MAGNUSON REPORT CARD

The RFA worked long and hard during the reauthorization process of the nation’s primary fishery law. This is the outcome.

MAGNUSON REPORT CARD

The smoke has cleared and the rollercoaster ride on Capitol Hill is over. On the last day of the 109^th Congress, a bill which reauthorizes the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) was passed. Now, it’s time to look back and review the changes.

“The legislation reflects compromise,” said Sloan Rappoport, RFA legislative specialist in Washington. “We successfully defeated some harmful provisions. Unfortunately, we spent so much time on defense that it was difficult to press for all of RFA’s pro-recreational agenda. That said, we still accomplished some remarkable things.”

International Provisions

A major bone of contention in international fisheries management is how tightly the U.S. adheres to the rules set out under treaties while others consistently over-fish their quotas, ignore size limits and other conservation requirements. Provisions passed in the MSA will allow the Secretary to pursue stronger enforcement, track compliance by other nations and seek compensation for failure by other nations to live up to agreements like ICCAT.

Improved Recreational Data Collection

RFA worked tirelessly for changes in the Marine Recreational Fisheries Statistical Survey. NMFS must improve existing and develop new methods of recreational data collection, but it will require us to remain vigilant during the implementation phase. Most of the provisions do not require the imposition of another license and as a result of RFA pressure, the much touted angler registry will have no fee until at least 2011.

Parity with Commercial Fishing

For the first time, recreational fishing will be recognized in the statute as an industry and the government will be required to consider economic impacts during the decision making process. RFA is particularly proud to have initiated and championed this effort. While the commercial sector has had their economic impacts memorialized for years, no such wording previously existed on our side of the ledger. Now, managers must consider the economic impact of recreational fishing when making allocation decisions and recognize recreational fishing businesses under provisions pertaining to “fishing communities.”

Council Structure Protected

Environmental groups were pushing for a redistribution of the seats on the regional councils to reduce representation of recreational and commercial fishermen and increase non-fishing environmentalists, but without the knowledge fishermen bring to the process, RFA felt that the ability of the Councils to do their job would be drastically diminished. That message was heard by legislators who protected the current Council structure in the new bill.

Standards for MPA’s

For over five years, RFA has worked to prevent the implementation of arbitrary marine reserves while environmental groups have pressured for the creation of a network of no-fishing zones. They want to make huge tracks of water off limits with little more justification than it seems like a good idea at the time. The new MSA adopted a science-based, stake-holder driven process that must be followed before any new MPAs can be created with much of the wording directly from the RFA’s Freedom to Fish campaign.

Management Flexibility

While the bill grants some management flexibility with regard to one specific species, the summer flounder, it denies that same flexibility in the management of other rebuilding or rebuilt fisheries. While RFA worked for a longer time frame to end “regulatory” over-fishing in fisheries that are on a strong growth trajectory, others fought for a short time frame, but a compromise position of 30 months eventually prevailed.

“At times, it appeared as if press releases and photo-ops drove certain elements of the debate,” commented Rappoport. “Now, only time will tell how this 200-page bill will impact recreational fishing and the industry.”

“If there is one thing to be learned from this exercise it is just how important strong and consistent representation was and will continue to be for recreational fishermen and the industry,” said Donofrio. “If RFA representatives had not been on the front lines of reauthorization from beginning to end, the outcome would have been far different. Did we get everything we felt was important? No. However, the bill contains many provisions that were driven by the RFA agenda, and we successfully blocked a number of provisions that were clearly anti-recreational fishing without any corresponding benefit to the resource.”

MSA will move into the implementation stage, and there is much more work to be accomplished both on a federal level and in many coastal states around the nation. Once again, the RFA proved it is valuable to our cause. With an even stronger membership and the involvement of more companies in the industry, the RFA will grow into an even greater force for the future of recreational fishing.