BILL ANALYSIS
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AJR 8
Author: Monning (D), et al
Amended: 6/3/09 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE NATURAL RES. & WATER COMMITTEE : 6-3, 6/9/09
AYES: Pavley, Kehoe, Leno, Simitian, Wiggins, Wolk
NOES: Cogdill, Hollingsworth, Huff
NO VOTE RECORDED: Benoit, Padilla
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 63-3, 4/20/09 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Marine mammal protection: swordfish
importation
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This resolution requests the United States
government to restrict swordfish imports unless and until
there is a process by which a nation seeking to export
swordfish or swordfish products to the United States
provides reasonable proof of the effects on marine mammals
of the commercial fishing technology used to obtain the
swordfish or swordfish products, and the National Marine
Fisheries Service receives that proof and determines that
the proof demonstrates that the swordfish or swordfish
products to be imported were not caught with commercial
fishing technology that results in the incidental kill or
incidental serious injury of marine mammals in excess of
United States standards.
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ANALYSIS :
Existing Law
The Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) was enacted in 1972
in recognition of the importance of marine mammals and in
recognition of the threats to their populations as a result
of man's activities. Specifically, the MMPA establishes a
moratorium on the taking of marine mammals. The MMPA
allows some incidental take of marine mammals in the course
of commercial fishing operations, under permit, with the
goal that incidental take levels approach zero.
Furthermore, the MMPA bans the importation of commercial
fish that is caught with technology that results in more
take than allowed under U.S. standards.
This resolution requests the National Marine Fisheries
Service and the Department of the Treasury to enforce
existing provisions of the MMPA that ban the importation of
swordfish from counties that do not provide proof of the
effects of their commercial swordfish fishing on marine
mammals, and makes several findings regarding the harm of
bycatch of marine mammals and protection of marine mammals
under the MMPA. Specifically, this resolution makes the
following findings:
1.Bycatch of marine mammals is significant and a major
threat to several species of marine mammals.
2.Marine mammal conservation cannot be accomplished through
regulations of U.S. fishermen alone.
3.The MMPA requires the US to receive reasonable
information from the government of any nation from which
the U.S. imports fish or fish products on the effect that
their commercial fishing technologies have ocean mammals.
4.The U.S. imports over 10,000 metric tons of swordfish and
swordfish products annually, yet the U.S. has no
information about the fishing practices used by the 43
countries from which the U.S. imports.
5.Available information indicates that many of the
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swordfish exporting countries are failing to regulate
their fisheries in a manner that protects marine mammals.
6.The lack of enforcement of MMPA requirements to track
information from swordfish exporting countries causes
U.S. swordfish fishermen to unfairly compete with imports
from countries with poor fishery regulations regarding
bycatch.
Comments
According to information from the author's office, global
swordfish fisheries often use long-lines or gillnets.
Gillnets are responsible for many of the over 300,000
marine mammals killed by commercial fishing annually.
Thus, the author's office contends that swordfish fisheries
are major contributors to these global bycatch figures.
U.S. swordfish fisheries have been subject to regulations
on gear, closures, training, and mandatory observers, all
of which have resulted in a decrease of marine mammal take.
However, many countries have not adopted similar
regulations and do not make their bycatch data available to
the general public.
FISCAL EFFECT : Fiscal Com.: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/9/09)
Sea Turtle Restoration Project (source)
Blue Ocean Institute
Center for Biological Diversity
Cetacean Society International
Earth Island Institute
Friends of the Earth
Greenpeace USA
Heal the Bay
Natural Resources Defense Council
Oceana
Wild Dolphin Foundation
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The Sea Turtle Restoration
Project, in support of this bill, states, "[T]here is a
growing interest and regulatory focus within California to
sustain, conserve, and protect the natural diversity and
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abundance of our state's ocean resources and marine life.
This resolution furthers efforts to protect the highly
migratory marine mammals that occur off the West Coast by
urging the U.S. government to finally require foreign
nations to dramatically reduce their bycatch to levels that
are comparable with domestic fishermen?by failing to
enforce section 101 of the MPA, the U.S. government has
allowed poorly regulated fisheries to sell their catch
alongside that of U.S. fishermen, in effect, subverting the
intent of MMPA, promoting the destruction of marine mammal
populations, and placing U.S. fishermen at a significant
competitive disadvantage."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Ammiano, Arambula, Beall, Bill Berryhill, Tom
Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield, Brownley,
Caballero, Carter, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La
Torre, De Leon, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher,
Fong, Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Galgiani, Gilmore,
Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman, Jones, Knight,
Krekorian, Lieu, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza,
Miller, Monning, Nava, Nestande, John A. Perez, V. Manuel
Perez, Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana,
Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson,
Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Villines, Yamada, Bass
NOES: Anderson, Gaines, Silva
NO VOTE RECORDED: Adams, Buchanan, Charles Calderon,
Chesbro, DeVore, Duvall, Garrick, Hagman, Hall, Harkey,
Jeffries, Niello, Nielsen, Tran
CTW:cm 6/10/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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