Bycatch Provisions in the
Reauthorized Magnuson-Stevens Act
LEE R. BENAKA, LAURA F. CIMO, and LEKELIA D. JENKINS
Introduction
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates
that in recent years the world’s isheries
annually discarded 7.3 million metric
tons of marine life (Kelleher, 2005).
This statistic accounts for just a portion
of the marine life incidentally caught or
harmed by ishing gear (i.e., bycatch),
because some of these organisms are
kept for consumption or sale, or are
not brought on board ishing vessels
after encountering gear. Without proper
measures in place to address bycatch,
Lee R. Benaka is the National Coordinator of the
Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program in the
Ofice of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service, NOAA, 1315 East–West
Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910. Laura F.
Cimo is with the Ofice of International Affairs,
National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA, 1315
East–West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910.
Lekelia D. Jenkins is with the School of
Marine and Environmental Affairs, University of
Washington, 3707 Brooklyn Avenue NE, Seattle,
WA 98105-6715. Corresponding author is Lee R.
Benaka (Lee.Benaka@noaa.gov).
ABSTRACT—Bycatch can harm marine ecosystems, reduce biodiversity, lead
to injury or mortality of protected species, and have severe economic implications for isheries. On 12 January 2007,
President George W. Bush signed the
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation
and Management Reauthorization Act of
2006 (MSRA). The MSRA required the
U.S. Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) to
establish a Bycatch Reduction Engineering
Program (BREP) to develop technological
devices and other conservation engineering changes designed to minimize bycatch,
seabird interactions, bycatch mortality, and
post-release mortality in Federally managed isheries. The MSRA also required the
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ishing can harm marine ecosystems,
reduce biodiversity, and lead to injury or
mortality of protected species. Bycatch
also can have severe economic implications for isheries due to foregone
ishery revenue associated with discards,
damage to ishing gear, and increased
sorting time on deck.
One example of potential foregone
ishery revenue associated with discards
is the Bering Sea pollock, Theragra
chalcogramma, fishery, which faces
hard caps on Chinook salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, as a result of
the inal rule to implement Amendment
91 to the Fishery Management Plan
for Groundish of the Bering Sea and
Aleutian Islands Management Area,
which published in the Federal Register on 30 August 2010 (NOAA, 2010).
Economic analyses in Amendment 91
indicate that total potentially foregone
pollock wholesale gross revenue could
be as much as $453 million if high
levels of Chinook salmon bycatch occur
in the ishery in a given year (NMFS,
2009a). Such potential losses in ishing
revenues, along with the serious biological impacts of bycatch, make bycatch a
central challenge to address in U.S. and
international isheries.
Since the creation of ishing nets and
ishing hooks there has been bycatch in
isheries, but efforts to reduce bycatch
are relatively recent. Records of selective ishing practices date back several
centuries, but the science of ishing selectively did not begin until the end
of the 19th century. This initial work
focused on selecting large sizes of commercial ish by adjusting the shape and
size of meshes and placing grids into the
codends of trawls (Chopin et al., 1996;
Prado, 1997). Later research sought to
address the issue of separating species
in multispecies isheries. Rising public
interest in charismatic species during
the 1960’s led to the development of
capture prevention and escape technology for marine mammals, sea turtles,
and seabirds beginning in the 1970’s
(Coe, 1984). Most recently, researchers
Secretary to identify nations whose vessels
are engaged in the bycatch of protected
living marine resources (PLMR’s) under
speciied circumstances and to certify that
these nations have 1) adopted regulatory
programs for PLMR’s that are comparable to U.S. programs, taking into account
different conditions, and 2) established
management plans for PLMR’s that assist
in the collection of data to support assessments and conservation of these resources.
If a nation fails to take suficient corrective action and does not receive a positive
certiication, ishing products from that
country may be subject to import prohibitions into the United States. The BREP has
made signiicant progress to develop tech-
nological devices and other conservation
engineering designed to minimize bycatch,
including improvements to bycatch reduction devices and turtle excluder devices in
Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico trawl isheries,
gillnets in Northeast isheries, and trawls
in Alaska and Paciic Northwest isheries.
In addition, the international provisions
of the MSRA have provided an innovative
tool through which the United States can
address bycatch by foreign nations. However, the inability of the National Marine
Fisheries Service to identify nations whose
vessels are engaged in the bycatch of
PLMR’s to date will require the development of additional approaches to meet this
mandate.
1
are examining the survival of organisms after interactions with gear (Prado,
1997; Wilde, 2009).
The bycatch of fishery resources,
marine mammals, sea turtles, seabirds,
and other living marine resources
has become a central concern of the
commercial and recreational fishing
industries, resource managers, conservation organizations, scientists, and the
public—both nationally and globally.
Recognizing the negative impact of this
problem, the international community
has called for bycatch levels to be reduced in agreements such as the United
Nations Fish Stocks Agreement in
1995 and several measures in Regional
Fisheries Management Organizations
(RFMO’s).
For example, the Code of Conduct for
Responsible Fisheries (FAO, 1995) is an
international agreement that advocates
the reduction of discards and bycatch.
Article 8, paragraph 8.5.1, declares,
“States should require that ishing gear,
methods and practices, to the extent
practicable, are suficiently selective so
as to minimise waste, discards, catch of
nontarget species…impacts on associated or dependent species…” In addition, Article 7.6.9 asserts, “States should
take appropriate measures to minimise
waste, discards, catch by lost or abandoned gear, catch of nontarget species,
both ish and nonish species, and negative impacts on associated or dependent
species, in particular endangered species
. . . States and sub-regional or regional
isheries management organisations or
arrangements should promote, to the
extent practicable, the development and
use of selective and environmentally
safe gear and techniques.”
Several RFMO’s have adopted measures to reduce sea turtle bycatch with
support from the United States. For example, at its 75th meeting in June 2007,
the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission adopted a resolution to mitigate
the impact of tuna ishing on sea turtles.
The resolution called on the contracting
parties, cooperating nonparties, ishing
entities, and regional economic integration organizations to implement the FAO
guidelines to reduce the bycatch, injury,
and mortality of sea turtles in ishing op-
2
erations and to ensure the safe handling
of all captured sea turtles.
