocks.

Murkowski also said that as someone “who believes that the real thing is the best thing for our families,” she found the FDA’s approval of GE salmon “very troubling.” In fact, she said, “I don’t even know that I want to call it a fish,” and instead referred to the GE salmon as a “frankenfish” and an “organism” generally. Likewise, in a Nov. 23 press release, Murkowski said: “Genetically modifying salmon is messing with nature’s perfect brain food. The real thing is not only the safe choice, but it’s the best thing.”

Most recently, Murkowski said in a March 3 press release: “I still adamantly oppose the FDA’s approval of GE salmon, for the health of both consumers and fisheries.” In this release, Murkowski announced the introduction of her Genetically Engineered Salmon Labeling Act, cosponsored with Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan and Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell.

This legislation calls for the market name of GE salmon to “include the words ‘Genetically Engineered’ or ‘GE.’ ” It would also authorize “an independent scientific review” of the effects of GE salmon on wild salmon stocks and for human consumption.

Read the full article at FactCheck.org

Murkowski Introduces Updated Legislation to Require Labeling of GE Salmon

March 3, 2016 — The following was released by the Office of Senator Lisa Murkowski:

Today U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) continued her fight against “Frankenfish” by introducing legislation to mandate labeling of genetically engineered (GE) salmon. The Genetically Engineered Salmon Labeling Act, co-sponsored by Senators Dan Sullivan (R-AK) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA), changes the acceptable market name for any salmon that is genetically engineered to include the words “genetically engineered” or “GE.” The bill also requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to ensure a third-party scientific review of the FDA’s environmental assessment of AquaAdvantage salmon, focusing in particular on the effects that GE salmon could have upon wild stocks and ecosystems. Congressman Don Young (R-AK) introduced companion legislation in the House of Representatives.

“We have had success in in the fight against Frankenfish, but I won’t let up until it is mandatory to make clear to consumers whether they are purchasing Frankenfish or the wild, healthy, sustainably-caught, delicious real thing,” said Murkowski. “I still adamantly oppose the FDA’s approval of GE salmon, for the health of both consumers and fisheries. But at least with this legislation, Alaskans and consumers across the rest of the country won’t be deceived and will be aware of what it is they are seeing on store shelves.”

Background:

  • November 2015: In response to the FDA’s decision to approve GE salmon for human consumption, Murkowski announced that she would block the confirmation of Dr. Robert Califf to be FDA Commissioner until her concerns regarding labeling guidelines for GE salmon had been resolved.
  • December 2015: Murkowski successfully inserted a provision in the omnibus bill that blocks the FDA from introducing GE salmon into the market until it publishes labeling guidelines so consumers are aware of what is contained in the product they are purchasing.
  • January 2016: Murkowski officially placed a hold on Dr. Califf’s confirmation after he advanced out of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.
  • January 2016: In direct response to Senator Murkowski’s efforts, the FDA announced an import ban on GE salmon until labeling guidelines had been published.
  • February 2016: The FDA provided Senator Murkowski with technical drafting assistance on legislative language that would effectively mandate labeling of GE salmon, and in response Senator Murkowski lifted her hold on Dr. Califf’s nomination.

View the release online

Rep. Suzan DelBene Introduces Bipartisan Bill to Put U.S. Seafood in School Lunches

February 25, 2016 — The following was released by the Office of Congresswoman Suzan Delbene: 

Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (WA-01) today introduced bipartisan legislation to require fish products purchased for federally subsidized school lunches be domestically harvested.

“The Pacific Northwest produces some of the world’s best and healthiest seafood. We should be supporting our local industries, especially when they are producing a superior product for our nation’s children,” DelBene said. “I want to ensure school district funds stretch as far as possible, but not at the expense of child nutrition. This bipartisan bill is not only good for our fishermen, but also our children, who will be receiving more nutritious fish as a result.”

Current law has unfortunately resulted in fish products caught and processed in foreign countries being included in school lunches at the expense of fish caught in America. For example, 60 percent of the pollock served in the school lunch program comes from Russia and is often processed in China because the Buy American requirement is only “to the maximum extent practicable.” This allows cheaper, but less nutritious Russian pollock to replace Alaska pollock. The bill would strengthen the Buy American provision in the National School Lunch program by stating “without exception” that federally subsided school lunches should use domestically sourced fish, or fish from a U.S. flagged vessel in the case of tuna.

DelBene serves on the House Agriculture Committee, which has part jurisdiction over the National School Lunch program. Reps. Don Young (R-AK), Jim McDermott (D-WA), Adam Smith (D-WA), Rick Larsen (D-WA), Jamie Herrera Beutler (R-WA), Derek Kilmer (D-WA) and Denny Heck (D-WA) joined DelBene in introducing H.R. 4617, which has a companion measure (S. 2529) in the Senate from Sens. Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).

“We appreciate Congresswoman DelBene and her House colleagues’ continued support for the region’s seafood industry, especially this legislation to restrict federally subsidized seafood purchases by school districts to fish harvested in the U.S.,” said Joe Bundrant, CEO of Trident Seafoods Corporation. “Alaska pollock is a versatile, nutritious and affordable seafood product, ideal for the school lunch program. This legislation can help ensure that our children get the best choice at a good value for school districts.”

Read the release online