Saving Seafood

House Natural Resources Committee Passes Magnuson-Stevens Reauthorization

December 13, 2017 — WASHINGTON — The following was released by the House Committee on Natural Resources:

Today, the House Committee on Natural Resources passed H.R. 200, the “Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act.” Introduced by Chairman Emeritus Don Young (R-AK), the bill reauthorizes and modernizes the Magnuson-Stevens Act by implementing regional flexibility, tailored management practices and improved data collection for America’s federal fisheries.

“It has been 11 years since the Magnuson-Stevens Act was reauthorized and when we first passed this law, we saw tremendous success for the fisheries nationwide. Alaska is considered the gold standard of fisheries management and this industry is crucial to our local economy. I am proud to see my bill pass out of Committee today. This legislation will improve the management process by allowing regional fisheries to develop plans that match the needs of their area. Ultimately, this bill updates the Magnuson-Stevens Act to ensure a proper balance between the biological needs of fish stocks and the economic needs of fishermen and coastal communities,” Rep. Young stated. 

“America’s fisheries are governed by an outdated regulatory scheme and inflexible decrees imposed by distant bureaucrats. Fishermen and biologists on the ground should be partners in the formation of management plans, not powerless onlookers,” Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) said. “This bill provides flexibility so we can better meet local needs, expand economic activity and conserve ecosystems. Rep. Young has delivered a win for local management and I look forward to moving this bill through the chambers in the coming year.” 

Click here to learn more about the bill.

The following was released by the Democrats of the House Committee on Natural Resources:

Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today highlighted the broad-based economic and environmental opposition to H.R. 200, today’s highly partisan rewrite of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which governs fisheries and fishing quotas across U.S. waters. The GOP bill is opposed by the Seafood Harvesters of America and a wide swathe of restaurants and individual commercial fisherman and by dozens of environmental groups, including the Alaska Wilderness League, Defenders of Wildlife, Earthjustice, the League of Conservation Voters, the National Audubon Society, Pew Charitable Trusts, the Ocean Conservancy and the Wilderness Society.

Opponents of the Republican bill have written a barrage of letters to Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) and other Republican leaders, including Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), who chairs the Subcommittee on Water, Power and Oceans, urging them to reauthorize the Magnuson-Stevens Act and abandon today’s bill, which was written by Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) on highly partisan lines. The letters are available at http://bit.ly/2nYuEin.

“Republicans’ plan is to deregulate our oceans and fish everywhere until there’s nothing left, and we’re not going to let that happen,” Grijalva said today. “Ocean management is about sustainable use and enjoyment, not just making environmentalists unhappy. Like most of the bills advanced by the leadership of this Committee, this bill is extreme and has no future in the Senate. Until my counterparts decide to take the issues in our jurisdiction more seriously, we’re going to keep wasting time on unpopular bills that have no chance of becoming law.”

Grijalva also underscored the deep opposition to H.R. 3588, Rep. Garret Graves’ (R-La.) bill deregulating red snapper fishing in the Gulf of Mexico. Many letter-writers who oppose H.R. 200 also oppose Graves’ effort, which an alliance of chefs and restaurateurs noted in a Nov. 7 letter “could inadvertently result in significant overfishing and deprive our customers of one of their favorite fish.”

 

Fight over national monuments intensifies

October 16, 2017 — WASHINGTON — Conservatives have opened a new front in the fight over the future of America’s national monuments.

House Republicans are moving forward with a bill to reform a century-old conservation law, raising the stakes in their ongoing effort to curtail the president’s’ ability to set aside wide swaths of federal land as national monuments and protect them from future development.

The new legislation, from Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah), comes as the White House mulls reductions to several previously declared monuments. That’s an effort environmentalists consider an affront to the Antiquities Act, a law signed by conservation champion Theodore Roosevelt in 1906.

