POMBO OFFERS FISHERIES AMENDMENTS
In late March, Richard Pombo (R-CA), chair of the House Resources Committee of the U.S. Congress, introduced H.R. 5018, a bill to amend the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.
There are two provisions in the Pombo bill that NCMC can support:
1) Under Setting Science-Based Catch Limits, a new required provision for fishery management plans (FMPs) would not allow total allowable catch to exceed the acceptable biological catch recommended by a council’s scientific committee. The language needs to be tightened up, however, and we’ll be offering constructive suggestions.
2) New Ecosystem-Based Fishery Management provisions are good -- much better than the Senate bill (S 2012) approved by the commerce committee last December -- although it focuses on research and guidance and doesn’t go as far enough toward implementation. For example, a new FMP provision gives authority to councils to include research, conservation and management measures for the purposes of managing fisheries under an ecosystems approach. But these measures should be required in each FMP, not discretionary.
The poison pill in the bill is the Diminished Fisheries section.
1) A new term, "diminished," would replace "overfished," but the definition is too mushy and therefore could create a giant loophole for inaction to prevent overfishing.
2) The bill would allow extending rebuilding time periods for depleted stocks under a number of conditions. The most harmful new provision would allow so-called minor stocks in multispecies fisheries to remain perpetually overfished to allow heavier fishing on the major stocks.
NCMC will continue to work with Congress in support of improvements to the Magnuson Act, while making sure no amendments are added that would weaken current law.
