WASHINGTON, DC - Fishery managers have been warning for some time that even fully rebuilt stocks will not support all the potential effort that now exists in the groundfish fishery.

    Congress has clearly heard the message.

    In the Omnibus Appropriations Act passed in February, lawmakers included $10 million to fund yet another New England groundfish fishing capacity reduction program.

    This will be the fourth buyout funded by Congress so far. The first, a $2 million pilot program, began in 1995 and was followed by a full-scale $22.5 million program, which required participating fishermen to take their vessels out of the fishery altogether, even scrapping them if necessary. Together, these programs removed a total of 537 fishing permits and 78 vessels from New England fisheries.

    A third $10 million program, which was completed last year, entailed only the surrender of groundfish permits. Participating fishermen gave up a total of 245 permits.

    At press time in late March, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) was still trying to figure out exactly how the latest buyout program would be administered.

    In large part, that's because the bill seems to tie this most recent $10 million appropriation to another "voluntary capacity reduction program" authorized in last summer's Fiscal Year 2002 Emergency Supplemental Funding Bill.

    That's the bill that included $11 million for New England states to distribute as economic aid to groundfish fishermen. It also directed $5 million to NMFS for cooperative research and earmarked $500,000 of that specifically to kick-start an industry-funded buyout for the groundfish fishery.

    An industry-funded buyout is allowed under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.

    In a nutshell, it would work like this.

    Representatives of the groundfish industry would come up with a buyout business plan and submit it to the New England Fishery Management Council, which would then pass it on to NMFS.

    NMFS would next have to conduct a vote among groundfish permit holders. If two-thirds approved of the self-funded buyout plan, then the $500,000 could be used to leverage up to $50 million in loans from the US Treasury.

    That loan money would be used to pay fishermen willing to give up their fishing rights. The people left in the fishery would agree to repay the loans over the next 20 years.

    Dan Morris, special assistant to the NMFS Northeast regional director, said that NMFS has mentioned this program several times at New England council meetings, but that no plan has yet been submitted by industry.

    Now, the agency is trying to clarify if it can move ahead with a $10 million buyout similar to one of the previous programs or if it must wait for an industry-funded plan to emerge.

    "In any case, there will be a public process" to determine how to proceed, Morris stressed. "We're not going to disperse this money without public input."

    From the looks of the appropriation language, this buyout program - presuming it goes forward on its own - will probably require removing vessels, as well as permits, from the fishery. From experience, it's unlikely that $10 million will buy much in the way of boats.

    However, said US Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), it "will provide immediate relief for ... fishermen and help them transition to other trades that better stabilize the economic needs of their families."

    The New England buyout provisions were only one part of a much larger $100 million "fisheries disasters" section of the Omnibus Appropriations Act that is providing money for fisheries around the country.

    Among the other recipients are:

• Hawaii - $5 million in a lump-sum payment to provide economic assistance to fisheries affected by federal closures or fishing restrictions;
• Alaska - $35 million in a lump-sum payment to provide assistance to individuals and entities that have experienced significant economic hardship;
• West Coast groundfish fishery - $10 million for a voluntary capacity reduction program;
• South Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina, and the east coast of Florida - $17.5 million for economic assistance programs to be distributed based on each state's share of the shrimp fishery;
• Mississippi, Texas, Alabama, Louisiana, and the gulf coast of Florida - $17.5 million for economic assistance programs to be distributed based on each state's share of the shrimp fishery; and
• Blue crab fishery - $5 million for assistance to blue crab fisheries affected by reduced harvests and sales to be distributed among states with blue crab landings.

    US Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) recently introduced a bill that has fishermen's groups around the country cheering. The Fisheries Science and Management Improvement Act (S 482) is the first bill to address reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act.

    Among other things, the bill would:

• Require scientific peer review of stock assessments;
• Focus on specific habitat issues rather than habitat oceanwide; and
• Concentrate on rebuilding stocks that are reduced by human activities rather than those at lower levels due to natural environmental fluctuations.

    It would also: incorporate current scientific findings on the value of seafood to human health and nutrition; establish clear policies regarding the use of observers; require regulations to take into account the cumulative effect of impacts on coastal communities; account for annual fluctuations in stock size; and eliminate redundancy in environmental and economic impact reviews.

    Praising the legislation was the Seafood Coalition, which formulated many of the recommendations reflected in the Collins bill.

    Besides a number of West Coast, Alaskan, and Southeast groups, coalition members include the National Fisheries Institute, the Fisheries and Trawler Survival Funds, The Groundfish Group - Associated Fisheries of Maine, the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, the Garden State Seafood Association, Blue Water Fishermen's Association, Montauk Inlet Seafood Inc., the Monkfish Defense Fund, and many more.

    Said Groundfish Group spokesperson Maggie Raymond, "Our fisheries managers have been strapped by the lack of resources available to them and the impossible standards they must meet under current law. We want our fisheries conserved and properly managed on the basis of reality, not rhetoric."

    The coalition also extended its thanks to Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Ted Kennedy (D-MA) for their efforts to ensure that New England groundfish regulations are based on sound science.

    Collins also recently introduced S 487, the Commercial Fishermen Safety Act of 2003, which would amend the Internal Revenue Code to provide a business tax credit against income for the purchase of fishing safety equipment.

    The bill would allow a tax credit of 75% of the cost of qualified fishing safety equipment expenses that are paid for or incurred by a tax-paying fisherman.

    Fishing safety equipment would include lifesaving equipment that vessels are required by federal law to carry.

    The maximum credit allowed would be $1,500.

    Collins also announced on March 9 congressional approval of $1 million in Department of Transportation funding for the Gulf of Maine Research Laboratory.

    The lab will be built by the Gulf of Maine Aquarium in Portland, ME between the Portland Fish Pier and Becky's Diner, according to Collins' office.

    "The Gulf of Maine Aquarium is now a step closer to reality and to becoming an invaluable marine research resource for Maine," Collins said.

    According to the aquarium, the lab will support collaborative fishery ecosystem and marine biotechnology research, public marine science education, and marine research "essential to sustaining Maine's fishing industry and the 25,000 coastal residents who earn their livings fishing."