Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions - S. 1624

STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS
By Mr. REED:

S. 1624. A bill to amend the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to add Rhode Island to the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Mr. REED. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Rhode Island Fishermen's Fairness Act of 2003. This legislation would address a serious flaw in our Nation's regional fisheries management system by adding Rhode Island to the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC), which currently consists of representatives from New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina.

The MAFMC manages the following 13 species, all of which are landed in Rhode Island: Illex squid, loligo squid, Atlantic mackerel, black sea bass, bluefish, butterfish, monkfish, scup, spiny dogfish, summer flounder, surfclam, ocean quahog, and tilefish.

In 2001, the most recent year for which final data are available, Rhode Island fishermen brought in over 21 percent of MAFMC landings by weight—more than any of the MAFMC member States except New Jersey, which is responsible for about 56 percent of total MAFMC landings. In fact, with the exception of New Jersey, Rhode Island's total 2001 MAFMC landings, 44.1 million pounds, nearly equaled those of all other MAFMC member States combined, 45.9 million pounds.

If Rhode Island fishermen are responsible for a large percentage of overall MAFMC landings, these species make up an even larger proportion of landings within Rhode Island every year. Between 1995 and 2002, MAFMC species represented between 29 percent and 58 percent of all finfish landed in Rhode Island annually, for an average of 43 percent of total landings by weight. In eight of the years between 1990 and 2002, squid, Illex and loligo, was the number one finfish landed in Rhode Island, with a value of between $13 million and $20 million annually.

Yet Rhode Island has no voice in the management of these species.

Following council tradition and Federal fisheries law, the Rhode Island Fishermen's Fairness Act would create two seats on the MAFMC for Rhode Island: one seat nominated by the Governor of Rhode Island and appointed by the Secretary of Commerce, and a second seat filled by Rhode Island's principal State official with marine fishery management responsibility. The MAFMC would increase in size from 21 voting members to 23.

There is a precedent for this proposed legislation. In 1996, North Carolina's representatives in Congress succeeded in adding that State to the MAFMC through an amendment to the Sustainable Fisheries Act. Like Rhode Island, a significant proportion of North Carolina's landed fish species were managed by the MAFMC, yet the State had no vote on the council. Today, Rhode Island's share of total landings for species managed by the MAFMC is more than six times greater than that of North Carolina.

I look forward to working with my colleagues to restore a measure of equity to the fisheries management process by passing the Rhode Island Fishermen's Fairness Act. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the legislation be printed in the RECORD.