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~~>FISHLINK SUBLEGALS 6/30/00<~~
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A WEEKLY QUOTA OF FISHERY SHORTS CAUGHT AND
LANDED BY THE INSTITUTE FOR FISHERIES RESOURCES
AND THE PACIFIC COAST FEDERATION OF FISHERMEN'S
ASSOCIATIONS
VOL 1, NO.26 30 JUNE 2000
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SENATE PASSES OCEANS BILL, HOUSE ACTION EXPECTED
IN JULY - TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE?: Earlier this week the U.S. Senate
passed S. 2327, the Oceans Act of 2000, by Senator Fritz Hollings (D-SC)
and others "to establish a commission to make recommendations for
coordinated and comprehensive national ocean policy...." The companion
legislation in the House is H.R. 4410, introduced on 9 May by
Representatives Saxton (R-NJ), Farr (D-CA) and Greenwood (R-PA).
Ocean legislation has languished in both the 105th and 106th Congresses.
Hollings' measure is a reintroduction (reintroduced on 29 March) of
earlier oceans legislation aimed at establishing a "new Stratton
Commission" to review and make recommendations on U.S. oceans policy
and programs. S.2327, as passed by the Senate, would establish a
16-member commission appointed by the next President, with 12 of the
members nominated by Congressional leadership (eight by the majority
party and four by the minority party). If established, it will operate on a
budget of $2million per year for its 3-year life, with a report to the
Congress due within 18 months of establishment.
The Stratton Commission was established by Congress in the late
1960s. Among its recommendations was the creation of a "wet NASA"
which led, among other things, to the reorganization of the nation's fishery
agencies into the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), combining
the old Bureau of Commercial Fisheries and marine sportfishing
programs. NMFS was then put under an "umbrella" oceans agency with
the Weather Service, coastal and marine sanctuary programs to form the
National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The new
"superagency" subsequently ended up in the Department of Commerce,
following a spat between President Nixon and his then-Interior Secretary,
Walter Hickel.
While the Congress was doing nothing on oceans legislation, the Pew
Charitable Trusts decided to act by establishing its own oceans
commission to review the national ocean policy and programs and make
recommendations to the Congress. The 18-member Pew Oceans
Commission, which includes two fishermen, was announced on 24 May
(see Sublegals, 26 May 2000). It will be headed by New Jersey Governor
Christine Todd Whitman and former California Congressman and White
House Chief of Staff, Leon Panetta.
The House is expected to take up the oceans bill on either 10 or 11
July. The action finally taking place in the Congress to pass an oceans act
is in response to the Pew Commission; Congress would probably not have
acted had not Pew taken the initiative in establishing its blue-ribbon
group. PCFFA has described Pew's efforts as another example of the
"privatization of conservation" where non-governmental organizations,
including conservation groups, fishing associations and private
foundations, have stepped into the void left by governmental agencies'
failed stewardship of natural resources and the environment. The question
being asked, in light of the established Pew Oceans Commission is, why is
a federally-created oceans commission now needed?
CALIFORNIA FISH & GAME REQUESTS PROPOSALS FOR
SALMON RESTORATION: The California Department of Fish & Game
has issued its request for proposals (RFP) for fish restoration projects
using $6.3 million of the federal Pacific Coast Salmon Recovery Program.
The RFP is based on the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between
the California Resources Agency and the National Marine Fisheries
Service (Southwest Region) on how the money is to be used. The
deadline for applications is 11 August. For more information visit:
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/nafwrb/fishgrant.html.
OCEAN CAUCUS CONFERENCE SET FOR 17-19 JULY IN
WASHINGTON, DC: The 45-member House Oceans Caucus, co-chaired
by Congressmen Weldon (R-PA), Allen (D-ME), Farr (D-CA) and
Greenwood (R- PA), will host a conference on 17-19 July, "Oceans for the
New Millennium - Developing and Implementing Ocean Policy - An
International Perspective." The conference will be in Washington, not in
Monterey as incorrectly reported in the 26 May Sublegals. PCFFA
Executive Director, Zeke Grader, will be one of the participants,
discussing marine protected areas (MPAs). For more information on the
conference, visit the Caucus website at: www.house.gov/curtweldon/
oceans/.
EPA RELEASES NATIONAL WATER QUALITY INVENTORY:
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), this week,
released its bi-annual water quality report the National Water Quality
Inventory. All 50 states collect and submit data to EPA on the quality of
their waters, highlighting the percentage of waters in each state that meet
water quality standards. For a copy of the report, which includes
individual state summaries, go to "national water quality" at
www.epa.gov/ow .
NON-INDIGENOUS ALGAE FOUND IN SOUTHERN
CALIFORNIA: An alien green algae (Caulerpa taxifolia), dubbed the
"killer algae", has been discovered in the waters of southern California.
An aggressive clone of this species has been highly invasive in the
Mediterranean Sea, where the governments of France, Spain, Monaco, and
Italy have been unable to control its spread. Because of its potential for
damage to the environment, its import into the U.S. has been banned
under federal law. For more information, download the article at:
http://www.coastalconservancy.ca.gov/scwrp/index.html .
CORRECTION TO METHYL MERCURY STORY (SUBLEGALS,
23 JUNE): In the 23 June 2000 Sublegals, there was some incorrect
information regarding the studies which are taking place in the Bear and
South Yuba watersheds of California on findings of methyl mercury in
sediments behind dams. The following information was erroneous: "The
initial findings of this report in the Bear and South Yuba watersheds of
California, has uncovered high levels of the heavy metal, methyl mercury
in the sediments that settle out behind the dams." What it should have
said, is that available information regarding the multi-agency effort
[including but not limited to the United States Geologic Survey (USGS),
the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and the United States Forest
Service (USFS)] investigating mercury contamination from historic gold
mining in the Bear and Yuba watersheds, includes a report on mercury
contamination in a specific mining district (Hunerlach et al., 1999) and a
more general fact sheet on mercury contamination from historic gold
mining in California (Alpers and Hunerlach, 2000). For more information
on these materials visit: http://ca.water.usgs.gov/mercury/bear-yuba/
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