In 21 pages of 3 column dense scientific terminology, the NMFS, in order to comply with its interpretation of the Magnusen-Stevens Act, has filed an entry in the Federal Register that, while expected, is nontheless disturbing in both its scope and its obvious holes.
According to one article in a scientific publication, the proposal faces “severe data gaps” and “could have staggering consequences”.
Not surprisingly the proposals were welcomed by the Environmentalists, particularly Lee Crockett of the Pew Environmental Trusts, who called the language “a pleasant surprise”.
The rigorous stock assessments and marine surveys, not to mention the increased manpower at NMFS, that this proposal will take is not going to be cheap but have no fear, President Bush has helpfully requested that NOAA’s $31,600,000.00 budget be increased by no less than 28 % next year to cover the increased cost of fishery management and Congress seems to feel that will be just fine.
Read on to read text of article from “Science Magazine”.
“The U.S. government has proposed first ever annual catch limits in an attempt to stop overfishing.
Environmentalists are welcoming the draft rule, published in the Federal Register on 9 June by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). But experts caution that it will be difficult and hugely expensive for the agency to regulate the many marine species about which little is known. Some scientists also worry about economic repercussions if the rule ends up curtailing fishing in healthy populations. “It could have staggering consequences,” says fisheries biologist Ray Hilborn of the University of Washington, Seattle.
In December 2006, Congress made extensive changes to the federal law (Magnusen-Stevens Fisheries Conservation Act) that governs fishery management policy. The job of implementing those changes falls to NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), which manages more than 1000 marine species, not all of which are economically important. Some 41 of the 528 stocks that NMFS monitors are being overfished, mostly off the East Coast.
The rule spells out how NMFS intends to end the overfishing, rebuild depleted stocks, and ensure “optimum yield”. All eight regional fishery management councils would be required to set annual catch limits, which must be approved by a council’s scientific advisory committee. The limits must incorporate a safety margin to account for scientific uncertainty surrounding the stock assessment, as well as uncertainty about technical aspects of implementation. There’s tough enforcement language in
the new rules. If the councils don’t meet their deadline for rebuilding overfished stocks, they will have to cut the annual catch limits.Lee Crockett of the Pew Environment Group in Washington, D.C., calls the language “a pleasant surprise.” One unanswered question is how to deal with so-called data-poor species. “It’s a big black box,” says Andrew Cooper of Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, Canada. He predicts that catch limits will be set low and that the fishing industry will agree to contribute more data and analysis to the agency. Hilborn worries about the negative impact on trawl fisheries, which scoop up large numbers of a few abundant commercial species but also many low-value species about which little is known. Trawlers could be prohibited from catching anything at all
in order to protect data-poor species that may not be in danger. “You’re going to give up a lot of fish,” he says. NMFS scientists are working on technical guidance about how to deal with data-poor species.It won”t be cheap to fill in the data with rigorous stocks assessments and marine surveys. Accordingly, President George W. Bush has requested an increase of $8.9 million to NOAA’s $31.6 million budget next year for fishery assessments, and Congress seems amenable to the hike. But Hilborn doubts that amount would be nearly enough. “To do it right would take a staggering increase in resources,” he says. Another regulation will give NMFS more data on recreational fishing, which can rival the impact of commercial fishing in some parts of the country, by creating a registry of saltwater anglers. The agency will accept public comments through 11 August, and the catch-limit rule remains open for public comment until 8 September. The agency hopes to finalize both rules by the end of the year.”
Erik Stokstad writing for Science Magazine