[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 3]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 3304-3305]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 INTRODUCTION OF THE STRENGTHENING FISHING COMMUNITIES AND INCREASING 
                FLEXIBILITY IN FISHERIES MANAGEMENT ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. DON YOUNG

                               of alaska

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, March 4, 2015

  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing the 
Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in 
Fisheries Management Act. The bill would amend the Magnuson-Stevens 
Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act)--the 
premier law governing commercial and recreational fishing in U.S. 
federal waters. The Magnuson-Stevens Act was first enacted in 1976 and 
was last reauthorized in 2006.

[[Page 3305]]

  I worked on the 2006 reauthorization with my friend and Senator, Ted 
Stevens. Ted Stevens was a champion for Alaska and the law bears his 
name as recognition of his dedication to supporting and protecting 
Alaska fishermen and the importance of fishery resources to coastal 
communities. I will miss working with my friend during this next 
reauthorization, but will remember him fondly as the legislation moves 
through Congress.
  Over the last two Congresses, I worked with the former Chair of the 
Committee on Natural Resources, Doc Hastings, to develop the text of 
the bill. The Committee on Natural Resources held 10 hearings, 
receiving comments and suggestions from over 100 witnesses representing 
Members of Congress, the administration, state governments, regional 
fishery management councils, marine fisheries commissions, commercial 
and recreational (including for-hire charter) fishing groups, 
processors, academics, and environmental groups. Due to this in-depth 
review of the Act and the need to keep the process going forward to 
reform the law, I am introducing the bill the Committee reported to the 
House floor in the 113th Congress.
  The bill we developed in the 113th Congress would not have been 
possible without the knowledge and dedicated work of Mr. David Whaley, 
who retired from the Committee after twenty years of working on 
fisheries issues. I would like to acknowledge and thank Dave for his 
hard work and dedication over the years. I hired Dave in 1994 as my 
fisheries staffer for the Committee on Resources and he continued to 
handle Alaskan, national and international fishery issues, as well as 
marine mammal and ocean issues over his career on the Committee. Dave 
has been an invaluable resource to me and other members of the 
Committee during his twenty years of service on the Committee and we 
will miss his expertise and experience as we move this bill forward.
  The Magnuson-Stevens Act allows for regional management of fisheries. 
The law gives guidance through its National Standards and specifies the 
process through which the Councils develop their fishery management 
plans. While the Secretary of Commerce has final approval of fishery 
management plans, the Magnuson-Stevens Act provides for a regional 
approach where the Councils, hearing from its local constituency 
groups, can develop fishery management plans that best suit their 
fisheries and fishermen. This is critical for the protection of coastal 
economies and for allowing the stakeholders to be a part of the 
management of their fisheries.
  The Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in 
Fisheries Management Act would update the Magnuson-Stevens Act to 
implement common sense reforms. The 2006 amendments were said to apply 
the `Alaska Model' of fisheries management to other regions of the 
country. The premise of this reform was good. The `Alaska Model' worked 
in Alaska due to stock assessments providing up-to-date fisheries data 
to allow the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to use adaptive 
management, providing optimal use of fishery resources to fishermen. 
The problem with trying to implement the `Alaska Model' in other 
regions was that these regions did not have adequate science--due to 
infrequent or out dated stock assessments--to support that type of 
management system. Instead of providing optimal use of the resource for 
fishermen, the implementation of the `Alaska Model' resulted in 
fisheries being restricted in regions that were considered `data poor' 
due to multiple levels of precautionary measures being applied because 
of inadequate scientific data.
  I believe the Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing 
Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act will allow for increased 
fisheries management flexibility and transparency, provide for improved 
data collection, create jobs, and--what I believe is very important--
create predictability and certainty for the coastal communities that 
depend on stable fishing activities.
  The Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in 
Fisheries Management Act would reauthorize and strengthen the Magnuson-
Stevens Act to ensure a proper balance between the biological needs of 
fish stocks and the economic needs of fishermen and coastal 
communities. The bill would make a number of improvements to the Act: 
provide flexibility for fishery managers when rebuilding depleted 
fisheries; provide flexibility for fishery managers when setting annual 
catch levels; provide more transparency for fishermen and others in 
both science and management; provide a schedule for obtaining better 
fishery dependent and fishery independent data especially for data poor 
fisheries; provide greater protection for confidential information 
submitted to regulatory agencies; encourage and promote cooperative 
research projects where scientists work with fishermen to develop sound 
scientific information; allow fishery managers to take the economic 
impact of their decisions into account when setting harvest levels; 
allow fishery managers to take environmental conditions into account 
when establishing harvest levels; allow fishermen in regions where 
catch share programs have been controversial to have a vote to 
determine whether a new catch share program will be implemented and to 
be provided better information when considering such a program; require 
NOAA to provide better accountability on how fees are collected and 
used; clarify the role of the Magnuson-Stevens Act in relationship to 
other federal statutes; and authorize appropriations for an additional 
five fiscal years at current authorized funding levels.
  As I've learned over the years as a legislator, laws are not written 
in stone. Congress's job is to review them, listen to constituents and 
modify the laws as needed. Laws that are stagnant do not help anyone. 
Times change and laws need to reflect new information and the needs of 
Americans.
  Constituency groups were influential in developing the 2006 
amendments to the Magnuson-Stevens Act. Key aspects of the 2006 
amendments were the goal to end overfishing through the requirement 
that annual catch limits not exceed scientific recommendations and 
accountability measures were instituted. Changes in the Strengthening 
Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management 
Act were also developed by listening to constituency groups at 
committee hearings, fishery managers at fishery council meetings and at 
national conferences, and reviewing recommendations of the National 
Academy of Sciences. Even the National Marine Fisheries Service 
recognizes the need for reforms and has proposed revisions to its 
advisory guidelines for National Standards 1, 3 and 7 of the Magnuson-
Stevens Act. These proposed revisions recommend changes that would 
allow for increased flexibility in rebuilding programs, clarify 
guidance on which stocks require conservation and management and 
defines depleted stocks, among other items. These changes are similar 
to changes included in the bill I am introducing today.
  Mr. Speaker, I am honored to have the new Chair of the Committee on 
Natural Resources, Rob Bishop, as a cosponsor of this legislation. I 
look forward to working with him as the Strengthening Fishing 
Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act 
moves through Committee and the House. I also am pleased to have 
Representatives Bradley Byrne and Amata Coleman Radewagen as original 
cosponsors on the bill. I look forward to working with any Member of 
the House that is interested in reauthorizing the Magnuson-Stevens Act. 
This is an important piece of legislation and I urge Members to support 
its movement through the House of Representatives and 114th Congress.

                          ____________________