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Administration
Ignoring Science and Undercutting Ocean Protections
WASHINGTON, DC—The U.S.
Commission on Ocean Policy, a panel appointed by President Bush, today issued
its final report stating that the oceans are in peril and overfishing is a primary
factor contributing to the collapse of entire ocean ecosystems. Today's report
comes even as the Bush administration is actively seeking to weaken federal
standards that protect fish populations from overfishing.
"Even as the President's
own panel warns that the oceans are in danger, the Bush administration is trying
to water down protections against overfishing - exactly the opposite of today's
recommendations." said Matt Rand, Co-Director, Conserve Our Ocean Legacy Campaign.
Even as the U.S. Commission
released its report, the administration continues to move forward with weakening
National Standard 1, one of ten national standards that all federal fishery
management plans must meet to ensure healthy ocean ecosystems. National Standard
1 is the cornerstone of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management
Act, the law that governs all fishery activity in U.S. waters. The standard
prohibits fishermen from driving fish populations toward extinction through
overfishing and requires rebuilding of already diminished fish populations.
"The administration's proposal
opens up a loophole that industry could steer a commercial fleet through," said
U.S. Public Interest Research Group oceans advocate Buffy Baumann. "If the president
wants to keep catching stripers up in Maine, he should protect fish populations,
not destroy them."
The Bush Administration
plans to weaken National Standard 1 by making the following changes:
· The current regulations
require fish management councils to "end overfishing." The administration proposes
to insert "as soon as practicable" after "overfishing", thus condoning delays
to the recovery process.
· The administration proposes allowing fishery councils to exceed scientifically
recommended fishing levels.
· The administration is seeking exceptions to the rebuilding timeline allowing
a "phase-in" of recovery plans that could push off recovery of fish populations
for decades.
· The administration proposes a tiered system of fish protections based on commercial
value. This means that commercially viable fish will receive protections at
the expense of less valuable fish and will drive these weaker stocks closer
to commercial extinction.
Revisions to weaken National
Standard 1 have passed through an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and
an Environmental Assessment. The proposed changes to this standard are expected
to appear in the Federal Register by the end of the year.
President Bush has 90 days
to respond to today's U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy final report.
