By Richard Gaines
The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee yesterday gave a green light to a bill to allow flexibility in rebuilding deadlines for high-value fish stocks jointly managed by the United States and Canada.
A similar House bill was introduced by Massachusetts Democrats Congressmen Barney Frank and John Tierney, who were joined by colleagues from Massachusetts, Maine and North Carolina.
The related actions — aimed at increasing American boats' catch volumes of prized Georges Bank cod, haddock, yellowtail and scallops worth an estimated $150 million a year — occurred on the original date for a coastal caucus that Frank had organized to consider ways to instill wider flexibility to the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the primary legislation that governs America's fisheries.
The meeting was postponed when it became clear that too many congressional representatives would be gone for the holiday recess. The caucus will be rescheduled in January.
The Commerce Committee, with the support of U.S. Sen. John Kerry, approved U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe's bill that would define the joint management of the Georges Bank fishery along Hague Line to be an "agreement" — a status that allows flexible rebuilding timetables.
The U.S. State Department considers the accord between the United States and Canada for joint fishery management to be a lesser "understanding."
Prospects for the bill improved after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which manages fisheries, indicated its support. NOAA and a coalition of environmental groups have resisted efforts to modify the Magnuson-Stevens Act, and lengthen the hard deadlines for the recovery of stocks, mostly set for 2014.
Because Canada manages its fishery under a regime that does not include hard deadlines, Canadian boats have much greater opportunities than American.
Snowe, R-Maine, said the effort would grant regulators thereby "badly-needed leeway to successfully negotiate allowable catch limits for yellowtail flounder with the Canadians. Absent the provisions in this legislation, our groundfishermen and scallopers would be at a severe competitive disadvantage."
"American and Canadian fisherman should be on a level playing field," said Frank, who represents New Bedford. "This bill will end the economic discrepancy that currently exists, and I will work with my colleagues to pass this legislation as soon as possible."
"For too long the current system has been breeding inequities amongst our respective fishing communities," said Tierney, who represents Gloucester. "This legislation would standardize the framework for our local fishing industry and codify the agreement between our nations.
"Reasonable, common-sense fisheries policies that support both sustainable fishing communities and sustainable fisheries are critical to the long-term economic health of coastal states like Maine," said Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, who co-sponsored the bill.
"New England fishermen are struggling hard to rebuild depleted fish stocks. With fish that ignore international boundaries, it only makes to sense to work with our neighbors to the North to jointly manage these stocks and make sure that all fishermen ... take responsibility for rebuilding depleted fish stocks."
Congressman Walter Jones, R-N.C., also co-sponsored the bill.
Richard Gaines can be reached at 978-283-7000, x3464, or via e-mail at rgaines@gloucesetrtimes.com
