The following letter was received from the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council’s communications officer, Sylvia Spalding. We reprint it in its entirety.
In its December 2014 issue, Environment Hawai`i published an article on the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council’s meeting with officials from the White House on September 9, 2014, in Washington, D.C., to discuss the President’s plans to expand the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument boundaries. There are several incorrect statements in the article.
The article intimates that the Council was engaged in improper lobbying. However, lobbying restrictions applicable to fishery management councils, as set forth in OMB circulars and 50 CFR 600.227, apply to contacts with Congress, not with the Executive Branch. It is surprising to see criticism of a situation where White House officials requested information from the fishery management council when that information would help them better understand the impact of their proposed conservation decisions on local communities and thus contribute to better informed decisions.
The Council was invited by the White House to participate in this meeting, and the meeting was consistent with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. By attending the Council was being responsive to the White House’s request and doing the job it was appointed to do.
The article also reports on the cost and duration of the hotel stay in DC and the cost to produce briefing material for the meeting. These expenses were appropriate. Council members traveled from Hawai`i, American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). Flight time from the CNMI to D.C. averages 20 to 24 hours and crosses 15 time zones. Flight time from American Samoa averages 25 to 29 hours and crosses six time zones and the equator. Travel and accommodations reflect these factors. The cost of the briefing booklet was unanticipated but necessary when the Council learned that the meeting site was not equipped for PowerPoints. These costs included photocopying and binding expenses at the local FedEx.
The article also implies that Ed Watmaura, Ricardo DeRosa, Pierre Kleiber, Makani Christensen, Neil Kanemoto, Bob Fram, Roy Morioka, Tony Costa, Brooks Takenaka, Frank Farm and Steven Lee attended the September meeting with White House officials. None of them did.
Author’s Response
With regard to the matter of lobbying, the Magnuson-Stevens Act prohibits fishery management councils from using taxpayer funds to lobby legislative bodies unless specifically invited to do so. Given the White House invitation, noted in our article, what the council did does not violate the MSA.
We were wrong in the list of attendees at the meeting. The names we provided testified at a meeting sponsored by NOAA and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service the previous month. Those attending the White House meeting, in addition to the individuals whose way was paid by taxpayers, were Sean Martin, former council chair, and Svein Fougner, formerly a NMFS manager and now consultant to the Hawaii Longline Association. We apologize for the error.
We appreciate the opportunity to correct the record.
Volume 25 Number 7 January 2015