Last Thursday a hearing was held in which several legislative measures relating to the fishing industry
were introduced. These measures all deal with specific aspects  of the current mis-management taking
place. Since the current Obama/Lubchenco administration policies impact a wide range of fishery
people from fishermen to coastal communities, the specific's being addressed may have a harder time
being defeated by NOAA and its enviormental lobbiest.

We know Catch Shares and their various forms are a policy of NOAA's director Jane Lubchenco. She
helped create them as we know them now while she served as Vice-Chair of EDF. While at EDF she
also helped formulate the Magnenson-Stevens Re-Authorization Act which is creating so many problems
now. She of coarse had to resign from EDF to accept Obama's nomimation, so as to aviod the
appearane of a conflict of interest. What a joke. She continues to push the same EDF policy, only now
from with-in. EDF bragged about affecting policy in the fisheries from a "Top-Down" approach, after
sucessfully lobbying to have Lubchenco appointed by Obama as NOAA director.

Catch Shares allow NOAA to be lazy with the data required to sustainably regulate fisheries. Catch Shares
actually benefit from a lack of data, since its only with the lack of data we now have that gives any merit
to the Catch Shares scheme. Of coarse, NOAA is required to provide the data needed to manage our fisheries
with, which they have obviously failed at. Alaska is likely the only region that has anywhere close to the
data needed to sucesfully manage the fisheries with, yet they to are a big Catch Share region, with job losses
mounting in various sectors by up to 60% as a result of catch Shares. With the funding spent on catch Shares
programs (NOAA requested $54 million for 2012 alone), I believe that most of the needed data we are now
lacking could be paid for. If the data was avalible, sustainable catch limits could be established, and everyone
could fish.

Current data relies mostly on commercial landings. In many fisheries, catch methods, and targeted fish size
varies greatly from the recreational side. Since no recreational data really exist, computer extrapulation is used
to generate a theoretical catch level for recreational anglers. NOAA was required to created a recreational
data system, 5 years ago, but despite creating a policy, and running test, no data has been used yet. Its doubtful
that much will be accomplished, since it still relies on very little real data, and phone surveys are still the bulk
of the data collected. A lot of data could be collected with the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on catch
shares!

As mentioned however, as long as NOAA continues to ignore current law, there is little to make anyone think
that they will follow new legislation. Here is the list of legislative measures promoted Dec 1, 2011:

•H.R. 594 (Pallone), To promote jobs creation, promote sustainable fisheries and fishing communities, revitalize waterfronts, and for other purposes. "Coastal Jobs Creation Act of 2011"
•H.R. 1013 (Keating), To amend the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to provide the New England Fishery Management Council additional resources to address research and monitoring priorities established by the Council. "Strengthen Fisheries Management in New England Act of 2011"
•H.R. 1646 (Runyan), To amend the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to preserve jobs and coastal communities through transparency and accountability in fishery management, and for other purposes. "American Angler Preservation Act"
•H.R. 2304 (Wittman), To amend the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act of 2006 to provide the necessary scientific information to properly implement annual catch limits, and for other purposes. "Fishery Science Improvement Act of 2011"
•H.R. 2610 (Frank), To amend the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to reform procedures for the payment of funds from the asset forfeiture fund, and for other purposes. "Asset Forfeiture Fund Reform and Distribution Act of 2011"
•H.R. 2753 (Jones), To amend the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to provide Internet access to Regional Fishery Management Council meetings and meeting records, and for other purposes. "Fishery Management Transparency and Accountability Act"
•H.R. 2772 (Runyan), To amend the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to permit eligible fishermen to approve certain limited access privilege programs, and for other purposes. "Saving Fishing Jobs Act of 2011"
•H.R. 3061 (Pallone), To amend the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to extend the authorized time period for rebuilding of certain overfished fisheries, and for other purposes. "Flexibility and Access in Rebuilding American Fisheries Act of 2011"