In addition, the Western and Central
Pacific Fisheries Commission adopted a conservation and management
measure in December 2008 requiring
commission members, cooperating
nonmembers, and participating Territories (CCM’s) to implement the FAO
guidelines as appropriate, ensure safe
handling of all captured sea turtles to
improve survival, report on sea turtle
interactions, use proper mitigation
techniques, and utilize safe handling and
release equipment, among other things
(CMM 2008-03).
Most recently, the International
Commission for the Conservation of
Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) adopted a
measure in November 2010 requiring
each contracting party, cooperating
noncontracting party, entity, or ishing
entity to collect and annually report to
ICCAT information on the interactions
of its leet with sea turtles in ICCAT
isheries. The United States often has
played a leadership role toward advancing bycatch reduction measures in
international fora.
In addition, the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations in
January 2011 released the irst global
guidelines for bycatch management and
the reduction of ishing discards. The
guidelines covered bycatch management
planning, improvement of ishing gear,
fisheries closures, economic incentives for adoption of bycatch-reduction
measures, monitoring, research and
development, and capacity-building
for developing states to facilitate their
ability to follow the guidelines.
The United States was also one of
the irst nations to address domestic
bycatch. During the past 37 years,
the National Marine Fisheries Service
(NMFS); its predecessor, the Bureau
of Commercial Fisheries; and (after
1976) the regional ishery management
councils (hereafter the Councils) have
responded to this concern by taking
a variety of actions. The actions have
included research to develop better
methods for monitoring and reducing
bycatch, outreach programs to explain
the bycatch problem and search for solu-
tions, and regulatory actions to monitor
and decrease bycatch.
Many of NMFS’ efforts grew from
Congressional mandates to address
bycatch, especially the Marine Mammal
Protection Act (MMPA) of 1972, the
Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973,
and the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery
Conservation and Management Act
(MSA) of 1976. The MSA restricted
the deinition of bycatch to mean “ish
which are harvested in a ishery, but
which are not sold or kept for personal
use, and includes economic discards
and regulatory discards. Such term does
not include ish released alive under a
recreational catch and release ishery
management program.”
Since the original passage of the
MSA, Congress has twice passed major
amendments to this statute. In 1996,
Congress amended the Act with the Sustainable Fisheries Act (SFA). Among
other things, the SFA added three new
National Standards, one of which speciically addresses bycatch. National
Standard 9 states that “Conservation
and management measures shall, to the
extent practicable, A) minimize bycatch
and B) to the extent bycatch cannot be
avoided, minimize the mortality of such
bycatch.” In 1998, NMFS developed
a Bycatch Plan that reviewed existing
bycatch activities, developed national
bycatch objectives, and made recommendations for how to achieve these
objectives (NMFS, 1998). In 2003,
NMFS assessed its progress toward
achieving the objectives speciied in
the Bycatch Plan. The assessment was
part of the National Bycatch Strategy,
which detailed ive additional components for reducing bycatch, including
international approaches (Benaka and
Dobrzynski, 2004).
Also included in the 1996 amendments to the MSA was a requirement
that the U.S. Government work toward
securing agreements with other countries to promote bycatch reduction
technologies and techniques that are
comparable to those found in the United
States. This amendment, found in Section 202(h)(l) of the MSA, promoted a
consistent policy in addressing bycatch,
as similar provisions are contained in
Marine Fisheries Review
both the MMPA and ESA. To fulill
this new requirement, NMFS convened
an International Bycatch Reduction
Task Force (Task Force). The Task
Force developed a Plan of Action that
implements a strategy to promote international agreements that reduce sea
turtle bycatch in foreign longline isheries. The Plan of Action also promotes
the implementation of the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations (FAO) International Plan of
Action (IPOA) for Reducing Incidental
Catch of Seabirds in Longline Fisheries
and the FAO IPOA for the Conservation
and Management of Sharks.
On 12 January 2007, President
George W. Bush signed the MagnusonStevens Fishery Conservation and
Management Reauthorization Act of
2006 (MSRA). Among the amendments to the MSA were requirements
to build on and improve current bycatch
reduction efforts through establishment of a new program and processes.
Speciically, Section 316 of the MSRA
required the Secretary of Commerce, in
cooperation with the Councils and other
affected interests, and based upon the
best scientiic information available, to
establish a Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program (BREP), including grants,
to develop technological devices and
other conservation engineering changes
designed to minimize bycatch, seabird
interactions, bycatch mortality, and postrelease mortality in Federally managed
isheries.
Also, Section 403 of the MSRA
requires the Secretary to identify nations whose vessels are engaged in
the bycatch of protected living marine
resources (PLMR’s) under specified
circumstances and to certify that these
nations have 1) adopted regulatory programs for PLMR’s that are comparable
to U.S. programs, taking into account
different conditions, and 2) established
management plans for PLMR’s. If a
nation fails to take suficient corrective
action and does not receive a positive
certiication, ishing products from that
country may be subject to import prohibitions into the United States.
Importantly, the scope of Section
403 is quite broad. Section 403 deines
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Table 1.—Differences in the concept of bycatch between the domestic and international sections of the MSRA.
Category of resource
or activity
Managed ish
Nontarget ish
Economic and regulatory discards
Fish released in catch and release programs
Mortality to marine resources caused by derelict ishing gear
Sea turtles
Marine mammals
Seabirds
Practices other than ishing
PLMR’s as “1) nontarget fish, sea
turtles, or marine mammals that are
protected under U.S. law or international agreement, including the Marine
Mammal Protection Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Shark Finning
Prohibition Act, and the Convention on
the International Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Flora and Fauna, but 2)
does not include species, except sharks,
managed under the Magnuson-Stevens
Fishery Conservation and Management
Act, the Atlantic Tunas Convention
Act, or any international ishery management agreement.” The current draft
list of PLMR’s contains many species
of marine mammals, sharks, coral, eel,
and sea turtles. Table 1 contrasts the
concept of bycatch as deined in the
domestic and international sections of
the MSRA.
In January 2009, NMFS issued the
irst annual Report to Congress on its
implementation of Section 316 of the
reauthorized MSA and development of
the BREP (NMFS, 2009b). In January
2009 and subsequently in January 2011,
NMFS issued its irst two biennial Reports to Congress on implementation of
Section 403, which included detailed information on NOAA’s efforts to address
bycatch globally. This paper discusses
in detail the implementation process for
Sections 316 and 403 of the reauthorized
MSA as well as the inal regulations for
these sections. This paper also briely
discusses the Shark Conservation Act
and its implications.
