A report scheduled for release tomorrow by the Pew Oceans Commission recommends ideas that are already being put in place by the seafood industry, the Pacific Fishery Management Council, states, and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) on the west coast.

"I can't believe that the Pew Trust paid $5.5 million dollars to tell us to do what we are already doing," said Rod Moore, Executive Director of the West Coast Seafood Processors Association. "That's more money than Congress appropriated for Pacific groundfish research last year. Our oceans would have benefitted a lot more if those dollars had gone to science rather than slick publications and travel."

Moore cited several positive examples of what is already being accomplished in the west coast fisheries:
* the groundfish observer program mandated by the Council and implemented by NMFS;
* the groundfish capacity reduction program pushed by the industry and mandated by Congress;
* Developmental Fisheries programs in Oregon and Washington to ensure safe limits on new fisheries;
* trawl gear restrictions, experimental fisheries, changes in monthly catch limits, incidental catch avoidance policies, and management by depth zones, all suggested by industry groups as ways to reduce bycatch; and
* a satellite-based monitoring system to enforce fisheries closures.

"Pew is attempting to manufacture a crisis to justify its call for a top-down federal bureaucracy and more opportunities for lawsuits," said Moore. "We have local people responding to problems right now; creating a new Washington, D.C.-based agency and relegating the public to an advisory role will undercut local and regional initiatives that are succeeding. Instead of more lawsuits, let's invest in more science so we can make the right decisions.

"On our coast, the sardine population has bloomed and is supporting a coast-wide fishery; salmon returns are reaching record levels, and we have healthy populations of crab, shrimp, albacore tuna, many rockfish, and groundfish populations. Changes in ocean conditions are reversing the decline of several species that have had poor spawning success. The Pew Trust just wasted a lot of money."

Additional resources / information:
Pacific Fishery Management Council 503-820-2280
Pete Leipzig, Fishermen's Marketing Association 707-442-3789
Kathy Fosmark, Alliance of Communities for Sustainable Fisheries 831-373-5238

Return to Press Release Index
Return to WCSPA Home Page