Sounding off on Magnuson

Gloucester Times
By Sean Horgan
July 2, 2014

The final word fell to Gloucester fisherman Paul Vitale, the last speaker of the day at the fisheries listening session on the reauthorization of Magnuson-Stevens, held Tuesday at City Hall and organized by U.S. Rep. John Tierney.

Up to that point, Tierney and his House colleague, Oregon Democrat Peter DeFazio, had been treated to many of the same comments and critiques of U.S. fisheries management that have peppered the debate since the current version of the Magnuson-Stevens Act was signed into law in 2006.

Vitale, though, found a way to distill the dull screed of science and public policy into a compelling and easily understood analysis of where the current version of Magnuson-Stevens fails the people who make their living harvesting wildlife from U.S. waters — especially those fishing in the Northeast multi-species groundfish fishery.

“How many businesses could survive an 80 percent reduction in the amount of things they can produce and sell?” Vitale said of the cuts imposed by NOAA in the annual quotas for the allowable catch for cod and other groundfish. “An 80 percent reduction is obscene. They think they’re saving the fish. Who are they saving them for?”

And with that, the roughly 90-minute session that drew an audience of about 60 came to a close.

DeFazio, a ranking Democrat on the Natural Resources committee that reported out the Magnuson-Stevens reauthorization bill currently sitting before the full House, was asked afterward if he was surprised by anything he heard in the comments from the more than a dozen citizens, fishermen, industry stakeholders, and state and local elected officials that took to the podium.

“I guess I’m surprised at how much we have in common with our problems with (fisheries) management,” said DeFazio, a Massachusetts native whose congressional district encompasses much of the Oregon coast. “We have the same questions about the stock assessments, people not being able to fish on a plentiful species because of extraordinary restrictions. We need some breakthrough with the way we manage it. It’s obviously a bicoastal problem.”

The House version, according to Tierney, holds out some hope of substantive reform of the act that regulates commercial fishing in U.S. waters.

“A lot has changed, including definitions and language, the flexibility that’s in there and the accountability aspects,” Tierney said. “A lot of the concerns that were expressed today are in that bill.”

The Center for Sustainable Fisheries, which supports the House bill, pointed out that the bill replaces the term “overfished” with “depleted” to more accurately determine whether stocks are depleted and help identify what caused that depletion.

There were technical concerns aired Tuesday, such as the need to do more stock assessments steeped in more accurate science. There were public policy concerns expressed about the need to give the law the increased flexibility necessary for setting catch limits in such a shifting and dynamic ecosystems and to apply that flexibility in a more commonsense approach among the nation’s varied and diverse fisheries.

“In a multi-species context, the last version (of Magnuson-Stevens) doesn’t work,” said fisherman Al Cottone.

Jackie Odell, executive director of the Northeast Seafood Coalition, said her time in Washington speaking on fishing issues, including the reauthorization of Magnuson-Stevens, has taught her that there is a widespread misconception about the Northeast multi-species groundfish fishery.

“The perception of the Northeast groundfish fishery couldn’t be more different than how it really is,” Odell said, adding that harvesters in this fishery have engaged in a “monumental undertaking” that includes increased reporting requirements and expanded observer coverage.

“There is unbelievable accountability in this region,” Odell said.

Other speakers called on Congress to strike a better balance between environmental and fishing concerns in a reauthorized Magnuson-Stevens, while Angela Sanfillipo of the Fishermen’s Wives Association and community advocates Patti Page and Valerie Nelson stressed the need to consider the impact of the law on fishing communities.

“We need to make sure the reauthorization includes protecting the infrastructure, protecting the people and protecting who we are,” Sanfillippo said.

Then it was left to Vitale to offer the congressmen the shortest and purest insight into the souls of the fishermen ravaged by the current fishing crisis.

“I’d rather work than have my hand out,” Vitale said.