Senator John Kerry recently introduced the
Coastal Stewardship Act S.1420. The Bill
has been supported by a number of Senators and
will reportedly put a minimum of $250 million
into the Ocean and Coast Conservation Fund each
fiscal year.
More than 75% of the fund would be directed
to states and local entities to undertake
restoration and preservation projects, enhance
research and enforcement and pay for essential
conservation efforts.
The remainder provides supplemental support
for the National Marine Sanctuaries and full
support to a new national program to protect
coral reefs.
However, we hear that there are a number of
versions being considered. Although we
endorse the intent of the Bill as written, we
find that the major component of the legislation
that we want to ask everyone to support is
Section 403 (Cooperative Enforcement).
Here in Hawaii enforcement is one of the
most difficult elements of fisheries management
as I'm sure it is in every other region.
We try to base management decisions on
"what is enforceable" and this often
leads to the less desirable alternative being
incorporated into fishery management plans
simply because the measures that we or the
fishery managers would like to incorporate into
the plans are not enforceable.
Therefore we feel it is critical that
whatever version of the legislation is moved
forward it contain Section 403. Without
more efficient enforcement, all the money being
thrown at finding solutions to our problems will
be wasted.
More
information is available on the Coastal
Stewardship Act S.1420 at http://rs9.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query.
Aloha
