Heres a story from SeafoodNews: Senators Begich and Cantwell push NOAA for immediate action on opening crab fisheries Yesterday Alaska Sen. Mark Begich and Washington Senator Maria Cantwell wrote to the Dept. of Commerce asking NOAA to immediately start processing fishing permits for king crab based on previously collected funds, as has been done in other government agencies. The imply that NOAA legal officers have been far to conservative in intrepreting their mandate, and hold up the Justice Dept. - the very agency the NOAA lawyers believe they are deferring to - as an example of what NOAA should be doing. The following is their letter: The Honorable Penny Pritzker Secretary U.S. Department of Commerce We write to urge you to avert an immediate economic crisis that looms Over the $100 million Alaska Bristol Bay Red King Crab fishery due to the unnecessary government shutdown. We have been working to reopen the federal government. The unnecessary federal government shutdown is having dangerous impacts on our national economy, and the livelihoods of people in our home states. To that end, as we continue to work towards opening the federal government, we ask that the Department of Commerce utilize currently available resources to allow National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) personnel to issue permits necessary for the Bering Sea crab fishing season to begin on October 15 in compliance with the Antideficiency Act. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council already has determined the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for the upcoming season for Bristol Bay red king crab. Despite this work by the Council, the industry and NOAA, the fleet is at risk of being tied up due to the furlough of the few NOAA employees responsible for completing this basic paperwork, and allowing our fishermen to get to work. The effects of delay would be costly. Industry sources estimate the short-term costs to tie the fleet up while waiting would be $80,000 a day. Mid-term impacts if they miss the lucrative Asian holiday season could total $5 million. The long-term impacts could be devastating, include the loss of market share to other fishing interests, such as pirate Russian crab fishermen known for ignoring sustainable quotas and labeling laws. We ask NOAA to consider the following possible solutions: 1. Cost Recovery Fees. As part of previous efforts rationalizing the Bering Sea crab fisheries, fishermen agreed pay the expenses of administering the fishery. This agreement between the federal government and the industry is called, cost recovery. These concerns were raised at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., on October 11, 2013. The Committee welcomed Deadliest Catch fisherman Keith Colburn of the fishing vessel Wizard who testified: Bering Sea crab fishermen fund the management costs of the crab fishery through the cost recovery program. We are taxed on our landings to cover management costs. NOAA has money in the bank left over from previous years that could be used to pay the personnel we need to issue our permits. Despite this fact, NOAA has furloughed the employees that are necessary to start the fishery on the October 15th season opener. We ask the Secretary of Commerce to direct NOAA employees to do the task that we ve already paid for and issue our quota. While NOAA did not testify before the Commerce Committee on this issue, both our offices spoke to NOAA leadership to discuss the seemingly ambiguous application of the Antideficiency Act in this case. NOAA claimed that Cost Recovery fees are not accessible during a Federal Government shutdown. NOAAs own Fiscal Year 2012 budget document, or Blue Book, stated: Under the authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Act Section 304(d)(2){A). NMFS must collect a fee to recover the incremental costs of management, data collection, an.l enforcement of Limited Access Privilege (LAP) programs. Funds collected under this authority are deposited into the Limited Access System Administrative Fund (LASAF). 11 And; The LASAF shall be available, without appropriation or fiscal year limitation, only for the purposes of administrating the central registry system; and administering and implementing the Magnuson-Stevens Act in the fishery in which the fees were collected. There is an estimated $200,000 excess cost recovery dollars collected from the Alaska Bering Sea Crab fleet for the purposes of managing the fishery under LASAF. According to NOAAs own documents, these funds should be accessible, today, despite the Federal Government shutdown. 2. NOAA non-excepted activities funded by previous fiscal year appropriations. NOAA has also claimed that federal legal guidance as a reason why these cost recovery fees cannot be used. According to NOAA, that legal guidance stated these simple but critical TAC administrative actions are not excepted during the federal government shutdown. To evaluate this perspective further, we look to the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). DOJ has excepted about 80 percent of their federal workforce during the shutdown. Interestingly, significant non-excepted employees continue to work during the government shutdown because past fiscal year appropriations are available to those employees workload. That means, the very agency tasked with ensuring lawful application of the Anti deficiency Act, has nonexcepted employees on the job today because they have access to non-FY 14 appropriations. NOAA employees responsible for administering Alaska Bering Sea red king crab quota should be permitted to work on non-except activities if funding is available from previous fiscal years. 3. Department of Commerce shutdown plan. Upon review of the Department of Commerce Plan for Orderly Shutdown Due to Lapse of Congressional Appropriations (Plan), we believe NOAA misinterpreted the Plan by not completing the administrative steps for the Alaska Bristol Bay red crab fishery. The Plan, written under guidance of the Department of Justice and the Office of Management and Budget, clearly states that in the event of a lapse in Fiscal Year 2014 federal appropriations, National Marine Fisheries Service shall maintain: fisheries management activities including quota monitoring and observer activities, and regulatory actions to prevent overfishing; and protection of Federal property, including aquaria, experimental cultures, facilities, and living marine resources (including endangered species) Certain activities which contribute to determining a TAC are not excepted, such as research and modeling. However, in the case of Bristol Bay Red King Crab, those non-excepted activities were completed prior to the lapse in federal appropriations on October 1. The Bristol Bay Red King Crab TAC has already been calculated determined and approved at the Council in accordance with the Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. The remaining administrative action between the crabbers and their livelihoods, is excepted under your Departments own guidance: fishery management activities and quota monitoring. Quota monitoring, for active fisheries, is currently happening during the federal government shutdown. Because the TAC has already been approved by the Council, NOAA shall execute that TAC immediately. 4. State funds. The State of Alaska is already significantly involved with the Red King Crab fishery, issuing permits for the Community Development Quota (CDQ) portion of the fishery, tracking landing statistics, and significant collaboration and investments in stock assessment science. In other areas of the federal government, such as the National Park Service, state agencies are stepping in to keep critical federal functions running during the federal government shutdown. We encourage Department of Commerce to thoroughly investigate the potential for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to temporarily expand its existing crab management activities to include the simple issuance of the necessary quotas for this fishery. 5. Illegal Underreported and Unregulated fishing activity and the Antideficiency Acts immediate preservation of property provision. The Plan also requires the protection of federal property and living marine resources in the event of a federal government shutdown. Bristol Bay Red King Crab is both federal property and a living marine resource under the Magnuson Stevens Fishery Management and Conservation Act. Failure to complete the minute administrative action required to start the fishery on time threatens the living marine resources themselves, and the value of those resources. Any resulting market share erosion would be especially devastating in light of the growing problem of Illegal Underreported and Unregulated Fisheries, or Pirate Fisheries, and their unsustainable and unfair competitive advantages. Illegal fishing near or adjacent to our waters could have lasting biological impacts on crab stocks for generations to come. These federal activities should be covered by the Antideficiency Acts immediate preservation of property provision. To make matters worse, the Coast Guard has been forced to cut their living marine resource mission by 3.5 percent during the shutdown. 6. Our nations fishing and maritime economies are already suffering under the unnecessary burden of a federal government shutdown. While this particular fishery should be opened in accordance with federal law, the Antideficiency Act prevents other fisheries from getting the services needed to get people to work. During the federal government shutdown, we must remain vigilant to ensure that agencies are applying the Antideficiency Act judiciously. We again urge you to direct NOAA to complete this final merely administrative task and complete the TAC for the Alaska Red King Crab season to begin immediately. Thank you for your attention to this urgent request.
Posted on: Wed, 16 Oct 2013 17:50:06 +0000
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