DC Showdown Over Fisheries Law Amendments

Ah, the bloggers's dream:  juxtaposing DC Showdown with Fisheries Law in the title of your post.

On a more serious note, domestic fisheries are a $5B component of our national economy with certainly more impact locally in those ports where fish are landed.

The governing statute which sets out federal regulation of fisheries is the Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management Act, codified at 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.

Congressman Young (AK) introduced a bill updating the Magnuson-Stevens Act in ways that trouble the White House.  The bill, H.R. 1335, contains some interesting provisions: 1) exempting fishery management actions from the National Environmental Policy Act and replacing it with a different type of study; 2) changing the types of fish counted towards the sustainable stock figures (red snapper killed during oil drill platform removal are not counted, nor fish seized from foreign fishers violating U.S. EEZ); and 3) extending State jurisdiction over recreational red snapper fishery in the Gulf Coast.

The White House says that President Obama will veto the bill if it gets passed by the Congress. Per Congressman Young's website, the House is set to vote on the bill today.

Stay tuned.