House Natural Resources Committee Archives

Huffman to Postpone Fisheries Listening Tour Amid Public Health Crisis

March 12, 2020 — The following was released by The Office of Congressman Jared Huffman (D-CA):

Congressman Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael), Chair of the House Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife, today announced that he will be postponing the remaining stops on his nationwide fisheries listening tour in an abundance of caution during the coronavirus outbreak.

“The public health crisis from the coronavirus is escalating, and health officials have advised against large gatherings as a preventative measure. In accordance with advice from the Centers for Disease Control, I will postpone the remaining sessions of my listening tour until further notice,” said Rep. Huffman. “I remain committed to completing this tour with additional regional discussions and gathering input from as many stakeholders as possible on reauthorizing the Magnuson-Stevens Act. As we work through this pandemic, I invite everyone, particularly those in regions I have not yet been able to visit, to submit their comments and read up on the Magnuson-Stevens Act on my website.”

To submit your comment, simply visit https://huffman.house.gov/msa/comments and fill out the form at the bottom of the page.

Rep. Huffman’s goal for this listening tour has been to assess whether improvements to the Magnuson-Stevens Act are needed and if so, what they should be. More information, a public comment page, and the full press release for this tour can be found on our website here.

National Listening Session on Fisheries Management Held in Honolulu – No Reauthorization of Fisheries Management Act Expected This Year, Branding of US Produced Seafood Discussed

February 24, 2020 — The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:

The seventh stop of a nationwide listening tour on fisheries management issues was held today in Honolulu. Initiated by Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), chair of the House Subcommittee on Waters, Ocean and Wildlife, the session was hosted by Rep. Ed Case (D-Hawai’i) with Huffman participating by Skype. Members of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council and the Hawai’i seafood industry were among the invited panelists. Their statements echoed the general consensus nationally that America’s primary fishing law, the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, is overall doing its job and doing it well.

“Hawai’i seafood is globally recognized for its high quality and comprehensive management regime, built largely using the MSA framework,” noted Michael Goto, a member of the Council and the auction manager and assistant vice president of United Fishing Agency, the nation’s only daily tuna auction. “Every fish that is sold through the auction can be traced back to the vessel, contributing to the traceability of our seafood. We are confident when we say ‘every pound can be found,’ which I know for a fact can’t be said for foreign vessels supplying our same market.”

“The Hawai’i longline fleet is globally considered a golden standard in pelagic fisheries,” said Ed Watamura, Council vice chair (Hawai’i). “Through the MSA process, the Council has developed and implemented measures that have formed the basis of international standards for regional fishery management organizations, such as the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission and the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission.”

Watamura also noted the success of the MSA requirement for annual catch limits in the Hawai’i bottomfish fishery. “The MSA manages fish stocks throughout their range. Thus, the fishery is jointly managed by the State of Hawai’i and the Council through an annual catch limit (ACL) as prescribed in the MSA. … Because ACL management is working, the State has opened several bottomfish restricted fishing areas, a move supported by fishermen and scientists alike.”

“While being a major contributing industry to Hawai’i, the [longline] fishery is minor compared to international fisheries for tuna operating in the Pacific; for example, the fishery lands less than 2 percent of the total Pacific tuna catch,” said Eric Kingma, executive director, Hawaii Longline Association. “International tuna management is a highly politicized arena and the US needs to be doing more to protect its tuna fisheries,” he added.

Council Member Anthony Benavente, who serves as the secretary of the Department of Lands and Natural Resources, Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands (CNMI), said the territory is “very supportive of the bottom-up approach in managing fisheries as all stakeholders and interested residents have a chance to participate.” He added, “Despite the success of the MSA in the Western Pacific, the Council has had to deal with extraneous conservation efforts that complicate the management decision-making process, as well as hurt US fishing communities and fishers.” Examples provided include “the unilateral designation of numerous National Marine Monuments throughout the Western Pacific region,” recent legislation that prohibits Hawai’i and the US Pacific territories from marketing their sustainably caught US billfish off island, and current legislation passed by the House that would prohibit the sale of fins from sustainably and legally caught sharks.

During the discussion period, Case said MSA reauthorization would likely not occur this year, but he heard the common thread that our fisheries are better managed than other fisheries and asked what could be done. Kingma noted the Country of Origin Label is already required but hard to find and not required for US domestic seafood. He suggested that something easily recognizable like a US flag on US seafood could be an indicator of sustainably managed seafood.