Conservatives, industry groups and Westerners have long pushed for changes to the Antiquities Act, saying presidents of both parties have abused the law, handcuffing local communities who could look to create jobs on public land. President Trump is an ally in that effort.

Environmentalists and most Democrats consider the Antiquities Act a bedrock American conservation law and have vowed to fight any effort to water it down.

The reform effort has its impetus in what conservatives consider an abuse of federal monument designation powers.

Sixteen presidents have used the Antiquities Act to lock up federal land over the last century. But President Obama used it the most often, and protected by far the most acreage — 553.6 million acres of land and sea monuments — inspiring a fresh round of legislative proposals.

Read the full story at The Hill

What They Are Saying: Democrats Call for Antiquities Act Transparency

October 11, 2017 — The following was released by the House Committee on Natural Resources through its newsletter The Scope:

If there’s anything we learned from the recent national monument review and decades of Antiquities Act (Act) abuse, it’s that Republicans and Democrats finally want the same thing: transparency and public input in the Act’s uses.

Ironically, for Democrats, it’s also an admission of the underlying problem – a statute that provides the president with unilateral authority to dictate national monument decisions in secrecy and without public input. It’s a recognition that the only path to creating the accountability we all seek – no matter which party controls the White House – is to amend the Act itself.

Thankfully, we have a solution: Chairman Bishop’s “National Monument Creation and Protection Act” or “CAP Act.”

Over the past months, Democrats have gone above and beyond to argue the importance of transparency in the executive’s use of the Act and for local communities to have a voice in the process. Well, we agree.

TRANSPARENCY:

  • Ranking Member Raul Grijalva (D-AZ): “It has been opaque and it has been contrived.”
  • Ranking Member Raul Grijalva: “…let’s see some transparency and public accountability.”
  • Rep. Ruben Kihuen (D-NV): “It’s obviously very, very disappointing in the lack of specificity and transparency.”
  • Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-CA): “The American people deserve to know what the President’s intentions are.”
  • Rep. Donald McEachin (D-VA): “[T]he American people deserve transparency and honesty.”
  • Rep. Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam): “The people of Guam deserve transparency…”

NOTE: While protecting the chief executive’s authority to designate monuments, the “CAP Act” requires proper environmental review and safeguards for public notice and coordination.

PUBLIC INPUT:

  • Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR): “…should focus on addressing local input…”
  • Rep. Ruben Kihuen: “This whole process has been a sham. There hasn’t been transparency… listen to the American people.”
  • Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-CA): “…zero interest in hearing directly from the people who would be most impacted.”
  • Rep. Grace Napolitano: “…listen to my constituents as well as local stakeholders on what the monument means to our community.”
  • Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM): “It doesn’t come as a surprise that local voices were not taken into consideration…”
  • Sen. Martin Heinrich: “…a sloppy, inaccurate, and Washington-first work product devoid of local engagement. [N]ew Mexicans…are in the dark about what is going to happen…”

NOTE: While protecting the chief executive’s authority to designate monuments, the “CAP Act” requires all county commissions, state legislatures, and Governors in the area to approve of new monuments between 10,000 and 85,000 acres.

POLITICALLY DRIVEN PROCESS:

  • Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR): “…a politically driven process.”
  • Rep. Grijalva: “…choosing to appease… special interest friends instead of listening to the American people.”
  • Sen. Martin Heinrich: “It’s clear this…is a politically driven attempt by Washington.”
  • Sen. Martin Heinrich: “The public deserves better than predetermined political conclusions based on hearsay and claims that are easily disproven if the department had actually taken the time to listen to and work with local communities.”

NOTE: The “CAP Act” allows the president to make unilateral designations to protect resources under imminent threat while imposing public input requirements for larger monuments. It would end the era of politically motivated land grabs taking place in the dark of night, while restoring the Act’s intent.

Bill proposes curtailing president’s power to create national monuments under Antiquities Act

October 11, 2017 — WASHINGTON — A Utah congressman has introduced a bill that he claims will restore the original intent of the Antiquities Act.

