Posted on: Tuesday, October 7, 2003

EDITORIAL
No backdoor changes to federal fishery laws

Hawai'i's commercial fishers who labor under increasingly stiff, but needed, regulations are no doubt watching with keen interest an effort by Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens to give a special boost to his home state's fishing industry.

It's an effort that may make sense to the huge Alaska fishing and processing business. But it cuts directly against the effort to create a long-lasting and sustainable fishing industry around the globe.

Stevens has been a good friend to Hawai'i, but in this case, his home-state effort is both a misuse of the legislative process and a retreat from federal law designed to protect our fisheries.

What Stevens has done, according to the Los Angeles Times, is to attach a rider to the Commerce appropriations bill that exempts Alaskans from many federal fishing restrictions.

His argument is that experienced Alaska fishermen and processors do a better job of caring for the resource than in other states.

That may or may not be so. But the appropriations process is no place to rewrite federal fishing law.

Furthermore, if Alaska gets this special favor, you can bet other states with big fishing industries will ask for the same.

Federal fishing law has been difficult to craft, balancing the needs of the industry against pressure from environmentalists and scientists who say we are rapidly depleting our overall fish stocks. It has taken years to go from what was virtually a free-for-all environment on the seas to one where a conservation ethic has — at a minimum — a place at the table.

That difficult balancing act has slowly moved the law forward toward a regulatory scheme that attempts to provide sustainable resources for decades to come.

The Senate should reject this amendment.