In a meeting attended mainly by government and fishing industry officials and those invited to testify on Friday, Congressman Wayne Gilchrest, R-Maryland, headed a Subcommittee on Fisheries and Oceans meeting to discuss the reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA). Congressman Don Young, a member of the subcommittee, was unable to attend due to dense fog.

All of the experts invited to testify before Gilchrest were present. However, one governement official noted that many of the people invited to testify were at the North Pacific Fishery Management Council meeting, and that the average fishermen was not present. Gilchrest said at the outset of the meeting that he was aware this was not a good time for the meeting because most fishermen were out.

The meeting was not about allocations or rationalization, according to Julie Bonney, executive director for the Alaska Groundfish Data Bank. Rather, the meeting, “showcased the successes in the North Pacific and made recommendations to improve ideas versus dismantling the MSA. The MSA works well with the regional approach and hopefully the rest of the country can learn from Alaska,” she said.

In response to the hearing, Jerome Selby, borough mayor said, “I thought it went fine. I thought the congressman was very attentive and looking for information. He asked excellent questions and really listened to answers.”

In his testimony Selby emphasized the need for more research.

“The one area that can improve the management of this vital resource of bottom fish in Alaskan waters is increased research that provides the needed scientific information to base the management decisions upon. These researchers need to be based in Kodiak where they can interact with the fishing industry …”

Many of the panelists agreed on this call for more research as well as other issues. Most panelists seem to agree that Alaska should be used as a model for fisheries management for the rest of the country. Another unanimous aspect of management was that decisions should continue to be made at the regional level.

“The MCA (Marine Conservation Alliance) strongly supports the regional council system because it recognizes the remarkable diversity of issues facing the different regions of the country, and because it provides the public access to a transparent and science-driven fishery management process,” David Benton, executive director for the MCA, said in his testimony.

Another common theme is the necessity for an ecosystem based approach like the North Pacific Management Council (NPMC) uses. Included under this broader issue were bycatch reduction, habitat research, seabird and marine mammal protective measures, and closures in spawning areas.

Gilchrest was especially interested in conservative catch quotas. Currently the NPMC sets the total allowable catch (TAC) at or below the acceptable biological catch. Groundfish quotas are also capped at a maximum of 2 million metric tons. These practices led to the reiterated point that there are no overfished groundfish stocks in Alaska waters, which impressed the congressman very much.

Although they agreed on these points, the testimonies of both Carolyn Floyd, mayor of the city of Kodiak, and Duncan Fields, technical adviser to the Gulf of Alaska Coastal Communities Coalition, gave criticism about the MSA.

Fields told Gilchrest about the adverse effects of current management practices on rural fishing communities. Fields said, small boat fishermen have been excluded from the economic benefits of the capitalization of fisheries. In order to curb these effects, community protection provisions in the MSA should be strengthened and community fishing quotas should be included, among other things.

Floyd spoke more specifically on rationalization issues.

“By its very nature, rationalization restrains competition. Defining the pool of participants that receives fishing privileges creates winners and losers …” Floyd said. She warned that awarding fishing privileges without making provisions for future generations could gentrify a fishery. Gilchrest was very interested in her opinion, and asked many questions about how to prevent this.

“It has been 10 years since the MSA reauthorization. In regards to where control is going, Alaska has a lot to lose and a lot to gain. This is very important and something that we all need to watch,” Benton said.

Gilchrest took all of these comments very seriously and said, “When we go back to Washington we’re not going to be back here for quite some time, so your comments are pretty important.”

Mirror writer Lauren Valone can be reached via e-mail at fisheries@kodiakdailymirror.com