Giving science a voice in managing our fisheries

This summer, Congress will revise the landmark law that manages our nation's fisheries, the Magnuson-Stevens Act, crafted by Washington's own Sen. Warren Magnuson 30 years ago. If done right, this legislation will continue to support sustainable harvests for our local fishing fleets and satisfy our nation's growing appetite for seafood.

The Senate's recent, unanimous approval of this legislation accomplishes this goal. We urge the House to follow quickly with approval of its version. The nation's largest fishing fleet, based here in Seattle, is counting on it.

Bipartisan oceans legislation in the House and Senate demonstrates the strong political consensus that has emerged endorsing the local approach to fisheries management Sen. Magnuson built into the original law, and offers stepped-up, science-based management provisions that could end overfishing in the next decade.

The House Resources Committee recently approved a bill — to be considered by the full House later this summer — that proposes far-reaching changes in fisheries management. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif., will strengthen the use of science in fishery management, coordinate current laws and improve the regional management structure. His bill captures the successful conservation model used in Alaska. It echoes legislation sponsored by Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, that was recently approved by the full Senate.

These efforts to update the nation's fisheries-management law recognize what has been learned by fishery managers over the past 30 years: that when science is heeded, both conservation and commerce benefit. Nowhere is this more evident than here in the North Pacific, where most of the Seattle fleet earns a living and where more than half the nation's seafood is caught. In fact, our record has become the guide for today's reformers.

In Alaska, there are no overfished groundfish species. Alaska pollock, the nation's largest fishery, has been healthy for decades and is certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council, an international environmental organization. Fisheries managers have set aside hundreds of thousands of square miles of sensitive marine habitat, and successful measures have been taken by fishermen to protect marine ecosystems, including seabirds and marine mammals.

It is this record of achievement that led the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy to cite Alaska as a potential model for the rest of the nation.

Alaska works because it has made the most of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. Under the act, the nation's marine fisheries are managed by a system of eight regional councils, comprised of government officials, fishing-industry experts, community representatives, conservationists and others. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council sets catch limits that do not exceed the harvests recommended by its science advisers. This key element has been incorporated into the House and Senate bills, meaning that conservation successes in Alaska, where most of the Seattle fleet fishes, would now be followed nationally.

The legislation before the Congress deserves the full support of the Washington congressional delegation. Both Pombo's House bill and Steven's Senate bill give science a stronger voice in managing our nation's fisheries, recognizing that the work of scientists helps fishermen, and that their many conservation successes together benefit all of us.

David Benton is the former chairman of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council and is currently executive director of the Marine Conservation Alliance, supported by coastal communities, commercial fishermen and seafood processors, many based in Seattle.