After GOP-invited witnesses testify, Dems force another hearing on law revamp

E&E News
By Jessica Estepa
February 5, 2014

Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee yesterday invoked a standing rule in order to force another hearing on a GOP-backed proposal to revamp the top U.S. fisheries law.

Under House and committee rules, the minority party is allowed to invite witnesses to testify before the panel. In this case, Democrats, led by committee ranking member Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), will bring in people to speak on a proposal from Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) to reauthorize the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act that was the subject of a hearing yesterday.

It's an effort to make sure that a broad range of voices are allowed to speak on the discussion draft released by Hastings in December, Democrats said in a letter sent to the chairman yesterday.

The Democrats charged that while fisheries management has not been a partisan issue in the past, Republicans ignored their requests to work together on legislation that would reauthorize Magnuson-Stevens, which expired at the end of fiscal 2013.

"The economic and conservation issues at stake in reauthorizing this statute are too significant to proceed in such a one-sided fashion," they wrote in the letter.

Hastings agreed to the request for another hearing. It will likely take place later this month, committee staff said.

Witnesses brought in by Democrats are likely to oppose the Hastings proposal. Since it came out, representatives from both the conservation and fishing communities have said that some of the proposed provisions would undo the recent successes of the law (E&ENews PM, Jan. 31).

Still, while Democrats are aiming to get more opinions on the table, yesterday's hearing on the "Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act" was not without critiques from the witnesses.

Richard Robins, chairman of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, noted a number of issues he had with the draft, including its lack of accountability requirements for recreational fisheries and clarifications for ecosystem management approaches.

Provisions that would provide flexibility -- namely, removing the 2006 amendment that has required managers to rebuild stocks within 10 years -- would only result in the repeat of past failures, said Ellen Pikitch, a professor at Stony Brook University's School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences.

"In the late 1980s and 1990s, I witnessed firsthand how regional fishery management councils used flexibility to avoid addressing the difficult problems affecting many of our nation's important fisheries," said Pikitch, who served on the Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council during those years. "Scientific advice was often ignored. Political pressure was applied to delay action."

But Robins and others welcomed the changes. Robins said the 10-year rebuilding requirement has been an "acute impediment" and removing it would allow managers to use biological, ecological, social and economic considerations as they rebuild stocks. He pointed to the spiny dogfish fishery, which could be rebuilt in five years instead of 10.

Rick Marks, a lawyer at Robertson, Monagle & Eastaugh PC, said his clients -- mostly made up of fishermen, fish houses and fishing associations -- viewed the draft as a helpful, measured step in the right direction.

He said more must be done to improve data on stocks and called for a provision addressing unwanted catch shares in several regions.

Such feedback is why the chairman floated the proposal as a discussion draft instead of introduced legislation, Hastings said, with the intent to get feedback and more input.

"I have said all along that I believe the act is fundamentally sound," he said. "But success does not mean the act works perfectly or should not be modified or improved."

While much of the hearing was a back and forth between lawmakers and Sam Rauch, deputy assistant administrator for the National Marine Fisheries Service, the Obama administration has not taken a formal stance on the proposal.

Rauch said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has not yet completed its review of the draft, but the agency looks forward to working with Congress on reauthorization.

Rauch answered several questions from lawmakers about NMFS's implementation of Magnuson-Stevens, especially concerning the status of the red snapper stock in the Gulf of Mexico. While the agency was criticized for not performing stock assessments on the fish, Rauch said one was completed in 2010 and another will be done this year.

He added that the 2006 amendments have allowed for "significant progress," but the agency would continue to look for ways to improve management.

"The benefits for the resource, the industries it supports and the economy are beginning to be seen as fish populations grow and catch limits increase," he said.