Bycatch Reduction
Engineering Program
This section describes Section 316
of the MSA. This section also describes
how Section 316 has been implemented.
Considered bycatch
in domestic
sections of MSRA?
Considered bycatch
in international
sections of MSRA?
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
No (except sharks)
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Summary of Section 316
Section 316 of the MSA contains four
sections, which are entitled a) Bycatch
Reduction Engineering Program, b)
Incentives, c) Coordination on Seabird
Interactions, and d) Report. These subsections are described in the following
paragraphs.
Section 316(a) required the Secretary
of Commerce, in cooperation with the
Councils and other affected interests,
to establish the BREP by mid January
2008. According to the MSA, the BREP
was to:
1) Be regionally based;
2) Be coordinated with projects conducted under the cooperative research and management program
established under MSRA;
3) Provide information and outreach
to ishery participants that will
encourage adoption and use of
technologies developed under the
BREP; and
4) Provide for routine consultation
with the Councils in order to maximize opportunities to incorporate
results of the BREP in fishery
management plans (FMP’s) developed by the Councils.
Section 316(b) includes authorization
language stating that any FMP developed by a Council or the Secretary of
Commerce may establish a system of
incentives to reduce total bycatch and
seabird interactions, amounts, bycatch
rates, and post-release mortality in isheries under the Council’s or Secretary’s
jurisdiction. Such incentives, according
to Section 316(b), could include:
1) Measures to incorporate bycatch
into quotas;
3
2) Measures to promote the use of
gear with veriiable and monitored
low bycatch and seabird interactions and rates; and
3) Measures that will reduce bycatch
and seabird interactions, bycatch
mortality, post-release mortality,
or regulatory discards.
Section 316(c) also includes authorization language stating that the Secretary of Commerce, in coordination with
the Secretary of Interior, is authorized to
undertake projects in cooperation with
industry to improve information and
technology to reduce seabird bycatch.
Such projects could include:
1) Outreach to industry on new technologies and methods;
2) Projects to mitigate for seabird
mortality; and
3) Actions at appropriate international ishery organizations to reduce
seabird interactions in isheries.
Section 316(d) requires the Secretary
of Commerce to transmit an annual
report to Congress that describes:
1) Funding provided to implement
Section 316;
2) Developments in gear technology
achieved under this section; and
3) Improvements and reduction in
bycatch and seabird interactions
associated with implementing
this section, as well as proposals
to address remaining bycatch or
seabird interaction problems.
Establishment of the BREP
On 30 April 2007, a NMFS working
group consisting of representatives from
three headquarters ofices, three science
centers, and one regional ofice met in
Miami to draft terms of reference for
the BREP. The terms of reference were
approved in the form of NMFS Policy
Directive 01-107, signed on 11 January
2008 by the NOAA Acting Assistant
Administrator for Fisheries. The mission of the BREP, as stated in the terms
of reference, is:
“to develop technological solutions
and investigate changes in ishing
practices designed to minimize
4
bycatch of ish and protected species (including marine mammals,
seabirds, and sea turtles) as well
as minimize bycatch mortality
(including post-release mortality).”
According to the BREP terms of reference, the BREP includes a National
Coordinator in the NMFS Office of
Sustainable Fisheries. The Ofice of
Sustainable Fisheries, in consultation
with the NMFS Ofices of Protected
Resources, Science and Technology,
and International Affairs, provides
policy oversight and overall coordination of activities through the National
Coordinator. National coordination
activities include providing staff support to the BREP, documenting BREP
activities, managing the annual spending plan process, serving as primary
point of contact for the annual BREP
Report to Congress, and any other activity deemed necessary by the BREP or
NMFS leadership.
In addition to the National Coordinator, the BREP consists of the following
NMFS program representatives who
will have expertise in isheries bycatch,
protected resources interactions, management, and science:
• One representative with hands-on
bycatch reduction engineering and
post-release injury and mortality experience from each regional
fisheries science center/regional
ofice (i.e., six total regional representatives);
• The NMFS Sea Grant Liaison (or
other Sea Grant designee);
• The NMFS National Seabird Program Coordinator;
• One representative each from the
headquarters Ofices of Protected
Resources, Science and Technology, and International Affairs; and
• One representative from the Highly
Migratory Species Management
Division in the Ofice of Sustainable Fisheries.
When nominating representatives, the
Regional Administrator/Science Center
Director also nominates an alternate representative with expertise in protected
resources interactions or isheries by-
catch, depending on the expertise of the
primary representative. According to the
BREP terms of reference, the regional
representatives serve as liaisons between
the BREP and already existing Regional
Bycatch Committees and Action Teams,
to the extent such committees and teams
are active.
Since its creation, the BREP has met
several times over the phone and from
2009 to 2011 met in person on an annual
basis. These meetings are designed to
discuss challenges in administering the
BREP, share developments regarding
BREP research, and plan for future
BREP growth.
BREP Projects
Since the establishment of the BREP
in 2008, the BREP has funded a wide
range of conservation engineering projects. Because the BREP was funded at
relatively low levels compared to the
BREP’s “100% requirements” as determined by a 2006 informal agency analysis, the BREP did not use its funding to
conduct a competitive grant program
until 2012. However, the internal funds
allocated by the BREP have engaged
numerous industry, state, academic, and
environmental group partners through
contract vehicles and other collaborative research arrangements.
Funding to implement the BREP
totaled $847,394 in 2008. This funding
came from a NOAA budget line item
entitled “Reducing Bycatch,” which
has appeared in the NOAA budget
since 2004. Since 2004, $300,000 of
Reducing Bycatch funds has been
permanently allocated at the direction
of NMFS leadership to the Southeast
Fisheries Science Center (SEC) to
fund the gear technology program at its
Pascagoula, Miss., Laboratory. In addition, approximately $225,000 has been
permanently allocated at the direction of
NMFS leadership to fund the National
Seabird Program (NSP), the coordinator
of which is located at the NMFS Alaska
Regional Office. Remaining BREP
funds have been allocated through an
internal agency competitive proposal
process. All BREP funds are accounted
for through its annual report to Congress. Funding levels from 2004 to
Marine Fisheries Review
Figure 1.—NOAA Reducing Bycatch line funding, 2004–12 ($K, NSP perm = National Seabird
Program permanent funding, SEC = Southeast Fisheries Science Center permanent funding, and
BREP non-perm = Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program competitive funding).
