Marine Retailers Association of America
MRAA announces today its support of H.R. 5425, the Flexibility in Rebuilding American Fisheries Act. "This bill will promote fish population re-building programs vital to the growth of the fishing and boating industries," said Phil Keeter, MRAA President. 'We applaud the strong work of the Recreational Fishing Alliance in its support of recreational fishing,' he added.
Under current law, fishing managers have two-years to develop a plan to restore a fishing population and a 10-year window to accomplish the plan to restore fish populations that have been over fished.
H.R. 5425 would allow fisheries managers to extend the 10-year rebuilding period for a species if certain common-sense conditions apply, such as economic conditions, the target exceeds the highest abundance of fish stock in the past 25-years, or changes in environmental and ecological factors.
Fisheries laws should be designed to promote healthy fisheries and healthy fishing communities. MRAA strongly supports keeping fishing communities economically viable without compromising the ultimate rebuilding goal. H.R. 5425 is a good bill that accomplishes that goal. MRAA encourages the Congress to pass H.R. 5425 to help keep fishing a strong industry and form of recreation in our country.
Following is information from the Recreational Fishing Alliance.
Rationalization in Rebuilding:
Fishery laws should be designed to promote both healthy fisheries and healthy
fishing communities. Unfortunately, current law can sometimes impose unduly
strict timelines for rebuilding depleted fisheries. H.R.5425, Flexibility in
Rebuilding American Fisheries Act of 2008 will provide a measure of flexibility
in the rebuilding periods in order to help keep fishing communities economically
viable, without compromising the ultimate rebuilding goal, and we invite you to
join our effort as a cosponsor.
Under the new Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Management Act passed by Congress in 2006 -- when a fishery is identified as overfished, a Regional Fishery Management Council has two years to implement a plan to end overfishing, and, with limited exceptions, to rebuild the stock within 10 years. The 10-year rebuilding requirement has three exceptions, based on the biology of the fish, environmental conditions, or an agreement between the U.S. and other nations. Other than those three situations, all overfished fisheries must achieve rebuilt status within 10 years.
The problem is the 10-year deadline is arbitrary, may have no basis in science, may require stocks to be rebuilt to unprecedented levels, and must be met without regard to the impact it will have on recreational and commercial fishermen, related industries, and the communities whose economic future depends on harvesting the fish.
We need flexibility so rebuilding can be completed on a responsible timeline that allows stocks to recover without making fishermen extinct. Specifically, with all overfishing now required to end in two years, adding a few years to a 10-year period in order to allow a more gradual glide path to rebuilding will help communities without hurting fish.
H.R. 5425, the Flexibility in Rebuilding American Fisheries Act of 2008, would allow fisheries managers to extend the 10-year rebuilding period for a species if certain common-sense conditions apply.
The exceptions include:
I. If the biology of the stock of fish, other environmental conditions, or
management measures under an international agreement in which the United States
participates dictate otherwise (these three are in existing law).
II. If the Secretary of Commerce determines that such 10-year period should be extended because the cause of the fishery decline is outside the jurisdiction of the Council or the rebuilding program cannot be effective only by limiting fishing activities.
III. If the Secretary of Commerce determines that such 10-year period should be extended to provide for the sustained participation of fishing communities or to minimize the economic impacts on such communities, provided that there is evidence that the stock of fish is on a positive rebuilding trend.
IV. If the Secretary of Commerce determines that such 10-year period should be extended for one or more stocks of fish of a multi-species fishery, provided that there is evidence that those stocks are on a positive rebuilding trend.
V. If the Secretary of Commerce determines that such 10-year period should be extended because of a substantial change to the biomass rebuilding target for the stock of fish concerned after the rebuilding plan has taken effect.
VI. If the Secretary of Commerce determines that such 10-year period should be extended because the biomass rebuilding target exceeds the highest abundance of the stock of fish in the 25 year period preceding and there is evidence that the stock is on a positive rebuilding trend.
The bill would also strengthen the biomass stock assessments mandated in the Magnuson-Stevens Act. Specifically, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) would have to review factors that may contribute to the overfished status of a stock, such as commercial, residential, and industrial development of, or agricultural activity in, coastal areas and their impact on the marine environment, predator/prey relationships of target and related species, and other environmental and ecological changes to the marine conditions.