Bill sponsor U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop said the “National Monument Creation and Protection Act” aims to rid the 111-year-old law, which gives presidents the ability to set aside areas to protect their natural, cultural or scientific features, of political manipulation. If passed into law, the bill would severely cut back the president’s unilateral ability to create national monuments.

Bishop, a Republican, also serves as chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, which is scheduled to review the bill Wednesday afternoon.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Chairman Bishop Releases Antiquities Act Reform Legislation

WASHINGTON — October 10, 2017 — The following was released by the House Natural Resources Committee:

The Full Committee will hold a markup on Wednesday, October 11, 2017 at 4:00 PM until 6:00 PM in 1334 Longworth House Office Building, to consider H.R. 3990 (Rep. Rob Bishop of UT), the “National Monument Creation and Protection Act,” and H. Res. 555 (Rep. Raul Grijalva of AZ).

Chairman Bishop released the following statement:

“The 1906 Antiquities Act was originally intended as an executive tool to protect historical and archeological artifacts and structures under threat. Regrettably, this worthy goal has been manipulated for ulterior political purposes. Today the Act is too often used as an excuse for presidents to unilaterally lock up vast tracts of public land without any mechanism for people to provide input or voice concerns. This is wrong.   

“This legislation provides for accountability in the Act’s uses. It modernizes the law to restore its intent, allowing for the protection of actual antiquities without disenfranchisement of local voices and perspectives. It standardizes and limits the president’s power to reshape monuments.

“If my colleagues are serious about their calls for accountability under this Act – no matter which party controls the White House – they will support this bill.”

  • H.R. 3990 (Rep. Rob Bishop of UT), To amend title 54, United States Code, to reform the Antiquities Act of 1906, and for other purposes. “National Monument Creation and Protection Act.”
  • H. Res. 555 (Rep. Raul Grijalva), Of inquiry requesting the President and directing the Secretary of the Interior to transmit, respectively, certain documents and other information to the House of Representatives relating to the executive order on the review of designations under the Antiquities Act.
WHAT: Full Committee Markup on H.R. 3990 and H. Res. 555
WHEN: Wednesday, October 11
4:00 PM-6:00PM
WHERE: 1334 Longworth House Office Building

Visit the Committee Calendar for additional information once it is made available. The meeting is open to the public and a video feed will stream live at House Committee on Natural Resources.

Congressmen Seek Investigation Of Hawaii Fishing Practices

December 14, 2016 — Four Democratic congressmen have written to officials at the U.S. Coast Guard and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration claiming that Hawaii’s longline fishing fleet is operating illegally by employing — and in some cases possibly abusing — foreign fishermen.

The congressmen said fishing boat owners who are not in “compliance with the law” should not be allowed to sell their products.

Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva’s staff convened a forum about the matter on Capitol Hill last week. Activists at the event, who described what was happening as modern-day slavery, advocated a boycott of tuna until the alleged abuses stop.

The letter was signed by Grijalva, ranking Democratic member of the Natural Resources Committee; Jared Huffman of California, ranking Democratic member of the Water, Power and Oceans Subcommittee; Peter DeFazio of Oregon, ranking Democratic member of the  Transportation Committee and Infrastructure; and John Garamendi of California, ranking Democratic member of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee.

It was addressed to Adm. Paul Zukunft, commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, and Kathryn Sullivan, under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator, and was delivered Monday.

“This illegal activity does not represent American values and has dealt a blow to U.S. credibility as a global leader in fighting (illegal, unreported and unregulated) fishing and human trafficking,” the congressmen wrote.

John P. Connelly, president of the National Fisheries Institute, a trade group, told Civil Beat the industry is looking forward to the response by the Coast Guard and NOAA, saying that it would allow a “clarification” of employment law affecting foreign fishermen working in Hawaii.

Read the full story at the Honolulu Civil Beat