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News & Analysis | REG•WATCH Blog | Press Room
Friday, May 23, 2008
Krill Rule Clears White House, Opens for Comment
On Tuesday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) proposed a rule to ban the harvest of krill in U.S. waters off the west coast. Krill are small shrimp-like crustaceans abundant in the Pacific Ocean. They are a vital link in the marine food chain and serve as a food source for a variety of marine animals including whales, salmon and some sea birds.
NOAA proposed the rule after the White House delayed the agency from moving forward for almost a year. In May 2007, NOAA submitted an earlier draft of the proposed rule to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) — the White House office in charge of clearing federal regulations. But, with suspect rationale, OIRA rejected NOAA's proposal.
OIRA's administrator, Susan Dudley, complained NOAA did not adequately identify the need for regulation since krill is "completely unexploited" and "there are no known plans for exploitation."
True, NOAA proposed the policy even though krill is not currently fished in U.S. waters. However, NOAA experts recognized an opportunity to take a proactive step toward maintaining a sustainable marine ecosystem. In its proposal, NOAA's Pacific Fishery Management Council states, "The Council has agreed it is critical to take preventive action at this time to ensure that a krill fishery will not develop that could potentially harm krill stocks, and in turn harm other fish and non-fish stocks."
The good news is, on Tuesday, the rule was released in basically the same form as NOAA had initially proposed to OIRA. It seems OIRA did not object to the nature of the rule but rather the argument in favor of it.
In order to meet OIRA's objections, NOAA simply couched the need for the rule differently. Originally, NOAA did not acknowledge the existence of a market for krill, instead arguing the measure was precautionary. OIRA complained that since there is no market, there is no reason to regulate. Now, NOAA says, "A market for krill currently exists in Washington and Oregon, where salmon farms use krill products as a supplemental feed." It seems that magic sentence allowed the rule to gain the approval of OIRA.
But bottom line, krill and the marine species that depend on it are one step closer to receiving federal protections. Michael LeVine of Oceana, a nonprofit conservation group, called the proposal "a watershed moment for responsible ocean management and conservation." He added, "We commend all the policymakers involved in implementing the kind of proactive visionary protection we need to move forward with healthy and resilient ocean ecosystems."
Comments on the rule are due June 19.
Posted by Matt Madia
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