Senate fisheries act draft begins circulating

  • By Molly Dischner
  • Wednesday, April 16, 2014 11:24pm
  • News

The newest version of the Magnuson-Stevens Act out for discussion adds subsistence users and Tribal governments to the fisheries management law and has the potential to create new Community Development Quota in the Arctic, but it has not yet been made widely available to the public for review.

The act passed in 1976, which was last reauthorized in 2006 and is up for renewal this year, regulates most fisheries in American federal waters from 3 to 200 miles offshore, and authorizes the eight regional fishery management councils.

The most recent draft was produced by the Senate Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries and Coast Guard subcommittee chaired by Alaska U.S. Sen. Mark Begich.

That committee held several hearings on various perspectives on the MSA, including one focused on the North Pacific in February in which Alaska Native and Tribal groups called for more inclusion and recognition of subsistence voices in the fishery management process.

The Senate’s discussion draft of the law adds subsistence to the types of fishing being managed alongside commercial and recreational, adds subsistence to the fishery categories eligible for representation on regional fishery management councils, and refers to Tribal governments’ role in managing fish.

The language also calls for an expansion of the Community Development Quota program if the North Pacific council amends the Arctic fishery management plan, or FMP, to allow commercial fishing there.

The draft does not provide specifics on the new Community Development Quota, but does specify that 10 percent of the total allowable catch in the Arctic Management Area would be set aside for coastal villages north and east of the Bering Strait. The Community Development Quota, or CDQ, program, was implemented in 1992 and allocates 10.7 percent of the Bering Sea federal fisheries harvest to six organizations representing 65 Western Alaska villages within 50 miles of the coast.

Currently, there is no fishing allowed under the Arctic FMP.

That draft is dated April 3. It had not yet been posted online for the general public to review as of April 16, although Begich spokesperson Heather Handyside wrote in an April 15 email it had been circulated to “other senate offices, NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), sportfishing users, commercial users, NGO’s (non-governmental organizations) and individuals.” A specific list of those recipients was not available.

Although many in the fishing community had received a copy of the draft by mid-April, not everyone had seen it. Kenai River Sportfishing Association Executive Director Ricky Gease said he had not received a copy as of April 14.

Gease was one of several Alaska stakeholders to testify at the North Pacific hearing in February. Other Alaskans who testified there, or lobbyists for the groups the testifiers represent, had received a copy by April 14.

On April 8, a Senate Commerce Committee staffer emailed the draft to a list of lobbyists and executives representing various commercial fishing interests throughout the country, including processors and harvesters in Alaska, and some who represent Pacific Northwest Tribal groups, although no Alaska Native or Tribal organizations were on that list.

In the email obtained by the Journal, the committee staffer Sean Houton asked those individuals to “please be discrete with the draft as you develop your comments.” He did not respond to an email asking why he asked for discretion in the draft, or if he had sent it to anyone else.

The executives on the distribution list include Pacific Seafood Processors Vice President Dennis Phelan, West Coast Seafood Processors Association Executive Director Rod Moore and At-Sea Processors Public Affairs Director Jim Gilmore, and lobbyists representing Bering Sea Crabbers, Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, Bristol Bay Economic Development Corp., US Seafoods and United Catcher Boats.

Other lobbyists on the list represent Northeast, South Atlantic and Gulf Coast fishing interests.

Houton’s email also invited the lobbyists and executives to a meeting on Capitol Hill April 15 to discuss the draft.

Handyside did not respond specifically to a question about whether other meetings were planned on the hill for others to review the draft, but noted that listening sessions and hearings had been held during the past year to get stakeholder input.

“Right now we are talking informally with stakeholders to get their ideas.” Handyside wrote. “It’s still a work in progress. We are getting many comments from individuals and groups across the state.”

Handyside also said the working draft of the legislation would be circulated more broadly in the coming weeks. Until then, public input is being taken through Begich’s fisheries staffer Bob King.

Begich spoke briefly about the draft at the North Pacific Fishery Management Council’s meeting in Anchorage on April 14.

Since this draft was released, Begich said his office had received significant feedback from Alaska fishery stakeholders. Their concerns will be addressed, he said.

“We’ll be back at it,” he said, noting that the bill won’t move without working on Alaska’s interests.

Begich said the draft currently out for review was based on the hearings and listening sessions held in Alaska and elsewhere in the country throughout the past year.

Begich said that this iteration will likely be out for a couple weeks, and then in the first part of May the subcommittee will work on another draft that incorporates people’s concerns, with additional hearings toward the end of May.

A final bill could pass in late summer or early fall, he said.

The House Natural Resources Committee released its own discussion draft of the act in December. At that time, the draft was posted online, a press release was sent out, and the committee set up an email specifically for MSA comments.

Mike Tadeo, a House Natural Resources Committee staffer, said the House had gone through a public process to develop the draft and make it available for comment. However, he did not respond specifically to a question about whether the House discussion draft had been made available to select groups before it was released to the public as a whole.

 

Tribal and subsistence language aren’t the only changes to legislation in the Senate draft.

The draft also addresses capital funds for fishing infrastructure, and allows facilities other than vessels to be eligible for funding.

The draft also changes the language relative to bycatch. Instead of calling for fishery managers to minimize bycatch, it calls for bycatch to be avoided.

The draft also calls for certain ecosystem-based policies and goals, and more explicit management of forage fish, including accounting for dependent fish when setting annual catch limits. It also requires more study and use of electronic monitoring, specifically in the North Pacific.

As currently proposed, stock assessments would be required at least every five years.

 

A copy of the MSA discussion draft is posted online with this story at alaskajournal.com. Molly Dischner can be reached at molly.dischner@alaskajournal.com.

More in News

Erin Thompson (courtesy)
Erin Thompson to serve as regional editor for Alaska community publications

Erin Thompson is expanding her leadership as she takes on editorial oversight… Continue reading

A woman stands with her sign held up during a rally in support of Medicaid and South Peninsula Hospital on Wednesday, June 18, 2025 in Homer, Alaska. (Chloe Pleznac/Homer News)
Homer residents rally in support of South Peninsula Hospital and Medicaid

The community gathered on Wednesday in opposition to health care cuts that threaten rural hospitals.

Hunter Kirby holds up the hatchery king salmon he bagged during the one-day youth fishery on the Ninilchik River on Wednesday, June 7, 2023 in Ninilchik, Alaska. Photo by Mike Booz
Ninilchik River closed to sport fishing

The closure is in effect from June 23 through July 15.

Señor Panchos in Soldotna, Alaska, is closed on Wednesday, June 4, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Soldotna restaurant owner remains in ICE custody; federal charges dropped

Francisco Rodriguez-Rincon was accused of being in the country illegally and falsely claiming citizenship on a driver’s license application.

Brent Johnson speaks during a meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly in Soldotna, Alaska, on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Borough to provide maximum funding for school district

The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District will receive less money from the state this year than it did last year.

Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion
Pool manager and swim coach Will Hubler leads a treading water exercise at Kenai Central High School on Tuesday.
Pools, theaters, libraries in jeopardy as cuts loom

The district issued “notices of non-retention” to all its pool managers, library aides and theater technicians.

A sockeye salmon is pictured in Kenai, Alaska, on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Fishing slow on Russian River, improving on Kenai

Northern Kenai fishing report for Tuesday, June 17.

Josiah Kelly, right, appears for a superior court arraignment at the Kenai Courthouse in Kenai, Alaska, on Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Anchor Point man accepts plea deal for November shootings

Buildings operated by a local health clinic and an addiction recovery nonprofit were targeted.

Most Read