2012 from NOAA’s Reducing Bycatch
budget line related to the BREP and
previous bycatch gear research, as well
as the breakdown among SEC, NSP, and
other allocations, is shown in Figure 1.
The 2008 BREP projects resulted in
several accomplishments to help reduce
bycatch, including:
• Evaluation of bycatch reduction
devices in shrimp trawls;
• Transfer of turtle excluder device
(TED) and bycatch reduction
device technology in the Southeast
Region;
• Evaluation of weaker circle hooks to
release bluein tuna, Thunnus thynnus, in the yellowin tuna, Thunnus
albacares, longline ishery;
• Estimation of seabird bycatch in
Northeast commercial isheries;
• Seabird bycatch avoidance in West
Coast groundish isheries;
• Monitoring of seabird distribution
and abundance in the California
Current;
74(2)
• Gear modiications to reduce harbor
porpoise, Phocoena phocoena, interactions in the commercial Atlantic gillnet isheries;
• Conservation engineering to reduce
trawl bycatch in Alaska isheries;
• Reduction of post-release mortality for common thresher sharks,
Alopias vulpinus, captured in the
Southern California recreational
ishery;
• Reduction of shark bycatch with
electropositive metals in Hawaiibased isheries; and
• Partial funding of a gear technician
at the NMFS Northwest Fisheries
Science Center (NMFS, 2009a).
Funding to implement the BREP
totaled $1,421,707 in 2009 due to an
increase of $567,000 in the FY2009
President’s budget for NOAA. These
BREP projects once again resulted in
several accomplishments to help reduce
bycatch, including:
• A pilot study of a bycatch reduction device to reduce salmon, Oncorhynchus spp., and rockish, Sebastes spp., bycatch in the Paciic
whiting, Merluccius productus,
ishery, which resulted in a 62%
reduction in salmon catch;
• Generation of crab mortality rates
after encounters with Bering Sea
bottom trawls;
• Testing a new bycatch reduction
device in the Gulf of Mexico
shrimp ishery that resulted in a
36% reduction in inish catch with
only a 4% reduction in shrimp
catch;
• Testing a TED for the lynet ishery
that resulted in a target catch loss
of only 6.7% but a reduction in the
unwanted catch of spiny dogish,
Squalus acanthias, and clearnose
skates, Raja eglanteria, of 40% and
63%, respectively;
• Experiments to determine the effects of Neodymium/Praseodymi-
5
um allows on longline gear, which
resulted in a 58% decrease in the
catch rate of unwanted scalloped
hammerhead sharks, Sphyrna
lewini;
• Deployment of satellite tags to
thresher sharks, which resulted
in determination of a post-release
mortality rate of 26% for this important species; and
• The successful completion of
the irst NMFS National Seabird
Workshop, which will help NMFS
prioritize its seabird bycatch reduction efforts (NMFS, 2010).
For 2010, NMFS allocated an additional $400,000 to the BREP to fund
projects related to Annual Catch Limit
(ACL) restrictions due to bycatch.
Funding to implement the BREP totaled $1,820,648 in 2010, and projects
included research on:
• Turtle bycatch reduction in the Gulf
of Mexico bottom longline reef ish
ishery;
• Gear modiications to reduce butterish, Peprilus triacanthus, bycatch in the offshore Atlantic squid,
Loligo spp. ishery;
• Gear modiications to reduce At-
•
•
•
•
lantic sturgeon, Acipenser oxyrinchus, bycatch and harbor porpoise
takes in the Atlantic monkfish,
Lophius americanus, ishery;
Post-release survival of large Paciic blue marlin, Makaira nigricans, captured in Paciic longline
isheries;
Effects of trailing gear in the California recreational thresher shark
ishery;
TED’s and bycatch reduction devices for the shrimp trawl ishery; and
Marine mammal depredation in the
California halibut, Paralichthys
californicus, trawl ishery.
Funding to implement the BREP totaled $1,963,490 in 2011, and projects
included research on:
• Acoustic observations of false killer
whales, Pseudorca crassidens, in
the Hawaii-based tuna longline
ishery;
• Estimates of snow crab, Chionoecetes oplilio, morality as a function of
weather conditions;
• Selectivity of bottom trawls to reduce
bycatch of Pacific halibut, Hippoglossus stenolepis, in the West
Coast groundfish trawl fishery;
Figure 2.—2010 BREP funding by subject matter.
6
• Ability of Southern California
deepwater rockish to survive barotraumas following in-situ recompression;
• Green-stick gear bycatch characterization in the northern Gulf of
Mexico Atlantic tuna ishery;
• Effectiveness of skimmer trawl
TED’s in North Carolina inshore
waters; and
• Methods to monitor seabird bycatch
in Northeast commercial isheries.
In 2012, the U.S. Senate directed
NMFS to make $2.5M of Reducing
Bycatch budget line funds available for
competitive grants to non-Federal researchers working with U.S. ishermen
on the development of innovative gear
technologies. This change increased
total BREP funding to a little over $3M
for FY12 (with the addition of some
funds for a few internal agency BREP
projects) from almost $2M in FY11.
Although the competitive grants have
not yet been awarded as of this writing,
the few internal BREP projects in FY12
focused on the bycatch of sea turtles,
Atlantic sturgeon, salmon, false killer
whales, sharks, and Pacific halibut.
This change in direction of the BREP
from funding internal agency projects to funding grants to non-Federal
researchers has severely limited several regional NMFS bycatch reduction
engineering programs that had been
developed over the past several years
of BREP funding.
Figures 2 and 3 show how BREP
funds have been generally distributed among projects addressing seabird
takes, turtles bycatch/marine mammals
takes, and finfish bycatch. The proportion of projects addressing inish
bycatch increased to the greatest extent
in 2011.
The following criteria are used to
select BREP projects for funding,
whether they are internal agency projects or non-Federal grant projects:
• Importance and relevance to
Regional and Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Bycatch Implementation Plans, Council research
priorities, Endangered Species
Act research priorities, and/or
Marine Fisheries Review
Marine Mammal Protection Act
Take Reduction Plan research
priorities;
• Level of ishing industry involvement;
• Whether the projects build upon
successful research previously
funded by the BREP; and
• Project evaluation by NMFS bycatch reduction experts.
