Press Releases
Congressman Ed Case Hosting Congressional Forum in Honolulu on Improving Critical Federal Fisheries LawThe Magnuson-Stevens Act of 1976 governing fisheries in all U.S. waters including throughout the Pacific is overdue for a major update
Washington,
February 19, 2020
Tags:
Environment
(Honolulu, HI) - U.S. Congressman Ed Case (HI-01), will host a U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources forum in Honolulu on Friday, February 21, 2020 to hear from stakeholders on whether and how to update and improve federal fisheries laws. Case is a member of the Natural Resources Committee and of its Subcommittee on Water, Oceans and Wildlife which has jurisdiction over our nation’s oceans and ocean policies and laws. The Subcommittee Chair, Congressman Jared Huffman (CA-02), asked Case to conduct the forum for the Subcommittee and will be participating via Skype. WHEN: February 21, 2020 WHERE: Bishop Museum Atherton Hālau 1525 Bernice Street Honolulu, Hawai‘i TIME: 10 AM to Noon INPUT: A representative expert panel will present, following which public input is welcomed. The forum will be live-streamed via ‘Ōlelo Community Television Channel 53 and on their web site www.olelo.org/tune-in. The direct link to share can be found here: https://olelo.granicus.com/player/camera/11?publish_id=89. It will be viewable to anyone with an internet connection. Please credit ‘Ōlelo Community Media for use of the video. The MSA, first enacted in 1976, was last reauthorized and extensively amended in 2006 (P.L. 109-479). Although the authorization technically expired at the end of Fiscal Year 2013, the law’s requirements have been continued pending reauthorization and Congress has continued to appropriate funds to administer the Act. Under the MSA, administration of the nation’s ocean fisheries is delegated to eight regional fishery management councils. The fisheries offshore of Hawai'i (to include the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands), the Northern Marianas, Guam, American Samoa and the U.S. Remote Pacific Islands is under the jurisdiction of the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (WESPAC) and together constitute fully half of the nation’s EEZ. In preparation for the MSA reauthorization effort, Subcommittee Chair Huffman has held a series of similar MSA listening forums in the various regions since the fall of 2019. Huffman’s goal is to hear from stakeholders and the broader public whether improvements to the Magnuson-Stevens Act are needed and if so, what they should be. Case participated in Huffman’s North Pacific region forum in Seattle last November “Our world’s oceans and fisheries are under accelerating stress and it is more critical than ever that any extraction practices focus on sustaining and conserving not only specific species but the entire marine ecosystem”, said Case. “MSA has been and will continue to be our main tool for establishing and administering sound practices and we have to be sure it is working now and into the next generations. This is especially important in our Pacific given the increasing competition for the ocean’s resources, and my own goals include whether and how we can improve WESPAC’s continued stewardship.” ### |