Saving Seafood

Fishing interests fight ocean closures bill

November 20, 2020 — A national coalition of seafood industry and commercial fishery stakeholders is mobilizing against congressional legislation that would exclude commercial fishing from wide swaths of the nation’s fisheries.

The House bill, filed in late October by U.S. Rep. Raul Grivalja of Arizona, seeks to use “marine protected areas” to ban all “commercial extractive use” across 30% of the nation’s exclusive economic zone by 2030. The closures would be part of the so-called “30×30” strategy to conserve 30% of ocean habitat worldwide by the 2030 target date.

In a letter to Grivalja, more than 800 fishing stakeholders, including the Gloucester-based Northeast Seafood Coalition, framed the conservation-fueled proposal as an undermining threat to the Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and an assault on the economic viability of fishing communities from New England to Alaska.

“Members are the commercial fishing industry are very concerned about the attempt to undermine the Magnuson Act via these proposed pieces of legislation,” said Jackie Odell, executive director of the Northeast Seafood Coalition.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Dr. Hilborn: No-take MPAs “do nothing to mitigate” problems facing U.S. oceans

November 18, 2020 (Saving Seafood) — WASHINGTON — Yesterday, at a House Natural Resources Committee hearing on the Ocean-Based Climate Solutions Act, respected fisheries scientist Dr. Ray Hilborn criticized the marine protected area (MPA) provision of the bill, which he called “the wrong tool for adapting to climate change.”

The provision, known as the “30 by 30” plan, would require the establishment of MPAs in at least 30 percent of American waters by 2030. In his testimony, Dr. Hilborn, professor of sustainable fisheries at the University of Washington, cited numerous threats facing U.S. oceans, including climate change, ocean acidification, exotic species, land-based runoff, plastics and illegal fishing.

“There are solutions to each of these problems,” Dr. Hilborn said. “But it is not no-take MPAs – they do nothing to mitigate these problems.”

Dr. Hilborn praised current fisheries management under the regional council process, which he called science-based and credible with industry and other stakeholders. He also pointed out that MPAs would simply push fishing pressure outside of the protected area into other parts of the ocean, with no net gain.

“MPA advocates ignore the fact that ‘30 by 30’ would cause 70 percent of U.S. oceans to see increased fishing pressure from the vessels that moved out of the 30 percent closed, and thus potentially be less resilient to climate change. Do we really want to make 70 percent of our oceans less resilient to climate change?” Dr. Hilborn said.

The hearing kicked off with Ranking Member Rob Bishop (R-UT) introducing a letter organized in part by Saving Seafood and signed by over 800 seafood industry members opposing the “30 by 30” plan. Rep. Bishop added that “30 by 30” is “woefully misguided, does not improve fisheries, it undermines the Magnuson-Stevens Act, and even worse, it’s detrimental to Americans, especially American fishermen.”

Read Dr. Hilborn’s written testimony here

Watch the full hearing here

Ocean climate bill is a grab bag for marine stakeholders

November 18, 2020 — Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources, today introduced the Oceans-Based Climate Solutions Act of 2020.

We could start with the irony of a representative from Arizona introducing an oceans climate bill, hailing not only from a landlocked state, but one most known for its lack of water.

But let’s instead lead with the fact that the blueprint for this bill was introduced and failed to make it out of committee in California — one of the nation’s most progressive states. Now Gov. Gavin Newsom has made an end run around the legislative process by creating an executive order to effect the changes in the bill that could not pass with votes.

The federal bill is more than a mixed bag. Reading its 324 pages felt like swinging at a piñata packed with a mix of treats and lit fireworks.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Coalition of seafood industry members oppose new Ocean-Based Climate Solutions Act

November 17, 2020 — A coalition of more than 800 members of the U.S. seafood industry have signed a letter opposing a new bill that they say will undermine the nation’s “world-class system of fisheries management.”

The bill, the Ocean-Based Climate Solutions Act, was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives in late October. The 300-page-long bill was co-authored by U.S. Rep. Raul M. Grijalva (D-Arizona) and U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Florida) and contains sweeping rule-making that touches on fisheries sectors.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

LINDA BEHNKEN & MIKE CONROY: Sustainable fisheries are facing a moratorium

November 17, 2020 — American wild-caught seafood is integral to the nation’s food supply and to American food security. We’ve been working hard to keep it that way in the face of climate change. The people who catch fish for a living experience climate impacts directly. We recognized it early and we’ve responded. In fact, U.S. fishermen have been part of the solution to habitat conservation and climate responses for decades.

