During this era of great dysfunction, Washington, D.C., has become paralyzed by increasingly powerful special interest influence, partisan bickering, and in-party disputes. In a time when the country is in need of great reform, the population is stuck with two impotent parties seemingly incapable of drafting meaningful laws. Recently, Rep. Paul Ryan and Sen. Patty Murray held a press conference to celebrate the passing of a congressional budget, as if such a feat should be considered a great accomplishment despite the fact that this is simply part of their job and should be expected of them. Those laws that the parties have been able to push through, such as the Affordable Care Act, are poorly conceived and corrupted by special interests. Health care reform may just be too ambitious and contentious of an issue to tackle during this seemingly endless run of ineffectiveness on Capitol Hill.
However, there are issues that both parties should be able to effectively address, despite ideological disparities. One of these is the re-authorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the federal law dictating how U.S. fisheries are managed. Many within the fishing industry believe that the MSA needs to be overhauled and rewritten, as numerous intentions of the law have gone unrealized due to vagaries within the law itself. Most notable is a systematically neglected mandate within the act -- the requirement that fishery managers "account for the importance of fishery resources to fishing communities." The law also dictates that social and economic data indicating the overall well-being of coastal communities must be gathered to make prudent decisions that "provide for the sustained participation of such communities and, to the extent practicable, minimize adverse economic impacts on such communities." Despite this being a central topic within the law, fishery management has essentially ignored this mandate, and the results have been unfortunate and severe.
In Alaska, many thousands of fishing jobs have been lost, and most coastal community members have no real hope of ever owning fishing rights in many fisheries, such as Bering Sea king crab, which transitioned to Individual Fishing Quotas, or "catch shares," a decade ago. This form of management, which has become increasingly popular among federal managers, is highly contentious and involves the transformation of traditional fishing rights into capital assets that are traded on a mostly open market. Active fishermen are severely disadvantaged when it comes to acquiring these assets, as the both the risk and cost of purchasing IFQs are far too burdensome to be afforded with fishing income. As a result, the trend has been for fishing rights to be held by individuals who do not participate in the fisheries but are able to extract most of the associated fishing revenue by annually leasing these rights to active fishermen for up to 80 percent of the landed value of fish, leaving very little for crew members and skippers who have no choice but to abandon their traditional livelihood.
These outcomes are predictable and inevitable. New Zealand transitioned all of its fisheries to catch shares decades ago, and the small scale commercial fishermen are on the verge of extinction, along with their fishing communities, with the vast majority of fishing rights now owned by large corporations. Similar results are occurring in the U.S. and are clearly in violation of the intent of the MSA, but repeated lawsuits by Massachusetts municipalities such as New Bedford and Gloucester and by the Pacific Federation of Fishermen have proven ineffective. Federal courts decided that it is up to the management councils that make the regulations to decide whether they are in compliance with the law.
The next fishery to transition to a catch share system is the Gulf of Alaska groundfishery. Alaskans should expect the usual results: loss of jobs, diminished opportunities for small businesses, and the disenfranchisement of future generations of fishermen who will likely never acquire IFQs in that fishery. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council, despite being provided with feasible management alternatives that anchor fishing rights to coastal communities, is determined to continue this regrettable management trend, depriving Alaskans of access rights to yet another fishery.
Draft versions of the revised MSA are now publicly available, and the revisions are disappointing. The law, if passed in its proposed form, will go largely unaltered with just a few changes that overwhelmingly address past and current issues facing the East Coast groundfishery, some of which are too late to have any effectiveness. One notable change is that Atlantic coast fisheries cannot transition to catch shares unless agreed upon by a simple majority permit holders in a referendum. These same democratic privileges, however, are being denied to West Coast fishermen. Still, such referenda may likely prove ineffective. The law does not allow for voting rights by crew members and hired skippers who comprise the vast majority of fishermen. Additionally, the first generation of permit holders disproportionately benefits from catch shares and may be willing to sacrifice the well-being of subsequent fishermen for their own gain.
The notable exclusion of West Coast fishermen from being allowed to vote on such important changes is likely due to the reluctance of their federal representatives to side with coastal communities on fishery issues. East Coast representatives such as Elizabeth Warren and Walter Jones have been vocal in their calls for fishery reform. Reluctant to join the chorus, however, are Rep. Don Young and Sen. Lisa Murkowski. Sen. Mark Begich, chairman of the Senate committee on fisheries, whom one might expect as a Democrat and an Alaskan to speak out on behalf of coastal communities and family fishing businesses, is simply unwilling to approach the issue. Although his position grants him the greatest potential to direct the revision of the MSA to address issues that have led to job losses, increased wealth gaps and diminished upward mobility among his constituents, he may have simply succumbed to the toxic involvement of special interest groups. The so-called Environmental Defense Fund, an organization funded with tens of millions of dollars by the Walmart family's Walton Family Foundation, has lobbied heavily to implement catch shares in U.S. fisheries.
Many of the problems facing fishery management are identifiable and easily addressed. Others require significant thought and insight, but remaining on the current course will certainly spell disaster for coastal communities. With politicians unable to agree on anything or create reforms that meaningfully benefit American lives, it appears that such a simple matter as fishery reform is beyond their current capacity. A great opportunity to increase employment and lay out the framework for a prosperous future for Alaskan fishing communities is being squandered. When the re-authorization of the MSA is complete, perhaps Begich and others will also hold a press conference to celebrate what appears to amount to a legislative failure.
Draft versions of the MSA revisions can be viewed online. The secretary of commerce is seeking public comments on the revision, which should be submitted to magnusonstevens(at)mail.house.gov.
Darren Platt is a commercial fisherman in Kodiak, Alaska.
The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, e-mail commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com.