For the full statements of the Council and industry members, go to www.wpcouncil.org/msa-testimony. For comments from members of other Regional Fishery Management Councils during earlier listening sessions, go to http://www.fisherycouncils.org/msa-reauthorization.

Reps. Huffman, Case Announce Honolulu as Next Stop on Congressional Fisheries Listening Tour

February 13, 2020 — The following was released by The Office of Congressman Jared Huffman (D-CA):

Congressman Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) Chair of the House Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife, and Congressman Ed Case (D-Honolulu) will be hosting the next stop on a nationwide fisheries listening tour Friday, February 21, at 10:00 a.m. HST in Honolulu, Hawaii. Congressman Case will moderate this discussion on federal fisheries policy in the context of the Western Pacific fishery management region, with Chairman Huffman joining remotely.

Members of the press interested in attending should submit their RSVP to Nestor Garcia with Congressman Case’s office at nestor.garcia@mail.house.gov.

WHO: Congressman Ed Case, Congressman Jared Huffman (will appear via video conference), fisheries and oceans experts

WHAT: Discussion on federal fisheries management

WHEN: Friday, February 21, 2020 @ 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. HST

WHERE: The Atherton Hālau in the Bishop Museum, 1525 Bernice Street, Honolulu, HI, 96817

This panel discussion with experts and stakeholders will include a detailed, technical examination of current and future challenges in federal fisheries management and will explore potential solutions. Guests will be able to ask questions during the roundtable and provide public comments at its conclusion.

The ideas Huffman receives from this listening tour, and from other stakeholder outreach that is already underway, will inform his introduction of a reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the primary law governing fisheries management in U.S. federal waters.

More detail on Huffman’s listening tour, which was first announced in July, can be found here.

ALLEN SUSSER: Strong fisheries management will keep seafood on Florida’s dinner tables

February 11, 2020 — The options for eating seafood are plentiful in Miami, from beach shacks to fine-dining establishments and everything in between. Equally plentiful is the seafood caught by U.S. fishermen that I and other Florida chefs are proud to serve and promote.

The United States boasts some of the best managed fisheries in the world, making American seafood a preferred choice for sustainability advocates like myself and, increasingly, for consumers.

But this wasn’t always the case. Until the mid-1990s, many U.S. fish stocks were being caught at an unsustainable rate — depleting the ocean of many of the species we love to eat.

Fortunately, a wide range of stakeholders committed to sustaining U.S. fisheries and fishermen worked with Congress to make key changes to a federal law known as the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA). As a result of those changes, more than 45 of our country’s fish populations have recovered from perilously low levels, and the law ensures that they are now fished sustainably. For chefs in Florida, with more than 8,000 miles of coastline along the Atlantic and the Gulf, that means we have access to sustainable seafood on a regular basis.

Read the full story at the Miami Herald

Rep. Huffman Completes First Stop of 2020 on Fisheries Listening Tour, Announces Miami Session

February 6, 2020 — The following was released by The Office of Congressman Jared Huffman (D-CA):

On Thursday, January 30, Representative Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael), Chair of the Water, Oceans, and Wildlife Subcommittee, traveled to the Gulf Coast region as part of his nationwide listening tour on federal fisheries policy. This was the first listening session of 2020 and the fifth session overall. The Gulf of Mexico fishery management region includes the federal waters off of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas, and the west coast of Florida.

Rep. Huffman also announced today that he will be hosting the next stop on his listening tour on Friday, February 14, 2020, in Miami, Florida, to discuss federal fisheries policy in the context of the South Atlantic fishery management region, which includes the federal waters off of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and east Florida to Key West.

These events are designed to engage diverse perspectives, interests, and needs of individuals who have a stake in the management of ocean and fisheries resources. During the listening session in New Orleans, Chairman Huffman heard from industry stakeholders, advocates, scientists, and members of the public, who gave feedback on the current state of fisheries management under the Magnuson-Stevens Act and what they hope to see in future federal fisheries policy.

“Like the other places I’ve visited on this listening tour, fish and fishing are a way of life throughout the Gulf,” said Rep. Huffman. “The commercial and recreational fishing industries support tens of thousands of jobs and billions in sales annually. Communities all around the Gulf are deeply connected to healthy oceans and coasts, and it was extremely valuable to continue the conversation on fisheries management with these passionate local experts and stakeholders, including my colleague Rep. Garret Graves, who is an active and spirited participant in our debates on these issues in Washington, D.C. I heard a lot about the significant impacts of fishery disasters, data needs and successes, and how climate change is impacting the region in a very unique way.”

