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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 35 Number 5
January 2008
NMFS denies Senate on groundfish disaster
WASHINGTON, DC – The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and New England senators were deadlocked in mid-December over whether the region’s groundfish crisis merited a “fisheries failure” or disaster designation under the terms of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA).
At stake is up to $30 million in congressional appropriations for disaster aid to the states of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.
On Dec. 5, the US Senate unanimously passed a resolution urging the secretary of commerce to reconsider the Oct. 22 decision by NMFS that concluded there was “no fishery disaster in the Northeast for groundfish fishermen.”
US Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) sponsored the resolution and US Sens. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Susan Collins (R-ME), Judd Gregg (R-NH), John Sununu (R-NH), Jack Reed (D-RI), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) all signed on as co-sponsors.
The resolution stated it was the sense of the Senate that the secretary should “declare a commercial fishery failure for the groundfish fishery for Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island.”
In backing up this position, the senators cited a dozen specific justifications for the designation, including:
• Significant cuts in catch and days-at sea;
• Framework 42 to the federal groundfish plan that has resulted in many fishermen having just 24 days to fish during a season;
• The impact of cuts on small boats that cannot fish safely beyond inshore waters;
• The inequitable impact of differential days-at-sea counting on inshore boats; and
• Detailed statistics showing declining landings and millions of dollars in revenue losses in each state in recent years.
The resolution also said it was the sense of the Senate that NMFS should immediately propose regulations to implement section 312(a) of the MSA, where some of the fishery failure language is spelled out.
NMFS says no
The force of a Senate resolution was not enough to convince NMFS to reconsider its “no failure” finding.
In response to questions from Commercial Fisheries News, agency spokesman Monica Allen said that NMFS rejected the reconsideration request because the data didn’t support a determination that the New England commercial groundfish fishery had failed.
“There has been no commercial fishery failure due to a fishery resource disaster,” Allen said. “The groundfish stocks are rebuilding. Most stocks are experiencing increases in the number of adult fish able to reproduce.”
And, “while groundfish revenue declined in Massachusetts and Maine from 2005 to 2006, this decline does not constitute a commercial fishery failure. Revenue from groundfish in Rhode Island ports increased by 73% from 2005-2006,” Allen continued.
NMFS has made numerous fishery failure determinations in cases where fish availability was diminished due to environmental conditions. These fisheries include: West Coast Pacific salmon fisheries impacted by drought; Gulf of Mexico fisheries closed down following Hurricane Katrina; and Massachusetts and Maine shellfish fisheries closed due to the massive 2005 red tide event.
Hardship exists
The NMFS response was clearly not what the senators wanted to hear.
Said Kerry, “It is unconscionable that this administration, yet again, fails to recognize the dire economic hardships its decision is causing thousands of hard-working people across New England. This holiday season, our fishermen deserve more than bureaucratic answers. They need concrete solutions that will help them.”
On Dec. 11, Snowe and Sununu sent a letter to Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez suggesting that he was not taking into account the intent of Congress when it added language to the fishery failure parts of the MSA in 2006.
“One of the most difficult issues during this deliberative process was how to mitigate the social and economic impacts of regulations imposed by NMFS to rebuild the Northeast multispecies groundfish fishery,” the letter stated.
“To address these impacts, Congress unanimously determined that an important component of this legislation is the disaster assistance program. … These sections specifically define a ‘commercial fishery failure,’ sections 312(a)(1)(B), and a ‘catastrophic regional fishery disaster,’ section 315(d), to include failures or disasters caused by regulatory restrictions or closures.”
Snowe and Sununu got additional support from Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK), who also signed the letter. Stevens was the sponsor of the MSA Reauthorization Act of 2006 and one of the two lawmakers for whom the MSA itself is named.
The senators went on to “clarify the intent and proper application” of the disaster program by saying, “It was with situations like this in mind that we made changes … knowing that recent restrictions on groundfishing vessels would have a severe economic impact not just on those vessels, but also on their homeports.”
They concluded, saying, “It is imperative that you recognize the importance of disaster assistance to the New England fishing industry as part of the MSA.”
Comment sought
Early in December, NMFS put out a request for comments on proposed definitions, procedures, and provisions of the revised MSA sections dealing with fishery failure and disaster declarations.
The request specifically asks for feedback on how NMFS should define these terms: “commercial fishery failure,” “fishery resource,” and “fishery resources disaster.”
The NMFS notice is available online at <www.nmfs.noaa.gov/msa2007>. For more information, contact Steve Aguzin by phone at (301) 713-2358, ext. 215, or by e-mail at <Stephen.Aguzin@noaa.gov>.
In the meantime, the senators indicated they would continue trying to find ways to funnel aid to New England.
Lorelei Stevens
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