An Oregon-based environmental group with ties to fisheries issued a report March 15 with 16 recommendations to strengthen the resilience and prosperity of fishing communities under a new national catch share policy.
Ecotrust, with offices in Newport, Oregon, is urging the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to further define and develop guidelines for implementation of community provisions within the Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to be applied by all fishery management councils.
Ecotrust issued its own report, which it said was written by a national bi-partisan panel of experts, with 16 recommendations that Ecotrust said would strengthen the resilience and prosperity of fishing communities under a new catch share plan.
America’s fishing communities generate $163 billion in revenues each year and support 1.9 million jobs; yet there has been a notable lack of implementation of existing provisions for communities in the nation’s fisheries law, Ecotrust said.
The report released by Ecotrust was a 36-page document developed over the past year by a national panel on community dimensions of fisheries catch share programs. It aims to address ways that NOAA and regional fisheries councils should include communities in implementation of catch share policy.
One example is to encourage NOAA to grant initial allocations of fish quotas to community entities.
Ecotrust released the report in conjunction with a teleconference in which participants recommended that NOAA and the regional councils expand their financial tools to include public-private partnerships, loan guarantees and a dedicated loan program to help communities purchase catch shares.
The entire report is at www.ecotrust.org/fisheries.
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