Miami Listening Session

WHO: Congressman Jared Huffman, fisheries and oceans experts

WHAT: Discussion on federal fisheries management focused on the South Atlantic region

WHEN: Friday, February 14, 2020 @ 8:30-10:30 a.m. EST

WHERE: Southeast Fisheries Science Center*

Seminar Room

75 Virginia Beach Drive, Miami, Florida, 33149

RSVP: Please click here to RSVP

Rep. Huffman’s goal for this listening tour is to assess whether improvements to the Magnuson-Stevens Act are needed and if so, what they should be. More information, a public comment page, and the full press release for this tour can be found here.

The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (also referred to as the Magnuson-Stevens Act or MSA) is the primary law governing the management and conservation of commercial fisheries in federal waters.

The MSA was last reauthorized and extensively amended in 2006 (P.L. 109-479). Although the authorization of appropriations expired at the end of Fiscal Year 2013, the law’s requirements remain in effect and Congress has continued to appropriate funds to administer the act.

Videos from the listening sessions can be accessed through Representative Huffman’s Facebook page here. Didn’t have a chance to provide feedback during the session? You can visit his website to submit a comment at any time.

*The Fisheries Science Center is a federal building. Foreign nationals must RSVP in advance to obtain clearance.

House subcommittee chair bringing ‘listening tour’ to New Orleans

January 23, 2020 — If you’ve got two cents and want to share your thoughts about fishing and federal fishing laws, then take time next Thursday, go to New Orleans, because Congressman Jared Huffman, D-California, will share his open-to-the-public “Fisheries Listening Tour” stage with Louisiana’s Garret Graves, R-Louisiana.

The tour runs 4:30-6:30 p.m. inside the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas at 1 Canal Street in the Crescent City.

Huffman is the chair of the House Subcommittee on Water, Oceans and Wildlife, and this will be his fifth stop on what his staff calls a “nationwide listening tour on federal fisheries management designed to engage diverse perspectives, interests, and needs of individuals who have a stake in the management of federal ocean and fisheries resources.”

Read the full story at The Advocate

NOAA’s Laurel Bryant: US seafood industry, regulators should be proud of achieving “gold standard”

January 21, 2020 — Laurel Bryant, the chief of external affairs in NOAA Fisheries’ Communications Office, retired at the end of 2019.

In 1989, Laurel Bryant began her career working for the United States House of Representatives Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee, the predecessor to the House Natural Resources Committee. By 1994, she joined the National Marine Fisheries Service where among other positions, she served as the executive director to the Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee, and launched a number of key initiatives to provide more timely information about agency science and stewardship mission, including the weekly electronic newsletter FishNews, and the seafood web interface FishWatch. As chief of external affairs, Bryant focused on building strategic partnerships for the agency to strengthen communications with a broader spectrum of stakeholders involved with the seafood supply chain and coastal fishing communities, and building greater familiarity and public support for U.S. responsibly managed fisheries and seafood.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Saving Seafood Coalition Members Thank Rep. Jared Huffman for Fisheries Listening Sessions

January 8, 2020 — The following was released by the National Coalition for Fishing Communities:

Members of Saving Seafood’s National Coalition for Fishing Communities (NCFC) would like to thank Congressman Jared Huffman (D-CA) and the members of the House Natural Resources Committee for their work in 2019 hosting their series of listening sessions on the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA). NCFC members from across the country have participated in the sessions, bringing the concerns of the fishing industry directly into the MSA reauthorization process. NCFC looks forward to continue working with the Committee on MSA in 2020.

The listening sessions, which began in October with two days of hearings in Northern California and continued with additional hearings in Seattle and Baltimore, are gathering input on the state of U.S. fisheries from fishermen and other stakeholders. At each stop, fishermen have shared with the committee how current fisheries management is working—and how it can be reformed.

In Arcata, California, Wayne Heikkila, Executive Director of the Western Fishboat Owners Association (WFOA) discussed funding and science issues, as well as the need to distinguish between fish stocks that are actually experiencing overfishing and those that are depleted due to other causes. WFOA is a non-profit association representing albacore troll-vessel owners and supporting businesses in California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii.

