Only 30 out of 167 fish populations
off the coasts of California, Oregon
and Washington are known to be healthy, and that number has not
improved since 2001, according to an analysis of government statistics in a new
report released today by the Marine Fish Conservation Network (Network) and
Environment California. The Pacific
Fishery Management Council is the primary agency responsible for managing fishing
activities and ensuring the health of 167 marine fish populations.
“There simply aren’t enough
fish in the sea,” said Environment California Field Organizer Moira
Chapin. “Congress needs to take action
now to protect critical fish stocks like canary rockfish. It’s critical to California’s food supply, our environment, and our economy.”
Shell Game: How
the Federal Government is Hiding the Mismanagement of Our Nation’s Fisheries, reveals that although the National Marine
Fisheries Service (NMFS) continues to tout a downward trend in the number of
stocks that are overfished or experiencing overfishing, these improvements have
primarily been due to manipulations of the data presented in its annual report
to Congress on the status of fish stocks. The Network’s analysis showed that 60
percent of the overfished stocks and 75 percent of the stocks experiencing
overfishing between 2001 and 2004 were taken off the list due to administrative
shuffling. Nationally, only 91 ocean
fish stocks – currently 13 percent of all federally managed ocean fish stocks –
are known to be healthy, and this number has not improved since 2001.
“NMFS has not been
straightforward with Congress or the American public because it consistently manipulates
data to mask management failures from year to year,” said Lee Crockett,
executive director of the Network, the largest national coalition devoted to
promoting sustainable marine fisheries.
“We need to take an honest look at what is and isn’t working in
fisheries management if we are to make any progress in the future.”
The Network will submit the
report to Congress and will urge lawmakers to strengthen overfishing
protections when renewing and amending the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery
Conservation and Management Act, the primary law that governs U.S. ocean fisheries.
A bill proposal by the National Marine Fisheries Service and a new bill
introduced by Barney Frank (D-MA) both proposed to roll back overfishing
protections and extend time frames for rebuilding depleted populations.
The
report points out that regional fishery
managers often do not have adequate scientific information on fish populations,
but that when they do that information is not followed in making management
decisions. As documented in the report,
this failure to follow scientific advice has resulted in overfished populations
and lengthy time to restore overfished populations. One House bill, the Fisheries Science and Management Enhancement Act of 2005, H.R. 1431,
would require fishery managers to base all management decisions on sound science. According to the U.S. Commission on Ocean
Policy, this common sense principle represents a key step toward sustainable
fisheries management.
Shell Game analyzed
federal data and regional fishery management plans to find trends in how well fishery
managers have implemented the law to end overfishing and restore depleted fish
stocks over the last five years. The
report recommends preventing overfishing by adopting enforceable annual catch
limits based on scientific recommendations of how many fish should be
caught. It points out that regions, such
as the North Pacific, that have used these annual catch limits have been more
successful than regions, such as New England, that have tried to control
overfishing with indirect management measures such as limiting the number of
fishing days.
“We’ve got to manage our
fisheries based on science both in setting catch levels and flow levels,” said
Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s
Associations. “To work though they have
to be based on the best science and be enforceable,” he added.
The use of annual catch limits is perhaps one of
the most controversial issues facing Congress as it reauthorizes the Magnuson-Stevens
Act. The Senate Commerce Committee was unable
to resolve this issue when it met to consider its bill, S. 2012, to renew the
fisheries law in December 2005. A
delegation of Senators from New England objected to including enforceable annual catch limits in the bill
despite strong support for them from Senators Ted Stevens (R-AK) and Daniel
Inouye (D-HI), the Co-chairs of the Commerce Committee. The use of annual catch
limits is perhaps one of the most controversial issues facing Congress as it
reauthorizes the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
The Senate Commerce Committee was unable to resolve this issue when it
met to consider its bill, S. 2012, to renew the fisheries law in December 2005.
A delegation of Senators from New England The Network strongly supports the inclusion
of these limits in the final Magnuson-Stevens reauthorization bill.
