[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 135 (Friday, December 8, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11700-S11701]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
MAGNUSON-STEVENS FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT REAUTHORIZATION
ACT
Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I rise to recognize final passage of the
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization
Act of 2006 by both the Senate and the House this week, clearing the
bill for Presidential approval. I am proud to have. developed this bill
with my friend and colleague, Senator Ted Stevens.
The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act is the
primary Federal statute governing how we manage our Nation's fisheries
and, as such, plays a vital role in our Nation's ability to achieve its
overarching ocean policy goal. This bill reauthorizes the Magnuson-
Stevens Act from fiscal year 2007 through fiscal year 2013 and takes
steps to improve the act both by making it more effective and
responsive to the needs of our fishing communities here at home and by
taking important steps toward exporting our successful management
approaches internationally.
After the Senate passed the bill earlier this year, Senator Stevens
and I worked with the House on a bipartisan basis in order to reach
consensus on a final version of the bill. I am pleased that these
discussions have resulted in further improvements and additions to the
bill that have motivated strong bicameral and bipartisan support for
this important piece of conservation legislation.
The key to the success of the Magnuson-Stevens Act has always been
its regional approach to management. Keeping with that regional
approach, this bill strengthens the accountability of the Regional
Fishery Management Councils by requiring training of new members to
prepare them to comply with legal, scientific, economic, and conflict
of interest requirements applicable to the fishery management process.
Our bill also aims to improve conservation performance in our
fisheries by requiring all Councils to establish annual catch limits in
each federal fishery management plan. The role science plays in this
decisionmaking process will be strengthened by this bill as well, since
requirements will now be in place for each council to adhere to the
recommendations provided by their Science and Statistical Committee,
SSC, or other peer review process to prevent overfishing and achieve
rebuilding targets. In recognition of the SSC's increased role, we have
strengthened the conflict of interest disclosure requirements to which
each SSC member must comply.
The bill also requires limited access privilege programs, such as
individual fishing quota systems, established in the future not only to
contribute to a reduction of capacity in overcapitalized fisheries and
improve fishermen's safety by ending the race for the fish but also to
consider social and economic benefits to coastal communities. Senator
Stevens' and my intent was to sustain thriving fishing communities and
promote access to the fisheries by residents of our coastal communities
in order to foster the independent, coastal community-based character
of our Nation's fisheries. To achieve this aim, the bill sets forth a
strong list of standards to ensure that any such program take into
account the social and economic implications of the program. In
addition, it authorizes the creation of voluntary regional fishery
associations for the mutual benefit of fishery participants, including
provisions to ensure we maintain free and open markets for fishermen to
sell their catch.
The bill also requires a periodic review of each program's compliance
with the goals of their program. Individual permits will be renewed
automatically every 10 years, unless the permit holder fails to meet
the requirements specified in the program as meriting modification,
limitation, or revocation. The bill also contains grandfathering and
transition rules to address the application of these new standards to
existing and developing programs. I want to make clear that final
Senate changes in these provisions were not intended to adversely
affect or delay ongoing development of a proposal for a rationalization
program for the Pacific trawl groundfish and whiting fisheries by the
Pacific Fisheries Management Council. We intend that this process go
forward and that adherence to the new standards not delay development
of the plan called for in the bill.
In order to assist fishermen in helping to reduce bycatch and seabird
interactions, H.R. 5946 establishes a regionally based Bycatch
Reduction Engineering Program to develop technologies and methods to
improve the ability of fishery participants to reduce bycatch and
associated mortality, including post-release mortality. The provision
includes an outreach mandate to encourage the adoption of new
technologies and also encourages the adoption of bycatch reduction
incentives in fishery management plans, such as bycatch quotas.
Finally, it encourages the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration to continue coordinating with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service and other entities to reduce or mitigate seabird interactions
in fisheries, a process that has had much success in the Western and
North Pacific.
This comprehensive package not only addresses conservation and
management within our Nation's waters but equally as important,
strengthens controls on illegal, unreported, and unregulated IUU
fishing in the high seas. IUU fishing, as well as expanding fleets and
high bycatch levels, are threats to sustainable fisheries worldwide.
The bill includes provisions to strengthen the ability of international
fishery management organizations and the United States to ensure
appropriate enforcement and compliance with conservation and management
measures in high seas fisheries. The international component of this
bill ensures other nations provide comparable protections to
populations of living marine resources at risk from high seas fishing
activities. These provisions help the U.S. fishing industry by both
sustaining shared resources and leveling the playing field in terms of
regulation and responsibility.
I am particularly pleased that the bill includes provisions crucial
to the long-term sustainability of tuna and other high seas stocks so
important to Hawaii and the Pacific Islands, as well as a program to
help increase marine education and technical skills in the region.
These provisions will not only help us work with other countries to
conserve our shared marine resources but also reduce unfair
conservation burdens on U.S. high seas fleets. The bill also contains
long-awaited legislation to implement the Western and Central Pacific
Fisheries Convention, a critical step in ending overfishing of bigeye
and other tuna species in the Pacific. I am pleased that
representatives of both the Western Pacific Council and the Pacific
Council will be commissioners and that the territories will be provided
representation in this important organization.
In addition, the bill contains provisions that promote marine
education,
[[Page S11701]]
training, and assistance opportunities for Western Pacific communities
and underrepresented groups. This training is critically important for
communities that are so dependent upon the health and sustainability of
our ocean resources.
Finally, the bill contains the text of the Tsunami Warning and
Education Act, another bill that Senator Stevens and I developed early
last year and then negotiated with the House Science Committee. This
legislation, so critical to the Pacific region, will go far to
strengthen and expand the existing tsunami warning and detection
system, and I am grateful, on behalf of the people of Hawaii, for all
the support the bill has gained in Congress.
Mr. President, I look forward to working with the administration on
implementation of the many important provisions of this bill, and I
thank my friend, Senator Stevens, as well as committee colleagues,
particularly Senators Cantwell, Snowe, Boxer, Lott, and Lautenberg, for
working so hard toward enactment.
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