Coast Guard Supports Bill That Would Crack Down on Illegal Fishing
Fishing
The New Bedford Standard-Times
Cristian Hernandez
Boston University Washington News Service
03/19/09
WASHINGTON—A bill that would help prevent depletion of dwindling stocks of fish by strengthening enforcement against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing was endorsed Thursday by an industry group and the Coast Guard, which would be charged with enforcing its provisions.
Their testimony came at a House Natural Resources subcommittee hearing.
“Unsustainable fishing practices by foreign fishing fleets adversely affect stocks that migrate” between the high seas and U.S. waters, said Del. Madeleine Z. Bordallo, D-Guam, who introduced the legislation last month.
Bordallo called fishermen taking part in illegal fishing “free riders who benefit unfairly from the sacrifices made by the U.S. fishermen and others for the sake of proper fisheries conservation and management.”
Fishermen in the United States are subject to multiple layers of regulation but foreign competitors are often not subject to the same rules, said Bordallo, who is chairwoman of the Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife Subcommittee that held the hearing on the bill.
Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing has an annual value of $10 billion, Bordallo said. More than 70 percent of global marine fish stocks are depleted or exploited, she said.
“For our business to remain economically viable, fishing activities must be sustainable,” said Stetson Tinkham, director of international affairs for the National Fisheries Institute, an industry trade group. “Science-based quotas for individual species or for species complexes must be established and those catch levels should not be exceeded. Catches must be recorded and reported. In short; fisherman should follow the rules,”
The legislation would allow U.S. officials to take actions against countries that don’t have strict regulations. Penalties for violation of the rules could lead to a ban on imports. The bill also would require that a list of vessels engaged in illegal fishing activities be kept and that appropriate action be taken against the vessels.
The legislation would strengthen the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, a 30-year-old law that was updated in 2006. The act uses market-based incentives to replenish stocks and enforce fishing laws.
Coast Guard Rear Adm. Sally Brice-O’Hara said the Coast Guard was ready to take on the challenge and approved of the provisions in the bill to toughen enforcement. Currently the Coast Guard is largely responsible for enforcing fishing laws.
“In the face of an increasing need for food security and the increasing scarcity of marine resources,” she said, the Coast Guard is ready to work to preserve fish stocks around the world.
Bordallo said she hopes to get the bill to the House floor this spring.
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