Nonetheless, some politicians and environmental organizations have embraced a version of an initiative called 30×30 (“thirty by thirty”) that would damage our nation’s sustainable fisheries and robust fisheries management process. Broadly, 30×30 aims to conserve 30 percent of habitat worldwide by the end of the decade — 2030. The 30×30 approach has been embraced by President-elect Biden’s campaign, and there’s talk he will sign an executive order on his first day in office.

We’re eager to engage with the new administration to address climate impacts and protect habitat. Proactive and durable ocean policy changes need to happen with us, not to us.

Our organizations have advocated for strong ocean conservation for decades, and we’ve built a fisheries management system that will continue to provide enduring protections to ocean habitat while insisting fishermen participate. The results are striking: we’ve established deep-sea habitat protection areas covering over 45 percent of U.S. waters off the West Coast. In 1998 we prohibited trawling off the entire coast of Southeast Alaska. Recently, the New England and Mid-Atlantic regions enacted major deep-sea coral protections that prohibit the use of impactful gear in sensitive areas.

Read the full opinion piece at The Hill

Fishermen, Seafood Companies Come Together to Defend Their Industry

November 16, 2020 — The following was released by the At-Sea Processors Association:

Ahead of tomorrow’s House Natural Resources Committee hearing on legislation entitled the “Ocean-Based Climate Solutions Act,” a coalition of more than 800 members of the seafood community say Title II of the proposed bill is not backed by science and is a direct threat to an iconic American industry.

“United States fisheries management is the envy of the world,” said Matt Tinning, Director of Sustainability and Public Affairs at the At-sea Processors Association. “Science-based management under the Magnuson-Stevens Act is a remarkable example of bipartisan policy success. It is achieving exceptional environmental outcomes, preserving vital cultural traditions, creating jobs in communities across the United States, and delivering food with one of the lowest carbon footprints of any protein on Earth. Title II of the Ocean-Based Climate Solutions Act will jeopardize that remarkable record of success.”

“The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is among the world’s very best fishery managers,” said NFI President John Connelly. “This bill appears to ignore that expertise and process and just walls off parts of the ocean to fishing. It disregards generations of science-based work and community consensus. Drawing arbitrary lines on a map is not science, it’s politics. Lines on a map don’t actually promote sustainability but they can harm livelihoods that depend on real sustainability work.”

The proposal calls for massive Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) that would prohibit all commercial fishing activity across at least 30 percent of the nation’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) by 2030.

“The 831 signatories of this letter hail from different regions and participate in different parts of the seafood supply chain,” said Robert B. Vanasse, Executive Director of Saving Seafood. “However, we are all united in our commitment to using defensible, quality science to ensure that our nation’s fisheries are harvested sustainably for the benefit of this and future generations. ‘30 by 30’ is a campaign slogan, not a scientific proposal. The legislation would undermine the Magnuson-Stevens Act and its fundamental principle of using the best available scientific information to inform our fisheries management decisions.”

“High-value benthic habitat, such as deep-sea corals, are important parts of the marine ecosystem and worthy of science-based protection,” said Leigh Habegger, Executive Director of Seafood Harvesters of America. The current system is working to deliver exactly those protections to hundreds of thousands of square miles of sensitive habitat through the Regional Fishery Management Council process. We should build on what is working, not create a new, parallel process.”

The coalition letter can be viewed here. The Committee hearing is Tuesday, November 17, at 12:00PM Eastern and will be live-streamed here.

Huge Seafood Coalition Opposes Natural Resources Bill that Undercuts Sustainability Successes

November 16, 2020 — The following was released by the National Fisheries Institute:

Ahead of tomorrow’s House Natural Resources Committee hearing on legislation entitled “Ocean-Based Climate Solutions Act,” a coalition of more than 800 members of the seafood community say the proposed bill is not backed by science and has the potential to do more harm than good.

“The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is among the world’s best fishery managers,” said NFI President John Connelly. “This bill appears to ignore that expertise and process and just walls off parts of the ocean to fishing.  It disregards generations of science-based work and community consensus. Drawing arbitrary lines on a map is not science, it’s politics.  Lines on a map don’t actually promote sustainability but they can harm livelihoods that depend on real sustainability work.”

The proposal calls for massive Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) that would prohibit all commercial fishing activity across at least 30 percent of the nation’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) by 2030.

“The seafood community is committed to the conversation about marine conservation and fisheries management.  Cute slogans like ‘30 by 30’ are not part of a reasonable or responsible dialogue,” said Connelly.

The effort ignores the Magnuson-Stevens Act’s success in providing rigorous, science-based framework for area-based closures designed to help rebuild specific stocks. Instead, it relies on total, indefinite closures to commercial fishing in an indiscriminately chosen percentage of the ocean, with no stakeholder input.