In San Francisco, Mike Conroy, founder of West Coast Fisheries Consultants, discussed the need for better science to help fill data gaps, and how increased collaboration with the industry could help address this shortcoming.

In Seattle, Lori Steele, Executive Director of the West Coast Seafood Processors Association (WCSPA) told the committee about the need for additional flexibility in the Magnuson-Stevens Act, while still honoring the Act’s conservation goals. The hearing also discussed how to meet the long-term needs of fishing communities, especially in the face of climate change. Headquartered in Portland, Oregon, WCSPA members are shore-based processors of fish and shellfish in Washington, Oregon and California.

In Baltimore, Greg DiDomenico, Executive Director of the Garden State Seafood Association (GSSA) informed the committee on key successes protecting forage species and adopting protections for critical coral habitats in the Mid-Atlantic. He raised concerns over the impacts of overly precautionary approach to the MSA has led to underfishing of fish stocks. Specifically, he noted that risk-adverse management has led to unpredictable quotas, stemming from fluctuating estimates of scientific uncertainty. GSSA represents fishing industry members who sustainably harvest seafood from New Jersey’s inshore & offshore waters.

“We have been testifying since 2009 on the unintended consequences of the 2006 reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act,” said Greg DiDomenico. “As part of these hearings we’ve provided the Chairman with 10 years worth of written testimony so that we can finally fix these issues in the next update to MSA.”

Rep. Huffman Travels Coast to Coast to Receive Input on Fisheries Policy

November 25, 2019 — The following was released by The Office of Congressman Jared Huffman (D-CA):

Over the past week, Representative Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael), Chair of the Water, Oceans, and Wildlife Subcommittee, traveled across the country to complete the third and fourth stops on his nationwide listening tour on federal fisheries policy. These events are designed to engage diverse perspectives, interests, and needs of individuals who have a stake in the management of ocean and fisheries resources.

During the listening sessions in Baltimore and Seattle, Representative Huffman heard from industry stakeholders, advocates, scientists, and members of the public, who gave feedback on the current state of fisheries management under the Magnuson-Stevens Act and what they hope to see in future federal fisheries policy.

“Each stop on this tour has shown me that while there are varying issues and perspectives in each region, there are also common threads that tie us together. The Magnuson-Stevens Act has made the U.S. a leader in sustainable fisheries, but there may be room to look forward and address future challenges for coastal communities and the fishing industry,” said Rep. Huffman. “Hearing from stakeholders and experts on both coasts has been an incredibly valuable and informative endeavor and given me ideas to consider in a reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. I look forward to picking back up early next year.”

“By crisscrossing the country, Chairman Huffman is showing his true commitment to listening to all points-of-view about our nation’s valuable ocean resources. This fourth listening session, as with the previous three in California and Maryland, produced a thoughtful and well-rounded discussion on the future of federal fisheries policy with the people who have day-to-day investments in healthy and abundant fish populations,” said Robert C. Vandermark, executive director of the Marine Fish Conservation Network. “We continue to support Chairman Huffman’s efforts to spend time outside the DC beltway listening to the experience and knowledge of those in our coastal communities and working waterfronts.”

Videos from the listening sessions can be accessed through Representative Huffman’s Facebook page here.

Rep. Huffman Gets Bleak Input on Fisheries

October 11, 2019 — Long before the first refugees from the city planted cannabis seeds in the hills of Southern Humboldt, fishermen braved the seas in summer and winter to bring back crab, salmon, rockfish, lingcod and a variety of other seafood.

It was always considered a reliable — if dangerous — way to make a living.

Things have changed. A hodgepodge of rising costs, shrinking fish stocks, impossible bureaucratic requirements and crumbling on-shore infrastructure is gradually driving people out of Humboldt’s oldest occupation.

On Oct. 5, North Coast Congressman Jared Huffman held a public meeting in Arcata to discuss updating the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA), the federal legislation that governs ocean fishing.

Huffman brought together a roundtable of regional and local officials, a Humboldt State University professor and a few representatives of the local fishing industry to offer feedback on the failings — and successes — of the MSA. Later in the meeting, he also took comments from the 35 or so members of the general public attending the meeting at the D Street Community Center.

Aside from some initial remarks, Huffman did not say much, noting that he was there to listen and gather feedback from the community. He will hold similar meetings on a “listening tour” of fishing communities all over the country in his role as chair of the House Subcommittee on Water, Oceans and Wildlife.

Read the full story at The North Coast Journal