WASHINGTON — The head of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council urged caution and Sen. Stevens groused at the director of a combined environmental and fishermen’s group at a much-delayed U.S. Senate hearing on revamping the nation’s fisheries law last Tuesday.

Stephanie Madsen, chairwoman of the North Pacific council, told senators that she and leaders of the seven other regional councils believe the current law is working well.

“When carried out properly, the council process has all the ingredients for responsible stewardship of our nation’s marine resources,” she told the fisheries subcommittee of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.

The councils were created by the Magnuson-Stevens Act almost 30 years ago. The law is up for one of its periodic renewals by Congress.

Some critics say the law needs some major modifications, but they also want to keep a few features that members of Congress are hoping to cut from existing law.

Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine and chairwoman of the subcommittee, has introduced S. 2066 to reauthorize and amend the law, and two panels of oceans experts testified on the proposal at the meeting.

Lee Crockett, director of the Marine Fish Conservation Network, told the committee that his organization wants representation on fisheries management councils broadened. Since 1985, at least 80 percent of appointees to the councils have been fishing industry representatives. Crockett also suggested that the law be amended to establish conflict-of-interest standards for these fishing interests.

Crockett said his group was encouraged by national individual fishing quota standards proposed in Snowe’s legislation. However, those guidelines should prohibit consolidation of quota shares and should put seven-year limits on shares, he said.

Crockett also said he opposed Snowe’s proposal to eliminate language that requires depleted fish stocks to be managed so they recover within 10 years, in most cases. Snowe would instead cap fish harvests in depleted stocks at 80 percent of the level necessary to maintain the maximum sustained yield.

“Because a single mortality rate cannot be applied to all fish stocks, a deadline must also be mandated,” Crockett said.

Stevens, one of the authors of the act, said he has been concerned by the amount of litigation over fishing issues and hopes to revise the law to address the trend.

“Slowly but surely the court system is entering into the management of the fisheries,” Stevens said.

As the hearing closed, he asked Crockett how many lawsuits the Marine Fish Conservation Network had entered.

“Zero,” Crockett replied.

The senator’s question followed an earlier exchange in which Stevens questioned Crockett about his organization’s financing and membership.

Is the network financed by the Pew Charitable Trusts, Stevens asked. “Partially,” Crockett replied.

The Pew trusts also financed the Pew Oceans Commission, which last year created a report of which Stevens has been critical. The trusts also support a variety of environmental organizations with which Stevens regularly disagrees.

Stevens then asked Crockett if the network actually has any fishermen members. Crockett said membership included the Alaska long-liners association, through its involvement in the Alaska Marine Conservation Council, which holds one of the national network’s board seats.

Stevens asked Crockett to submit a list of members for the record.

Madsen, the NPFMC chairwoman, offered the committee the following points:

• Councils have been using ecosystem management but “are concerned about requirements for specific ecosystem plans, given our current state of scientific knowledge.” Councils need to know what ecosystem management means and what it will cost. Plans should not have the force of law “or we could find ourselves mired in legal challenges,” Madsen said in prepared testimony.

• Councils should be allowed to create individual fishing quota programs that include harvesters, processors and communities.

• Councils must be allowed to judge scientific advice because sometimes the advice is conflicting.

• Requiring additional peer review of scientific information “should be approached with extreme caution.”

• The Magnuson-Stevens Act, not the National Environmental Policy Act, should be designated as the dominant management statute.

• The current council appointment process should be maintained.

• The councils should be exempted from the Federal Advisory Committee Act.

Snowe said after the hearing that she does not expect the Magnuson-Stevens Act to be reauthorized this year. Stevens will take over the chairmanship of the Commerce committee next year if Republicans hold onto control of the Senate in the November elections. Snowe said she expects to continue as oceans subcommittee chairwoman in that case.

The hearing was delayed from June, when ceremonies honoring the late President Ronald Reagan shut down most congressional work for a week.

Washington, D.C., reporter Sam Bishop can be reached at sbishop@newsminer.com.