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RFA TESTIFIES AT CONGRESSIONAL HEARING ON MAGNUSON
Anglers Charge NMFS With Failing To Meet Mandates
October 28, 2009 -
On October 27, the House Natural Resources Committee, Subcommittee
on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife held an oversight hearing
on implementation of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and
Management Act of 2006 (MSA). Testifying on behalf the
Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA), Herb Moore, Jr. charged the
National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) with managing the
recreational fishing sector using poor statistical data and by
attempting to meet arbitrary rebuilding timelines without
adequately fulfilling their own commitments.
"Unfortunately, many in the recreational fishing public have come
to view our federal government as the enemy - having experienced
decades of larger and larger minimum size limits, shorter seasons
and smaller bag limits in fisheries that we know are healthy,"
Moore said, adding "We believe NMFS needs a complete overhaul in
how it views recreational fishing and we believe this Congress can
help."
Congress mandated extensive improvements to recreational data
collection programs in the 2006 MSA
reauthorization. "Unfortunately, NMFS has not met its mandates,"
Moore said. "The problems with MRFSS have been well-documented
for years and it took an act of Congress to get NMFS to move on
this, but the process has been slow."
South Carolina charter and party boat Captain Mark Brown said "NMFS
continues to move forward like a run-away train," and testified
that MSA requirements were leading to the draconian management
measures on the red snapper fishery. "These measures are due to
the mandates of the rigid and inflexible timeframes set forth
within the MSA and are being forced upon the fishermen without
sound statistics and without a clear understanding of why
fisheries managers are forced to accept scientific information
that makes absolutely no sense," Brown said, while vocalizing his
support for the Flexibility in Rebuilding American Fisheries Act.
Sponsored in the House by Rep. Frank Pallone (HR 1584) and in the
Senate by Sen. Charles Schumer (S 1255), this "flexibility"
legislation would extend the time period for rebuilding certain
overfished fisheries provided that certain conditions are met.
Pallone noted that because the best available science is generally
uncertain, it creates total allowable landing figures that unduly
restrict the fishermen, which contributes to his concerns about
the rebuilding targets. "Other factors should be included in
determining rebuilding targets besides fishing, for instance are
environmental factors such as the development and degradation of
estuaries," Pallone said, adding that the best way to address
these issues in his opinion is through HR 1584 and S 1255.
"Magnuson is clearly a broken instrument of the law that needs to
be fixed to allow for more access, conservation, and rebuilding,"
said Capt. Brown in his testimony.
Click here to read the full RFA report from the October 27
hearing in DC.
To download a copy of Herb Moore's submitted comments to Congress,
click here.
For an archived audio version, visit
http://resourcescommittee.house.gov.
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