Overall, the language in Section 316
of the MSA served to formally recognize
various efforts being conducted by parts
of NMFS to reduce bycatch since around
2003. By creating a nationally coordinated program with an annual report to
Congress, Congress ensured that some
important NMFS bycatch reduction
efforts will be conducted more systematically and with greater accountability
than in the past.
International Bycatch Provisions
This section summarizes Section 403
of the MSA. This section also describes
regulations promulgated to implement
Section 403.
Summary of Section 403
Among its provisions, Section 403
of Title IV of the Magnuson-Stevens
Fishery Conservation and Management
Reauthorization Act of 2006 (P.L. 109479) amends the High Seas Driftnet
Moratorium Protection Act (Moratorium
Protection Act)(P.L. 104-43) by adding
four sections (sections 607, 608, 609,
and 610) of new international provisions. Section 608 to the Moratorium
Protection Act requires the Secretary
of Commerce, in consultation with the
Secretary of State and in cooperation
with relevant regional Councils and any
relevant advisory committees, to take
actions to improve the effectiveness of
international ishery management organizations in conserving and managing
stocks under their jurisdiction.
Section 607 of the Moratorium Protection Act requires the Secretary to
submit to Congress a biennial report
describing NOAA’s actions to implement the international provisions of the
reauthorized MSA. Specifically, the
report must:
74(2)
Figure 3.—2011 BREP funding by subject matter.
1) Discuss the status of international
living marine resources shared
by the United States or subject to
treaties or agreements to which the
United States is a party;
2) List nations that have been identiied for having vessels engaged in
illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) ishing or bycatch of
PLMR’s, respectively;
3) Describe efforts by nations on
those lists to take appropriate
corrective action and evaluate the
progress of those efforts;
4) Describe progress to strengthen
the efforts of international ishery
management organizations to end
IUU ishing; and
5) Discuss efforts by the Secretary
to encourage the adoption of international measures comparable
to those of the United States to
reduce impacts of fishing and
other practices on PLMR’s.
Section 609 of the Moratorium
Protection Act addresses IUU ishing
activity. The Act establishes minimum
guidelines for a deinition of IUU ishing. These guidelines are: (1) ishing
activities that violate conservation and
management measures required under
an international ishery management
agreement to which the United States is
party; (2) overishing of stocks shared
by the United States to which no international conservation or management
measures apply, where the overishing
has adverse impacts on the stocks; or (3)
ishing activity with adverse impact on
seamounts, hydrothermal vents, or coldwater corals, to which no conservation
and management measures apply.
As required under the Moratorium
Protection Act, NMFS published a
deinition that relected these guidelines
within 90 days of enactment (NOAA,
2007a). This deinition was later modiied in a inal rule establishing identiication and certiication procedures under
the Moratorium Protection Act (50
C.F.R. §300.201 (2011)). NMFS has
published a proposed rule that seeks to
further revise this deinition consistent
with the purposes of the Moratorium
Protection Act in order to more comprehensively address IUU ishing and more
effectively address this problem that
threatens the sustainable management
of the world’s isheries (NOAA, 2012).
Signiicantly, Section 609(a) refers
to IUU ishing activities of “vessels;”
thus, a nation must have more than one
vessel engaged in IUU ishing activities to be identiied under Section 609.
It also is worth noting that any entity
7
other than a “nation” (as recognized
by the U.S. government) cannot be
identiied for having vessels engaged
in IUU ishing activity for purposes
of the Moratorium Protection Act.
Notably, the conservation measures of
some RFMO’s include provisions for
reducing bycatch. If a nation’s vessels
are ishing in violation of these provisions, then Section 609 can serve as
another mechanism through which the
reauthorized MSA can address international bycatch.
Another key point is that the activity must occur during the “preceding
two years” from submission of the
biennial report to Congress. Information concerning activities outside that
time period cannot form the basis for
an identiication decision. Currently,
Congress is considering legislation
that would expand this time period
to three years. During the 111th Congress, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 1080, the Illegal,
Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing
Enforcement Act of 2009, on 22 September 2009. The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation reported S. 2870, the
International Fisheries Stewardship
and Enforcement Act, on 24 March
2010. The House bill was reintroduced
during the 112th Congress as H.R.
4100, and the Senate bill was reintroduced as S. 52.
Congress has taken several steps
toward enactment of this legislation.
The Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans, and Insular Affairs held
a hearing on H.R. 4100 in June 2012
and discharged the bill to the House
Committee on Natural Resources for
consideration. The Senate Commerce
Committee reported S. 52 out of Committee in January 2012, and the bill is
awaiting consideration by the Senate.
Section 610 of the Moratorium
Protection Act addresses international
bycatch of PLMR’s and requires that the
Secretary identify a nation for bycatch
activities if:
1) ishing vessels of that nation are
engaged, or have been engaged
during the preceding calendar year
in ishing activities or practices;
8
A) in waters beyond any national jurisdiction that result
in bycatch of a protected living
marine resource, or
B) beyond the exclusive economic zone of the United
States that result in bycatch
of a protected living marine
resource shared by the United
States;
2) the relevant international organization for the conservation and
protection of such resources or
the relevant or regional ishery
organization has failed to implement effective measures to end or
reduce such bycatch, or the nation
is not a party to, or does not maintain cooperating status with, such
organization; and
3) the nation has not adopted a
regulatory program governing
such ishing practices designed to
end or reduce such bycatch that is
comparable to that of the United
States, taking into account different conditions.”
Thus, the identiication of nations for
bycatch activities can be based only on
current activities of ishing vessels of
that nation, or activities in which those
vessels have been engaged during the
preceding calendar year from development of the biennial report to Congress.
Activities outside that time frame cannot
form the basis for identification. As
mentioned previously, two bills before
the 112th Congress (H.R. 4100 and S.
52) would expand this time frame to
three years. Further, the reauthorized
MSA speciies that the bycatch must
occur on the high seas or affect a PLMR
that is shared with the United States.
The identiication criteria are critical
because the bycatch of certain species
is excluded from consideration under
these provisions.
