GOAL: MSA Reauthorization
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) Reauthorization
This Act was reauthorized by Congress on December 9, 2006. PMCC worked with colleagues around the country to secure Congressional approval of a strong reauthorization bill.
Background:
The law governing United States fisheries was previously reauthorized in 1996, through the Sustainable Fisheries Act (SFA). The SFA mandated that fisheries management move toward long-term stewardship of living ocean resources through actions to:
- End overfishing
- Rebuild overfished populations as soon as possible
- Reduce the unintentional catch of non-target marine life, referred to as “bycatch”
- Identify and protect essential fish habitat
Over the past decade varying amounts of progress have been made in implementing the mandates of the SFA; however, success has been uneven in different regions of the country.
During the reauthorization process in 2005-06, we had the benefit of three years of extensive investigation by the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, which resulted in comprehensive recommendations regarding the management of our ocean resources (An Ocean Blueprint for the 21 st Century, 2004.) The Commission's overarching message was to base all of our actions involving the ocean, including fisheries, on an ecosystem-based perspective.
Pacific Marine Conservation Council agreed that ecosystem-based management should be employed to the greatest degree possible, to ensure that the marine environment is protected and opportunities for fishing are preserved.
We successfully advocated that the law could be improved and strengthened by:
- Requiring Total Allowable Catch to be set by independently appointed scientists. Fishery managers would be required to adopt regulations that stay within these science-based catch limits.
- Requiring balanced representation on the fishery management councils, including commercial and recreational fishermen, and knowledgeable people who do not have a financial interest in the managed fisheries.
- Including requirements to reduce any conflict of interest within fishery management councils.
- Providing more opportunity for public involvement, including fully utilizing the analysis and exploration of alternatives offered by the National Environmental Policy Act.
- Providing better access for academics, fishermen and the public to non-confidential data, such as observer information, upon which management decisions are made.
- Requiring standards for individual fishing quota programs that: (1) prescribe time limits to make it clear that the quotas do not convey ownership of a public resource; (2) require measurable conservation benefits as a condition of a program; (3) include enforceable means to avoid excessive concentration of control of quota; and (4) provide reasonable ways for new participants to enter the fishery.
- Explicitly prohibiting processor quota programs or any system that requires fishermen to sell their catch to one processor exclusively.
- Including a fisheries trust fund to ensure that needed money is available for data collection, at-sea observers, and research – especially cooperative research that involves collaborations between fishermen and scientists.
1 ” U.S. ocean and coastal resources should be managed to reflect the relationships among all ecosystem components, including humans and non-human species and the environments in which they live. Applying this principle will require defining relevant geographic management areas based on ecosystem, rather than political, boundaries.” – U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy
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