Saving Seafood

Lawmakers differ over best plan to restore flounder

March 5, 2021 — Two local lawmakers are taking different approaches, but they share the common goal of restoring the state’s troubled flounder fishery. And they have both rejected a call by the state wildlife agency to impose a season on the popular species.

A bill by state Rep. Lee Hewitt that would reduce the catch limit from 10 to five flounder and increase the size limit from 15 to 16 inches was approved by a House subcommittee this week. The bill now moves to the Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs committee.

The bill also allows anglers to keep only one flounder larger than 20 inches. A female that size can lay a million eggs.

“That would help the fishery come back quicker,” Hewitt said. “I’m trying to get more eggs in the system.”

State Sen. Stephen Goldfinch plans to take a different approach in a bill he intends to file.

“My bill is going to end up increasing the cost of a fishing stamp by a few bucks,” he said. The money, which he estimated at $1.2 million annually, will be used to create a flounder fish hatchery.

Read the full story at The Coastal Observer

Lawsuit filed over Trump plans for offshore drilling tests

December 12, 2018 — Environmental groups sued the Trump administration Tuesday over offshore drilling tests, launching a legal fight against a proposal that has drawn bipartisan opposition along the Atlantic Coast.

The lawsuit filed in federal court in Charleston, South Carolina, claims the National Marine Fisheries Service violated the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act when it issued five permits for the use of seismic air guns.

“This action is unlawful and we’re going to stop it,” Diane Hoskins, campaign director at OCEANA, said in a news release. “The Trump administration’s rash decision to harm marine mammals hundreds of thousands of times in the hope of finding oil and gas is shortsighted and dangerous.”

The coalition includes OCEANA, the Southern Environmental Law Center, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Earthjustice, Center for Biological Diversity, Surfrider Foundation, Defenders of Wildlife, One Hundred Miles and the Sierra Club, as well as the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League and the North Carolina Coastal Federation.

The blasts are conducted in preparation for potential offshore drilling, which the administration has proposed to expand from the Atlantic to the Arctic and Pacific oceans. The five-year plan would open 90 percent of the nation’s offshore reserves to private development.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at ABC News

Offshore Energy Bill Gains Support as Subcommittee Continues Broad Overhaul of Federal Lands Energy Policy

October 12, 2017 — WASHINGTON — The following was released by the House Committee on Natural Resources 

Today, the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources held a legislative hearing on a discussion draft of the “Accessing Strategic Resources Offshore Act” or the “Astro Act.” The bill, which improves access to Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) energy resources through more reliable leasing and an improved revenue sharing framework with coastal states, is part of the Committee’s broader overhaul of federal lands energy policy.

“Our offshore oil and gas industry provides our nation and the world with a safe and reliable source of energy, billions of dollars in revenues to the government, and has resulted in the creation of millions of direct and indirect jobs across the country. It is critical that we maintain and increase access to offshore exploration and production to improve upon these trends,” Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources Chairman Paul Gosar (R-AZ) said. 

Under the previous administration, 94% of America’s OCS lands were off limits to development through both the 5 Year Plan process and the withdrawal of acreage.

“Natural gas and oil exploration in the Atlantic could be an opportunity for our state to see much-needed additional economic improvements, investment and job creation,” South Carolina State Senator Stephen Goldfinch stated. “Years of experience have shown that exploration and production can exist safely alongside tourism and fishing industries, as well as the military… If oil and gas is to come to South Carolina, I cannot imagine one of my constituents demanding the state decline much needed revenues for roads, schools and healthcare.”

Studies show that opening the OCS in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Eastern Gulf would create 840,000 new jobs and generate over $200 billion in revenues.

“I believe that the partnership that has worked so well for the interior states to develop federal [onshore] resources should be established for the coastal states that also host federal offshore mineral develop,” former Louisiana Senator and Senior Policy Advisory at Van Ness Feldman, LLP Mary Landrieu stated. 

The “ASTRO Act” establishes revenue sharing for states in the Mid and Southern Atlantic planning areas, in an attempt to fairly compensate the qualifying producing states, and to ensure disbursement certainty into the future.

“Our nation should produce more of the oil and natural gas Americans need here at home. And it can. This would strengthen our energy security and help put downward pressure on prices while also providing many thousands of new jobs for Americans and billions of dollars in additional revenue for our government,” Director of Upstream and Industry Operations at the American Petroleum Institute Erik Milito added. 

The “ASTRO Act” adds flexibility to the national oil and gas leasing process by giving the Secretary of the Interior the authority to conduct lease sales in areas excluded from approved 5 Year Plans. It also limits the president’s authority to withdraw OCS areas from leasing.

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