Rhode Island TUNA Fishermen.
This is happening right now (Today), if you can, an e-mail to RI congressmen staffers asking for support of the joint senate/house HMS letter following would be very important. Protect our tuna quota and stop the Illegal and unreported catches from being imported to the United States. All you have to do is ask them to sign it in support of the fishing community! Bampy
Honorable Patrick Kennedy
ben.kershaw@mail.house.gov
Honorable Jim Langevin
rachael.bornstein@mail.house.gov
June 5, 2009
Dr. Jane Lubchenco
Highly migratory fish species, such as swordfish and bluefin tuna, that spend significant portions of their lifecycles in international waters present significant challenges to domestic and international management organizations. As you know, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is responsible for managing Atlantic highly migratory species (HMS) fisheries in U.S. waters by establishing domestic regulations informed by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), of which the U.S. is a member. Indications are that, absent changes to NMFS’s current policies with regard to Atlantic HMS and our involvement in ICCAT, our fishermen face the imminent reallocation of substantial portions of long-held and hard-earned U.S. quota shares of north Atlantic swordfish and western Atlantic bluefin tuna to other ICCAT nations at the 2009 and 2010 ICCAT meetings, respectively. We ask for your assistance to ensure that our fishermen retain our allocated quota at upcoming ICCAT meetings and that the U.S. takes every opportunity to encourage HMS conservation among other ICCAT members.
In 2007, U.S. fishermen landed bluefin tuna and swordfish worth $3.5 and $8.6 million respectively, less than a quarter of the landed value of these species 20 years ago. We concede that harvest levels in the late 1980’s were unsustainable, but due in large part to the sacrifices of our U.S. pelagic longline fleet and our efforts at ICCAT, the north Atlantic swordfish stock is now fully rebuilt and being managed sustainably. Our bluefin tuna fisheries lead the world in cooperative research on the complex population dynamics of eastern and western stocks, and they currently operate under strict conservation safeguards that have supported stock rebuilding. Loss of ICCAT quota to other nations would have a detrimental impact on the hard-earned conservation gains of domestic HMS management by reassigning greater quota share to nations that lack the same conservation standards as the U.S., and it would further depress coastal fishing and seafood economies. This is a lose-lose proposition—lost U.S. jobs and lost marine resources.
We ask that you take three specific steps to help prevent the loss of U.S. ICCAT quota and ensure our industry and our conservation efforts remain strong. First, we ask that you act quickly to nominate a candidate to fill the Senate-confirmed position established in Title IV[1] of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act (MSRA). The U.S. delegation increasingly finds itself fighting an uphill battle not based on any deficiency of skill or commitment on the part of our negotiators, but simply because other member states send more senior representatives—often the equivalent to Presidential Cabinet Secretaries—to Commission meetings. The intent of Congress in requiring appointment of a “Senate-confirmed, senior official” to represent the Secretary of Commerce at international fisheries meetings was to ensure that the leader of our delegation would be armed with an equivalent degree of diplomatic clout and authority as representatives of other member states. Industry members and conservation organizations alike agree that a top-level official with the singular focus of navigating complex international negotiations would bolster U.S. credibility among ICCAT Commissioners and provide a stronger foundation to argue for the retention of U.S. quota. Timing is a critical piece of this strategy, as pre-meetings are already underway for the 21st Regular Meeting of ICCAT, which will be held in November of this year. Given the vital nature of this year’s meeting and its implications for U.S. HMS quota, this individual will need sufficient time to prepare and develop strategies to effectively direct the U.S. delegation.
Second, we note the June 1, 2009 advanced notice of proposed rulemaking and request for comments on adjustments to the regulations governing U.S. Atlantic bluefin tuna and north Atlantic swordfish fisheries to enable more thorough utilization of the available U.S. quota. We appreciate this action and urge the NMFS HMS Division carefully re-consider current restrictions on U.S. HMS fisheries and seek opportunities to allow additional, sustainable harvest of ICCAT-regulated species that would enable U.S. fishermen to catch a greater percentage of our quota—thereby justifying retention of that quota. Such a revision of current restrictions is highly warranted, as NMFS’s most recent status of stocks report, released just last week, clearly shows that Atlantic swordfish is not overfished, nor is overfishing occurring. Yet, harvest restrictions have not been eased, and the U.S. fishermen have been unable to harvest even half of their ICCAT quota. The U.S. swordfish industry reports that it caught 36% of its adjusted 2008 total available quota, and the commercial bluefin tuna industry reports that it caught only 24% its available quota. Thus, we ask that you direct the NMFS HMS Division to take immediate steps to expedite implementation of updated domestic HMS regulations that provide U.S. fishermen a reasonable opportunity to harvest our ICCAT quotas without unduly compromising bycatch reduction efforts or the overall health of the fish stock.
Third, even in the face of repeated and costly failures at ICCAT and other Regional Fishery Management Organizations (RFMOs), NMFS has failed to seize the opportunity to strengthen its leverage and hold non-compliant RFMO member nations accountable by limiting their access to the substantial U.S. market for seafood imports. Congress recognized that the preferred multilateral approach to HMS management—relying on RFMOs—can often fail even with the most powerful and effective representation. As such, MSRA amended the High Seas Driftnet Act with powerful tools to identify nations that employ illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing practices and nations with substandard bycatch conservation requirements.[2] These amendments, requiring periodic lists of non-compliant nations, provide leverage that would allow the U.S. to limit access to our lucrative seafood market. Despite rampant non-compliance among members of ICCAT and other RFMOs, however, in its January 2009 report to Congress as required by the amendments, NMFS identified only 6 nations worldwide for IUU fishing violations and failed to identify a single nation for failing to meet U.S. standards for bycatch conservation. We ask that you direct a comprehensive review of the Agency’s approach to implementing these amendments and employ them as the powerful tool Congress intended.
NMFS and domestic HMS fishermen should be proud of the extraordinary steps they have taken to rebuild these resources and reduce bycatch in these lucrative fisheries. Our fleets, through cooperative research with your Agency, have developed bycatch reduction technologies and fishing strategies that have set the global standard for pelagic longline fishing. However, any reallocation of ICCAT quota represents a direct transfer of U.S. jobs and economic activity in our fishery-dependent communities to other fishing nations with weaker environmental standards. We look forward to your leadership in addressing our concerns and ensuring a bright future for our HMS fisheries.
Linear Mode
