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If it is a continuing concern that bluefish may be more abundant farther offshore, then 

 possible explanations should be evaluated, including changes in water temperature as well as 

 displacement by other species. This would require significant biological and environmental 

 research that neither state nor federal scientists are in a position to undertake at this time. 



Removal of Federal Authority over Bluefish 



On February 29, 1996, the Commission received a letter from the National Marine 

 Fisheries Service indicating its intention to propose the withdrawal of the Secretary's approval of 

 the Bluefish FMF and the rescinding of the regulations which implement it. The letter indicated 

 that this was motivated as part of the Administration's regulatory reform initiative; and averred that 

 cooperative fishery conservation and management by the states under the Atlantic Coastal Fisheries 

 Cooperative Management Act was a more appropriate way to address bluefish management than 

 under the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act. 



The Commission's Bluefish Management Board and Interstate Fisheries Management 

 Program Policy Board gave brief consideration to this issue at their meetings in Norfolk, Virginia, 

 two weeks ago. Clearly, NMFS will have to propose and justify this action through rulemaking. 

 Presumably, normal administrative processes for fisheries rulemaking, such as environmental and 

 socioeconomic reviews, will apply. Thus, this is not an action that in the Commission's view is 

 going to happen quickly. The agency's stated June 1, 1996, time frame for transfer of authority, 

 and is unrealistic and certainly inconsistent with the amount of time it has taken for virtually any 

 other fisheries management rulemaking. The Commission therefore has not made a judgment 

 concerning the proposed action; but rather will await the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. 

 However, a few preliminary points are worth noting. 



The states are very concerned about the manner in which this action was proposed. As I 

 said earlier, bluefish was the first fishery managed jointly by the states and the federal government 

 under a fishery management plan that was prepared by the Mid- Atlantic Fishery Management 

 Council and the Commission working together. This set the pattern for other cooperative, 

 partnership management programs with the Mid- Atlantic Council such as our joint efforts on 

 summer flounder and scup, the latter of which the Commission adopted just two weeks ago. The 

 Commission has undertaken similar programs with the New England Fishery Management Council 

 and South Atlantic Fishery Management Council for American lobster, red drum and Spanish 

 mackerel. When the predecessor to this Committee was considering the Atlantic Coastal Fisheries 



DRAFT:TestimoDy of John H. Dunnigan April 1, 1996 



Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans page 6 



