Bill Text: FL S1168 | 2010 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 2007 [EPSC]

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 4)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-04-30 - Died pending reference review under Rule 4.7(2) [S1168 Detail]

Download: Florida-2010-S1168-Introduced.html

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Florida Senate - 2010                                    SM 1168 
 
By Senator Baker 
20-01056-10                                           20101168__ 
1                           Senate Memorial 
2         A memorial to the Congress of the United States, 
3         urging Congress to consider all available mechanisms 
4         to lessen the sudden impact of the changes made to the 
5         Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management 
6         Act of 2007 and seek to balance resource protection 
7         and economic prosperity in Florida. 
8 
9         WHEREAS, the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 
10  Management Act of 2007 emphasized preventing overfishing and 
11  rebuilding overfished stocks, and 
12         WHEREAS, recent revisions to the act were prompted in part 
13  by criticism of progress toward ending overfishing and 
14  rebuilding fish stocks, and 
15         WHEREAS, such revisions impose significant restrictions on 
16  commercial and recreational fishing in federal waters and 
17  prohibitively short deadlines to end overfishing, and 
18         WHEREAS, every federally managed fishery is required to 
19  implement annual catch limits and accountability measures by 
20  2011, except with respect to Florida, and 
21         WHEREAS, Florida is required to implement annual catch 
22  limits by 2010 which are low enough to end, and then prevent, 
23  overfishing for federally managed species that are subject to 
24  overfishing, as determined by the United States Secretary of 
25  Commerce, and 
26         WHEREAS, such requirements include accountability measures 
27  which stipulate that if catch limits are exceeded for such 
28  federally managed species, federal actions must be stipulated to 
29  compensate for the harvest overage, and 
30         WHEREAS, the consequence of such accountability measures is 
31  that certain types of fishing activity, such as recreational 
32  fishing, could be faced with ever-increasing limits imposed over 
33  a minimal timeframe, and 
34         WHEREAS, in the federal waters of the South Atlantic, there 
35  are 10 species of economically important reef fish that are 
36  subject to the new deadline, and 
37         WHEREAS, a number of similar actions to restrict harvest of 
38  reef fish in the Gulf of Mexico have been instituted, and 
39         WHEREAS, federal managers are considering a complete 
40  closure of all fishing for the Atlantic red snapper fishery, and 
41         WHEREAS, severely restricting or eliminating harvest for 10 
42  of the state’s most valuable reef fish species simultaneously 
43  will have the unfortunate impact of putting people out of 
44  business, and 
45         WHEREAS, the act requires federal managers to use the best 
46  scientific information available to end overfishing and provide 
47  future sustainable harvest, and 
48         WHEREAS, even though fishery scientists are using the best 
49  scientific information available, there continues to be 
50  inadequate funding to conduct the level of fisheries monitoring 
51  and research work necessary to meet the standards of the act, 
52  and 
53         WHEREAS, to meet such standards, it is imperative to 
54  provide federal fishery managers with the financial means 
55  necessary to gather and analyze more complete and continuous 
56  information on the status of fish stocks, and 
57         WHEREAS, consistent with these conservation requirements, 
58  recent changes to the act direct that economic impacts to 
59  fishing communities be minimized and that mechanisms be provided 
60  to support the economic health of fishing communities, and 
61         WHEREAS, every effort should be made to provide economic 
62  assistance to key fishing industries and businesses that cannot 
63  survive the restrictions being implemented by recent changes to 
64  the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 
65  2007, NOW, THEREFORE, 
66 
67  Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 
68 
69         That the Congress of the United States is requested to 
70  consider all available mechanisms to lessen the sudden impact of 
71  the changes made to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation 
72  and Management Act of 2007 and seek to balance resource 
73  protection and economic prosperity in Florida. 
74         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be 
75  dispatched to the President of the United States, to the 
76  President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the 
77  United States House of Representatives, and to each member of 
78  the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.