For example, the bycatch of species
that solely exist within coastal waters of
another nation, such as the endangered
vaquita, Phocoena sinus, which occurs
only in the territorial waters of Mexico,
cannot form the basis of identification. Likewise, the statute only allows
nations to be identified for bycatch
activities that occur under certain circumstances. Speciically, nations can
be identiied for ishing activities and
practices that result in the bycatch of
PLMR’s where the relevant international conservation organization has
failed to implement effective measures
to reduce such bycatch or the nation is
not a party to or a cooperating partner
with the organization. Another requirement for identiication is that the nation
has not adopted a regulatory program
governing such ishing practices that is
comparable to that of the United States,
taking into account different conditions.
Bycatch activities that fail to meet
these criteria cannot form the basis for
identiication.
Promulgation of Regulations
In its implementation of the bycatch
provisions of the reauthorized MSA,
NMFS published an Advance Notice
of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) on
11 June 2007 in the Federal Register
(NOAA, 2007b) to announce that it was
developing certiication procedures to
address IUU ishing and bycatch of
PLMR’s pursuant to the Moratorium
Protection Act. In addition to soliciting
written comments on the ANPR, NMFS
held three public input sessions around
the country. NMFS also hosted a meeting of representatives from foreign
embassies. These meetings provided
valuable opportunities for NMFS to explain the ANPR, respond to questions,
and receive feedback from the public.
Taking into consideration the comments from the ANPR, NMFS drafted
a proposed rule and published it on 14
January 2009 in the Federal Register
(NOAA, 2009). In addition to soliciting written comments on the proposed
rule, NMFS held six public hearings
around the country. NMFS prepared
a draft Environmental Assessment to
accompany this proposed rule, which
includes a Regulatory Impact Review
and Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (NMFS, 2009c). The regulations,
which were inalized in January 2011,
provide guidance for the identiication
and certiication procedures under the
Moratorium Protection Act (50 C.F.R.
§300.201 (2011)).
Marine Fisheries Review
Identifying Nations
Engaged in PLMR Bycatch
When determining whether to identify a nation as having ishing vessels
engaged in the bycatch of PLMR’s
in the previous calendar year, NMFS
evaluates appropriate information and
evidence. Once NMFS has determined
that information on PLMR bycatch is
credible and provides a reasonable basis
to believe or suspect that a nation’s ishing vessels are engaged in bycatch of
PLMR’s, NMFS—acting through or in
consultation with the U.S. State Department—will initiate bilateral discussions
with the nation. The discussions will:
1) seek credible information that corroborates or refutes the alleged PLMR
bycatch; 2) communicate the requirements of the Moratorium Protection
Act to the nation; and 3) encourage the
nation to address the PLMR bycatch and
take the necessary actions to receive a
positive certiication.
In determining whether to identify nations for bycatch of PLMR’s, NMFS will
consider information gathered during bilateral discussions and examine whether
the nation has implemented measures
that are deemed to be effective to reduce
bycatch of the relevant PLMR’s. NMFS
will also examine whether there is an
international organization with responsibility for the conservation of the PLMR,
and whether the nation is party to or
maintains cooperating status with the
relevant international body.
Further, NMFS will consider whether
the relevant international body has adopted effective measures for reducing
bycatch of PLMR’s and whether the
nation has implemented and is enforcing
such measures. If an identiied nation
is not party to the international body
with responsibility for bycatch of the
PLMR’s in question, NMFS will consider whether the nation has implemented
effective measures for reducing bycatch
of such PLMR’s. Such measures may
include, but are not limited to: 1) programs for data collection and sharing,
including observer programs; 2) bycatch
reduction and mitigation strategies,
techniques, and equipment, including
gear restrictions and gear modiications;
74(2)
and 3) improved monitoring, control,
and surveillance of ishing activities.
When making identiication determinations, NMFS will also examine whether
adequate enforcement measures and
capacity exist to promote compliance.
Notiication and Consultation
Pursuant to the requirements under
the Moratorium Protection Act, NMFS
will publish a list of nations that have
been identiied as having ishing vessels engaged in bycatch of PLMR’s in
the biennial Report to Congress. Upon
submission of the biennial Report to
Congress, the Secretary of Commerce,
acting through or in cooperation with
the Secretary of State, will: 1) initiate
consultations with identiied nations for
the purposes of entering into bilateral
and multilateral treaties to protect the
PLMR’s from the bycatch activities
described in the biennial report; and 2)
seek agreements through international
organizations calling for international
restrictions on the ishing activities or
practices described in the biennial report
that result in bycatch of PLMR’s.
Procedures to Certify Nations
Based on the identiication, notiication, and consultation processes outlined
above, NMFS will certify nations that
have been identified in the biennial
report.
Identiied nations will receive either
a positive or negative certiication. A
positive certiication indicates that a
nation has: 1) provided documentary
evidence of the adoption of a regulatory
program governing the conservation of
the PLMR that is comparable to that
of the United States, taking into account different conditions, and which,
in the case of pelagic longline ishing,
includes mandatory use of circle hooks,
careful handling and release equipment,
and training and observer programs;
and 2) established a management plan
containing requirements that will assist
in gathering species-specific data to
support international assessments and
conservation enforcement efforts for
PLMR’s.
When determining whether a nation’s
regulatory program is comparable to
measures required in the United States,
NMFS will consider whether the program is comparable in effectiveness,
taking into account different conditions
that could bear on the feasibility and eficacy of comparable measures. If other
measures could address bycatch of the
PLMR’s in question that are comparable
in effectiveness, then the implementation of such measures by a nation may
be deemed suficient for purposes of the
Moratorium Protection Act. As relevant,
NMFS will consider whether measures
have been implemented and effectively
enforced, including, but not limited to:
1) programs for data collection and
sharing, including observer programs;
2) bycatch reduction and mitigation
strategies, techniques, and equipment
(including training and assistance for
bycatch reduction technology and
equipment); and 3) improved monitoring, control, and surveillance of ishing
activities.
When making certiication determinations, the Secretary of Commerce
will, in consultation with the Secretary
of State, evaluate the information discussed above, comments received from
such nation, the consultations with each
identiied nation, and other relevant actions, such as requests for assistance in
the implementation of measures comparable to those of the United States. The
Secretary of Commerce will also take
into account whether the nation participates in existing certiication programs,
such as those authorized under Section
609 of the Endangered Species Act (P.L.
