[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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