House panel OKs Magnuson-Stevens reauthorization along party lines

E&E News
By Jessica Estepa
May 29, 2014

The House Natural Resources Committee today passed legislation aimed at reauthorizing the top fisheries law in the country.

H.R. 4742, introduced last week by committee Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), would reauthorize the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act through the end of fiscal 2018. Congress last did so in 2006.

The bill passed 24-17 on a mostly party-line vote. The only Democrat to vote in favor of the bill was Florida Rep. Joe Garcia.

Garcia's office did not comment on why the congressman voted in favor of the legislation.

Debate on the bill highlighted controversial provisions in the measure, including language meant to provide more flexible stock rebuilding timelines and provisions that would supersede the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act and other federal laws.

Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), who represents a part of the country that has struggled with the stock rebuilding, supported the increased flexibility provided in the Hastings bill, saying that he had long advocated for such changes. Still, he called the changes that allow Magnuson-Stevens to take priority over NEPA and ESA unnecessary.

These parts of the legislation would make it more difficult to pass the Democrat-controlled Senate, he noted.

Hastings retorted that it was important for both chambers to take their own approaches to reauthorization. In the upper chamber, a working draft from Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) has been floated, though he has not officially introduced legislation (Greenwire, April 25).

Rep. Jim Costa (D-Calif.) expressed concerns that the ESA provisions in the bill could end up affecting endangered salmon in California, resulting in potential jurisdictional questions of those populations, which live part of their lives in the ocean but then migrate through inland streams and rivers.

Hastings said he did not intend for that to happen and vowed to work with Costa to address his concerns.

Hastings noted he worked with Democrats before introducing the final version of the bill last week, which resulted in a number of changes from the discussion draft he floated in December. This included rewriting electronic monitoring and data confidentiality language.

"I know there are still areas of disagreement," he said. "This markup is certainly not the last opportunity for us to make changes to accommodate members' issues and concerns."

Before passage, committee members approved by voice vote 11 amendments to the measure:

An amendment from Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.) that would allow the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission to conduct stock assessments for reef fish, taking over that responsibility from the National Marine Fisheries Service.
An amendment from Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) that would add a definition for subsistence fishing to Magnuson-Stevens.
An amendment from Rep. Steve Southerland (R-Fla.) that would require the Commerce and Interior departments to work on an agreement for funding stock assessments for red snapper affected by actions on offshore oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.
A second amendment from Southerland that would require the Commerce secretary to make a decision within 90 days of receiving a request from a governor for fishery resource disaster relief.
A third amendment from Southerland that red snapper killed during the removal of offshore oil rigs in the Gulf would not be counted as part of the total allowable catch for the fishery.
A fourth amendment from Southerland that fish caught by foreign vessels engaged in illegal fishing would not be counted as part of the total allowable catch for that fishery.
A fifth amendment from Southerland that would require that commercial catch share allocations in the Gulf to only be sold within that sector.
An amendment from Rep. Jon Runyan (R-N.J.) that would require the Commerce secretary to publish the estimated recovery costs no more than 30 days after determining a fishery resource disaster.
An amendment from Pallone that would allow the Commerce secretary to form partnerships with states in regard to collecting recreational fishing data, including the creation of a grant program.
An amendment from Del. Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam) that would allow the Commerce secretary to disclose confidential data if it enhances national security or ensures fishermen access to fishing grounds.
An amendment from Garcia that would allow annual catch limits to take into account fishing activities by other countries that the country does not have a trans-boundary agreement with.

Additionally, the committee voted down five amendments to the legislation:

An amendment from ranking member Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) that would have struck language creating fishery impact statements and replaced it with language for streamlining environmental reviews.
An amendment from Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) that would have struck language that allows fishery management councils to not develop annual catch limits for certain species and language that provides definitions for ecosystem component species.
An amendment from Del. Gregorio Sablan (D-Mariana Islands) that would have struck much of the language regarding fish stock rebuilding.
An amendment from Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-Mass.) that would not have allowed the approval of fishery management plans for stocks that have not been rebuilt to a sustainable level.
An amendment from Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.) that would have struck language that allows Magnuson-Stevens to supersede ESA and the National Marine Sanctuaries Act and Antiquities Act, replacing it with a provision that would have required any conflicts between Magnuson-Stevens and other laws to be worked out by the National Ocean Council.

Other legislation

The committee also took up five other bills during today's markup. H.R. 3606, from Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.), which would forbid the Forest Service from adopting policies that restrict some recreational activities in the Emigrant Wilderness, was approved by voice vote. The bill was amended to address Forest Service concerns, including more specific language on the Emigrant Wilderness plan.

The panel also approved by voice vote H.R. 4350 from Rep. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), which directs the Interior secretary to take lands and mineral rights on the reservation of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe of Montana and other culturally important lands into trust. The bill was amended with technical corrections.

The remaining bills were approved by unanimous consent:

H.R. 2175, sponsored by Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio), to direct the Interior secretary to install a plaque or inscription with President Franklin Roosevelt's prayer from D-Day at the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.
H.R. 2569, by Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), to amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate segments of the Missisquoi and Trout rivers in Vermont as components of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.
H.R. 4296, from Sablan, to extend the federal immigration law transition period for the Northern Mariana Islands through 2019.