Federal Fishing Advisory Board's Chief Initiative - End to End Review - Moves Forward

Press Release

Today, Rep. Bill Keating held another meeting of the Federal Fishing Advisory Board, which he founded in 2012. In an important step forward, the Board was presented with the final plan of action for the end-to-end review of groundfish assessments, which will be coordinated between SMAST, NOAA and industry stakeholders. Moving the end-to-end review forward was the chief initiative of the Board.

The end-to-end review will focus on three areas: 1) incorporating environmental change in assessments and management; 2) fishery monitoring and survey selectivity; and 3) overfishing reference points and uncertainty buffers. In July, Rep. Keating wrote a letter to Sam Rauch, deputy assistant administration of NOAA, asking for the comprehensive review of the groundfish stocks.

"Today's meeting was huge success," said Rep. Keating. "To finally see movement on the end-to-end review is critical. The action plan includes buy-in from all key players -- including NOAA, SMAST and members of the industry. I am thankful that Bill Karp of the National Marine Fisheries Service has agreed to work with SMAST and the industry on this very important review. While this fishing season will not benefit from the review, we hope that it will improve the accuracy of stock assessments in the future and held avoid the current crisis our fishermen are currently facing."

"I'm thrilled to be working very closely with Congressman Keating on various fisheries issues. His leadership in this area is critically important to the New Bedford economy," said John Quinn, member of the New England Fisheries Management Council.

The Federal Fishing Advisory Board meeting was attended by Mayor Jon Mitchell, Congressman Stephen Lynch, Senator Mark Montigny, Senator Marc Pacheco, Representative Jim Cantwell, fishermen, representatives of SMAST and industry stakeholders. Representatives for the offices of Senators Elizabeth Warren and Mo Cohen, Rep. Chris Markey and Senate President Therese Murray.

Also discussed at the meeting were the possible economic and environmental impacts of the opening of closed areas in the Gulf of Maine. Rep. Keating's office will be working directly with John Quinn and other New England Fisheries Management Council members on this issue.

The Board further discussed how the Magnuson-Stevens Act is interpreted with respect to the social and economic impact outlined in the act as well as the ten-year rebuilding program for stocks.

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