“Fisheries management must be science-based and account for the communities that provide us our food.  The coalition signers want to know; when will proponents of this idea address the concerns of the more than 700,000 men and women who depend on domestic commercial harvesting to provide for their families?  ” asked Connelly.

The Committee hearing is Tuesday, November 17, at 12:00 PM Eastern.

Over 800 Seafood Industry Members Write to Oppose the Fisheries Provisions of the House Democrats’ Climate Bill

November 16, 2020 — Over 800 participants in our nation’s seafood economy wrote today to Chairman Raúl Grijalva of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources to express deep concern regarding Title II of the Ocean-Based Climate Solutions Act, recently introduced by the committee Democrats. The signers of the letter argue that the bill would undermine our nation’s world-class system of fisheries management, harming fishermen and the coastal communities they sustain. They urged the chairman to fundamentally rethink Title II’s provisions.

Of particular concern is the bill’s mandate that would compel the Executive Branch to establish Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) that prohibit all commercial fishing activity across at least 30 percent of the nation’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) by 2030.  The proposal is known by the slogan “30 by 30”.

The House Natural Resources Committee plans a hearing tomorrow to cover this bill, among several others.

The letter was organized by the At-sea Processors Association, the National Fisheries Institute, Saving Seafood, and the Seafood Harvesters of America.

“United States fisheries management is the envy of the world. Science-based management under the Magnuson-Stevens Act is a remarkable example of bipartisan policy success. It is achieving exceptional environmental outcomes, preserving vital cultural traditions, creating jobs in communities across the United States, and delivering food with one of the lowest carbon footprints of any protein on Earth. Title II of the Ocean-Based Climate Solutions Act will jeopardize that remarkable record of success.”
— Matt Tinning, Director of Sustainability and Public Affairs at the At-sea Processors Association

“The over 800 signers of this letter hail from different regions and participate in different parts of the seafood supply chain. However, we are all united in our commitment to using defensible, quality science to ensure that our nation’s fisheries are harvested sustainably for the benefit of this and future generations. ‘30 by 30’ is a campaign slogan, not a scientific proposal. The legislation would undermine the Magnuson-Stevens Act and its fundamental principle of using the best available scientific information to inform our fisheries management decisions.”
— Robert B. Vanasse, Executive Director of Saving Seafood

“The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is among the world’s very best fishery managers.  This bill appears to ignore that expertise and process and just walls off parts of the ocean to fishing. It disregards generations of science-based work and community consensus. Drawing arbitrary lines on a map is not science, it’s politics. Lines on a map don’t actually promote sustainability but they can harm livelihoods that depend on real sustainability work.”
— John Connelly, President of the National Fisheries Institute

“High-value benthic habitat, such as deep-sea corals, are important parts of the marine ecosystem and worthy of science-based protection.  The current system is working to deliver exactly those protections to hundreds of thousands of square miles of sensitive habitat through the Regional Fishery Management Council process. We should build on what is working, not create a new, parallel process.”
— Leigh Habegger, Executive Director of Seafood Harvesters of America

Read the full letter here

Democrats push expansion of offshore wind, block offshore drilling with ocean energy bill

October 21, 2020 — A new bill from House Democrats turns to the oceans as a way to fight climate change, proposing to expand offshore wind while barring drilling along America’s coasts.

The more than 300-page legislation is broadly billed as a “blue carbon” bill — a way to harvest clean energy while protecting fisheries and resources like marshes and wetlands that can store carbon and protect eroding shorelines.

The Ocean Based Climate Solutions Act, introduced Tuesday, comes as the ocean is rapidly warming and acidifying, a result of climate change and absorbing carbon from the atmosphere.

The bill directs the Department of the Interior to up the number of permits for offshore wind projects, where higher wind speeds allow windmills to generate more electricity than they do on land.

The bill also repackages some measures already before the House, such as a pledge to conserve 30 percent of oceans by 2030 and an approved measure to bar offshore drilling along both coasts that has failed to advance in the Senate.

Read the full story at The Hill

Ocean-Based Climate Solutions Act introduced to US House of Representatives

October 20, 2020 — A group of U.S. representatives has introduced the Ocean-Based Climate Solutions Act, a new piece of legislation centered on limiting or reversing damage to the oceans and marine ecosystems caused by climate change.

The new bill, which is 300 pages long, was co-authored by U.S. Rep. Raul M. Grijalva (D-Arizona) and U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Florida), and involves sweeping rule-making that touches on the energy and fisheries sectors. The bill includes an offshore oil drilling ban, stipulations on new offshore wind energy projects, and pushes for climate-ready fisheries and the promotion of American seafood.

Read the full story at Seafood Source