WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Senator Jack Reed’s efforts to give Rhode Island a seat at the table of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC) got a major boost this week when it was included in the latest version of the Senate Commerce Committee’s draft Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA) reauthorization bill.  The Magnuson-Stevens Act, which governs marine fisheries management in U.S. waters, expired last September.  Both the Senate Commerce Committee and the House Natural Resources Committee are currently drafting separate proposals to update the law.

Senator Reed wrote the Rhode Island Fishermen’s Fairness Act (S. 713) to add Rhode Island to the list of seven states with voting representation on the MAFMC, a regional management board that establishes fishery management rules for stocks primarily caught in federal waters adjacent to the mid-Atlantic coast.

“This is an issue of fairness and our fishermen deserve appropriate representation on the Council.  Mid-Atlantic regulated stocks now represent the majority of landings for Rhode Island commercial fishermen.  It is time that our state has formal representation on the Council and I am grateful to Senator Begich (D-AK) and other members of the Commerce Committee for including my legislation to help remedy this matter,” said Reed, who has been pushing this issue since 2006 and authorized a study of this issue in the last MSA authorization.  “Rhode Island fishermen are increasingly dependent and invested in the Mid-Atlantic Fishery, hauling in more squid than any other state currently on the Council, but they don’t have the same voice on management as other states do.  I’m pleased that’s acknowledged in the Commerce Committee’s draft bill.”

The catch of Rhode Island commercial fishermen represent a significant percentage of commercial landings of the Mid-Atlantic fishery, and is greater than most of the states represented on the Council.

Without representation on the Council, Rhode Island cannot participate fully in development of fishery management plans for mid-Atlantic stocks, many of which are crucial to the Rhode Island seafood economy.

Reed’s Fishermen Fairness Act would add two places for Rhode Island representation to the 21 member Council.  One seat would be appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce under recommendations from Rhode Island’s Governor.  The second seat would be filled by Rhode Island’s principal state official with marine fishery management responsibility.  To accommodate these new members, the MAFMC would increase in size from 21 voting members to 23.

A revised draft of the Magnuson-Stevens Act reauthorization legislation is now available online for public review and comment: http://www.commerce.senate.gov/public/?a=Files.Serve&File_id=645df928-1aee-416d-bb82-8739b0ad3656

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