101–162), or the affirmative finding
process under the International Dolphin
Conservation Program Act. Nothing in
the proposed regulations will modify
these existing certiication procedures.
If nations identiied as having ishing vessels engaged in PLMR bycatch
receive a positive certiication from the
Secretary of Commerce pursuant to the
Moratorium Protection Act, no actions
will be taken against such nations. If an
identiied nation fails to suficiently address PLMR bycatch and receives a negative certiication, the nation could face
denial of port privileges, prohibitions
on the import of certain ish and ish
products into the United States, as well
9
as other appropriate measures, based on
recommendations from the Secretary to
the President. The process for determining appropriate action will consider the
circumstances, extent, and gravity of the
bycatch of PLMR’s for which the initial
identiication was made, and other relevant factors. The Secretary will make
such recommendations in accordance
with U.S. obligations under applicable
international trade law, including the
World Trade Organization.
To facilitate enforcement, nations that
do not receive a positive certiication
may be required to submit documentation of admissibility when exporting
fish to the United States. To inform
U.S. ports that cargo originating from
a foreign port may not be permitted
to enter into the United States, NMFS
intends to collaborate with other Federal
agencies and take advantage of existing prior notiication procedures, such
as those required under section 343(a)
of the Trade Act of 2002, or those proposed for further development under
the International Trade Data System
(ITDS) established under the Security
and Accountability for Every (SAFE)
Port Act of 2006.
If the Secretary of Commerce cannot
reach a certiication determination for
an identiied nation by the time of the
next biennial report, the Moratorium
Protection Act requires the Secretary
to establish alternative procedures for
the certiication of ish or ish products from such nation. Under these
alternative procedures, the Secretary of
Commerce may allow entry of ish on
a shipment-by-shipment, shipper-byshipper, or other basis as long as speciied conditions are met. To qualify for
the alternative certiication procedures,
NMFS must determine that imports
were harvested by practices that do not
result in bycatch of PLMR’s or were
harvested by practices comparable to
those required in the United States, accounting for different conditions that
affect the feasibility and eficacy of such
practices, which, in the case of pelagic
longline ishing, includes mandatory
use of circle hooks, careful handling
and release equipment, and training and
observer programs.
10
Identiication Decisions
Under the Moratorium Protection
Act, NMFS is not required to establish regulations for the identiication
process. Although NMFS has opted to
promulgate regulations for the identiication process for transparency, its
irst identiication process was based
on the statutory text of the amendments
because regulations implementing the
new amendments were not finalized
in time for the irst biennial report. In
preparation for the identiication decisions in the in the irst biennial Report
to Congress, NMFS solicited information from the public, other nations,
other U.S. government agencies, and
international organizations regarding
nations whose vessels were engaged
in IUU ishing activity in 2007 or 2008
or PLMR bycatch during 2008. On 21
March 2008, NMFS published a notice
in the Federal Register requesting such
information (NOAA, 2008). NMFS circulated this notice widely to constituents
and discussed it at relevant bilateral and
multilateral meetings.
In response to the Federal Register
notice, NMFS received reports, IUU
vessel lists, peer-reviewed literature,
and other information from individuals,
nongovernmental organizations, and
other nations. In addition to information
gathered from the public, NMFS also
solicited RFMO information, including
RFMO IUU vessel lists, compliance reports, information on violations of conservation and management measures,
and scientiic reports. From its regional
ofices and science centers, NMFS also
solicited information, including peerreviewed literature, scientiic reports,
and information on cooperative scientiic work, on bycatch activities.
The information received focused
mostly on alleged IUU ishing activity;
relatively little information was provided on PLMR bycatch. Of the bycatch
information that was provided, much of
it could not be used in the identiication
process because this information did not
fall within the preceding calendar year
as required in the Moratorium Protection
Act. Unfortunately, due to the process
of collecting and analyzing bycatch
information, this information is rarely
available for the previous year.
Even for U.S. PLMR stocks, the most
recent data available usually is at least 2
or 3 years old (e.g., see NMFS marine
mammal stock assessments). Generally,
such data must be collected by placing
independent observers on ishing vessels
and implementing effective observer
programs. This can be logistically challenging and expensive. To address this
issue, NMFS is providing training and
other assistance to developing nations to
foster the development and implementation of effective observer programs.
Another issue that arose concerned
the geographic scope and nature of
bycatch activities. In some cases,
information was provided on ishing
activities that did not fall within the
scope of PLMR bycatch, as described
under the Moratorium Protection Act.
For example, information was provided
on the bycatch of species found solely
within the EEZ of another nation that
are not shared with the United States.
Such activities do not qualify as PLMR
bycatch for purposes of the Moratorium
Protection Act.
All information received and collected was compiled, reviewed, and compared against the criteria and statutory
requirements of the Moratorium Protection Act. Following this process, NMFS
analyzed the information and concluded
that no nations could be identiied for
PLMR bycatch under section 610 due
to the restrictions in the Moratorium
Protection Act. Further, no nations were
identiied under section 609 for violating
RFMO bycatch measures. NMFS did,
however, identify six nations (France,
Italy, Libya, Panama, People’s Republic
of China, and Tunisia) for other IUU
ishing activities under section 609.
Although NMFS fulilled its obligations under the Act to examine information on bycatch for potential use in the
identiication procedures, NMFS was
unable to identify nations for having
vessels engaged in ishing activity or
practices that result in PLMR bycatch
for the reasons discussed above. In
preparation for the second biennial
report to Congress, which was published in January 2011, NMFS followed
Marine Fisheries Review
the same process and faced the same
challenges. NMFS was unable to identify nations having vessels engaged in
PLMR bycatch.
Despite these dificulties in implementing these provisions, NMFS already has long-standing outreach and
assistance programs with a number
of nations to address their PLMR bycatch. The U.S. Government engages
in cooperative research with several
nations and is working to enhance
other nations’ capacity to reduce and
mitigate bycatch. NMFS intends to
continue those programs and to initiate
additional programs with other nations
based on the nature of their PLMR bycatch interactions, need for assistance,
and willingness to work cooperatively
with the United States.
Additionally, NMFS developed a
process to determine which nations’
ishing activities are likely to result in
bycatch of PLMR species. As part of
this process, NMFS began to compare
the distribution of PLMR species with
the distribution of isheries effort using
gear that is known to have signiicant
PLMR bycatch rates. NMFS conducted
an initial analysis comparing available
information on pelagic longline isheries
with species distribution information.
