Page 12. MAINE COASTAL NEWS April 2011 Commercial Fishing News
NOAA Announces FY 2012 Budget Science and Innovation Cited as Keys to Economic Recovery
MISCELLANEOUS COMMERCIAL FISHING NEWS
President Obama has issued the FY 2012 budget for NOAA, requesting $5.5 billion for the nation’s oceanic and atmospheric agency. The proposed budget includes key investments to strengthen NOAA’s most critical programs and initiatives while ad- dressing the administration’s goals of ensur- ing long-term economic growth, promoting innovation and American competitiveness, and reducing government spending. The budget request represents a $56.8 million decrease compared to the 2011 bud- get. This budget focuses on program needs, identifies efficiencies, and ensures account- ability across the agency. Core functions and services are sustained, increases are re- quested for only the most critical programs, projects, or activities necessary to meet the nation’s growing demand for NOAA’s ser- vices, and careful cuts are made throughout the budget.
“Perhaps most significantly, this budget clearly recognizes the central role that sci- ence and technology play in stimulating the economy, creating new jobs and improving the health and security of Americans,” said Dr. Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “Americans rely on NOAA science, services and stewardship to keep their families safe, their communities thriving, and their businesses strong. Our work is everyone’s business.”
NOAA’s budget will focus on an ambi- tious array of strategic priorities, including: Improving prediction of high impact weather and water forecasts; Supporting sustainable
oceans, fisheries, and communities; and Pro- viding critical investments in satellites and sensors to further NOAA’s observational mission.
This budget furthers NOAA’s commit- ment to strengthen science throughout the agency, providing support for the next gen- eration of research and information to meet the growing demand for NOAA’s science and services and to drive economic recovery. The proposed request includes $737 million for research and development related to cli- mate, weather and ecosystem science and for infrastructure to support NOAA’s R&D en- terprise.
NOAA will also build upon and enhance its existing climate services to meet the nation’s rapidly growing data and informa- tion demands. Included in the FY 2012 budget proposal are the details for a reorganization to establish a climate service within NOAA. The reorganization is “budget neutral”; it does not change staffing levels, create new facili- ties or physically relocate any programs or laboratories.
Negotiations with Canada Set Stage for Sig- nificant Increase in U.S. Yellowtail Flounder Quota on Georges Bank
More time to rebuild fish stock while still preventing overfishing
Legislation recently signed by President Obama has paved the way for NOAA to move ahead to increase the Georges Bank yellow- tail flounder quota for U.S. commercial fisher- men in 2011. The quota will be increased to 2.5 million pounds, an 18 percent increase over 2010 levels and a 44 percent increase over the quota that fishermen originally expected to receive for the 2011 fishing year.
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“Rebuilding economically valuable fish- eries goes hand-in-hand with protecting fish- ing jobs and supporting coastal communi- ties,” Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke said. “So we made reaching this agreement a priority, because it will allow us to increase the catch limits for valuable groundfish stock and help fishermen.”
The legislation that enabled today’s agreement was signed by President Obama on January 4 and initiated by U.S. Sen. Olym- pia Snowe of Maine, U.S. Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts and members of the New England congressional delegation. It allows NOAA to extend the rebuilding timeframe for the Georges Bank yellowtail flounder stock. This is one of several shared groundfish stocks that are jointly managed by the United States and Canada through an international understanding. With more time to rebuild, NOAA will be able to increase the amount of fish available to the fishing industry each year, and still prevent overfishing so that the stocks rebuild.
“This is another instance of our continu- ing effort to use whatever flexibility is avail- able to us to protect fishing jobs and the long- term vitality of local fishing communities as we continue rebuilding the valuable ground- fish stocks in the Northeast,” said Eric Schwaab, assistant NOAA administrator for NOAA’s Fisheries Service. “We are making meaningful progress in this effort, due in large part to the continued hard work and sacrifice of groundfish fishermen.” As a first step, NOAA and members of the New England Fishery Management Council, which includes representation from states, fishing organizations and non-gov- ernmental organizations, met with Canadian fishery managers today to revisit the 2011 Georges Bank yellowtail catch limit for U.S. and Canadian fishermen. With bilateral sup- port for the increase in the U.S. catch level, NOAA can now work quickly to modify cur- rent U.S. regulations to adjust the catch lim- its, which were previously set for 2011. “A lot of people worked hard to provide flexibility in the U.S. legislation, which made this meeting possible,” said Rip Cunningham, chair of the U.S. negotiating team, who was one of four fishermen in- volved in the discussions with Canada to- day. “This is good news for U.S. fishermen and will allow for increased catches of Georges Bank yellowtail and other species, like winter flounder and haddock which are caught in the same area.”
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Separately, as part of the planned stock rebuilding effort, NOAA has also approved measures to increase catch limits for 11 other groundfish stocks when the new fishing year begins on May 1. The largest increases will be for Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic yel- lowtail flounder, which will be over one mil-
lion pounds, up from around 683 thousand pounds (69 percent increase); witch floun- der, which will increase to more than 2.7 million pounds from about 1.9 million pounds (45 percent increase); and Southern New England winter flounder, which will increase to 1.6 million pounds from about 1.1 million pounds (40 percent increase). These three stocks, and some of the others, required lower catch limits in 2010 to ensure enough fish reproduced to continue rebuilding and meet requirements under the law.
U.S. ‘Turning a Corner’ in Ending Overfishing
March 8, 2011
At a hearing in front of the Senate Com- merce Committee on the Magnuson-Stevens Act, Assistant NOAA Administrator for Fisheries Eric Schwaab said that the U.S. is making good progress toward meeting the mandate to end domestic overfishing. “We know that nearly $31 billion in sales and as many as 500,000 jobs are lost because our fisheries are not performing as well as they would if all stocks were rebuilt,” Schwaab said. “While we are turning a corner toward a brighter future for fishermen and fishing communities, many fishermen are struggling in part as a result of years of decline in fishing opportunity.”
Schwaab said that NOAA is committed to working with fishermen and communities during this period of transition.
Our nation’s fisheries have been vital to the economics and identities of our coastal communities for hundreds of years. Accord- ing to the most recent estimates, U.S. com- mercial and saltwater recreational fisheries support almost two million jobs and generate more than $160 billion in sales.
Schwaab talked about fishery manage- ment challenges, including improving collec- tion, analysis, and accuracy of scientific in- formation used to manage both recreational and commercial fisheries. He indicated that NOAA Fisheries will continue to work hard with the regional fishery management coun- cils, fishermen and the coastal communities to increase confidence in the management system and ensure productive and efficient fisheries.
“We have turned a corner in our manage- ment of fisheries in this country, and the sacrifices made and being made by so many who rely on this industry are showing great promise,” Schwaab said. “As we end over- fishing and rebuild stocks, we will increase the economic output of our fisheries, improve the economic conditions for our fishermen, and create better, more stable and sustain- able jobs and opportunities in our coastal communities.”
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