Additional analyses and information
will be required to develop a comprehensive list of nations whose ishing
activities are likely to result in PLMR
bycatch. NMFS also will continue to
collect information for possible identiication of nations for PLMR bycatch
under the provisions of the Moratorium
Protection Act.
Identifying Nations
in Relation to Shark Conservation
The High Seas Driftnet Fishing Moratorium Protection Act was amended by
the international provisions of the Shark
Conservation Act, which was enacted in
January 2011. Under this law, NMFS is
required to identify nations whose ishing vessels engaged in directed or incidental catch of sharks on the high seas
and do not have a regulatory program for
the conservation of sharks comparable
to that of the United States. More information on how NMFS plans to imple-
74(2)
ment these provisions can be found in a
proposed rule that was published in July
2012 (NMFS, 2012). Although this law
is in the early stages of implementation,
it provides a new tool to promote the
sustainable harvest and management of
sharks and the adoption of international
measures for the conservation of sharks.
Conclusion
This paper has summarized how
NMFS has and is implementing the
new bycatch provisions in the MSA.
The new provisions have provided new
and enhanced tools to address bycatch
both domestically and internationally.
Importantly, the provisions provide new
mechanisms through which stakeholders can inform and inluence effective
bycatch practices.
Section 316 of the MSA, which created the BREP, has made signiicant
progress to develop technological
devices and other conservation engineering designed to minimize bycatch,
seabird interactions, bycatch mortality,
and post-release mortality in Federally
managed isheries. It is worth noting
that although Section 316(a) focuses
on Federally managed isheries, Section
316(c) allows for an international element to the overall work of the BREP,
at least in terms of seabird interactions.
In addition, although the most recent
reauthorization of the MSA did not
revise the MSA’s deinition of bycatch
to encompass seabirds, Section 316’s
explicit identiication of seabirds as a
major concern of the Bycatch Reduction
Engineering Program does more closely
associate seabirds with the concept of
bycatch.
Improvements to bycatch reduction
devices and TED’s in Atlantic and
Gulf of Mexico trawl isheries, gillnets
in Northeast fisheries, and trawls in
Alaska and Paciic Northwest isheries;
improvements in our understanding
of post-release mortality in Southwest
shark isheries; and documentation and
monitoring of seabird bycatch around
the country will help NMFS meet its
obligations under the MSA, ESA,
MMPA, and the U.S. National Plan
of Action for Reducing the Incidental
Catch of Seabirds in Longline Fisheries.
The impacts of shifting the majority of
BREP funding in 2012 from internal
agency research to external non-Federal
grants are hard to estimate, but applying
internal BREP project selection criteria
to the external grants program should
result in the awarding of grants to highquality projects.
The new international bycatch provisions in the MSA provide an innovative
and comprehensive tool through which
the United States can address bycatch
by foreign nations. By combining
incentives for positive action toward
addressing and mitigating bycatch
and sanctions for fishing activities
and practices that result in bycatch
of protected species, the provisions
embody a “carrot and stick” approach to
encourage effective bycatch reduction
practices and reprove failure to employ
these practices.
Given the lack of resources of some
nations to address bycatch, NMFS and
the U.S. Congress have embraced the
approach of providing international
cooperation and assistance to other
nations to enhance their capacity for
achieving sustainable isheries. In the
irst year of the reauthorized MSA, a half
million dollars was spent by NMFS on
cooperative work with other nations to
address IUU and international bycatch.
In subsequent years, Congress has allocated more than one million dollars,
allowing NMFS to provide inancial
and personnel resources to developing
nations. Capacity building projects that
NMFS has supported or assisted include
observer and enforcement training,
marine mammal stranding training,
training in the use of bycatch reduction
and mitigation gear such as circle hooks,
and bycatch research.
If funding continues at or above the
current level, NMFS can potentially
implement a long-term bycatch strategy.
Unlike the short-term international bycatch reduction projects in which most
governments and NGO’s engage, a longterm strategy would encourage enduring
changes. A recent study by the National
Research Council found that long-term
investments in capacity building are
critical for proper stewardship of the
oceans, but are often not funded (NRC,
11
2008). The MSA funding can possibly
help ill this need.
The new MSA provisions hold value
for many of NMFS’ stakeholders, from
ishermen to foreign nations. There are
three aspects of the new provisions that
are especially notable: increased equity,
new mechanism of communication,
and new outlets to inluence change.
The provisions could potentially increase international equity of bycatch
requirements. As the United States is at
the vanguard of implementing bycatch
measures domestically, increased equity
would beneit domestic ishermen, allowing them to be more competitive on
the global market.
In the past, the United States used
international organizations, multilateral, and bilateral meetings as venues
in which to discuss international
bycatch. Unfortunately, some nations
do not belong to relevant international organizations to which the
United States is a member or do not
have relevant multilateral or bilateral
relationships with the United States.
The consultation provisions provide
new mechanisms through which the
United States and foreign nations
can engage in constructive discourse
about bycatch reduction techniques
and strategies.
Increasingly in recent years, nongovernmental organizations, RFMO’s, and
academics are undertaking research and
data collection on international bycatch
practices (Lewison et al., 2004; Lewison and Crowder, 2007; López-Mendilaharsu et al., 2007). The identiication
and certiication processes of the reauthorized MSA provide an opportunity to
use the information gleaned from these
investigations to inluence the bycatch
practices of other nations, primarily in
those circumstances in which bilateral
and multilateral engagement have not
been effective in reducing bycatch. The
primary constraints on this information
are that it must focus on bycatch by
12
individual vessels and must be obtained
within the calendar year preceding the
biennial report to Congress. If Congress
passes H.R. 4100 and/or S. 52, the time
frame for information that could be
used in identifying nations for bycatch
would expand to three years, which
could increase the information available
for potential use in the identiication
process under the reauthorized MSA.
Further, this legislation would authorize
creation of an International Cooperation
and Assistance Program to provide assistance for efforts to build sustainable
ishery management capacity in other
nations. This program, which would be
authorized at $5 million annually over
ive years, could allow NMFS to expand
its international cooperative assistance
program and significantly increase
NMFS’ efforts to address international
bycatch.
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