Fishable Waters Act (HR325)

(from Jersey Coast Anglers Association March 2000 Newsletter)

The Fishable Waters Act (HR 325) was reintroduced to the House of Representatives on January 31, 2001 with 12 sponsors. Three additional sponsors have joined since last count bringing the number to 12. Congressmen Saxton and Pallone are the two New Jersey Congressmen on this bill.We need to get the rest of the NJ delegation on this bill.The bill has not yet been introduced to the Senate and you need to write letters to Senator Robert Torricelli and Senator Jon Corzine to let them know you want them to co-sponsor this legislation.

The Fishable Waters Act: Synopsis

The Fishable Waters Act of 2000

Delivering On The Clean Water Act's Promise Of Fishable Waters

The Problem

No one disputes that great progress has been made in improving the quality and safety of our nation's water resources in the 25 years since the Clean Water Act was approved. Indeed, we have spent more than $70 billion to implement the Act's provisions primarily pertaining to point-source pollution.

But our work is not done. The Clean Water Act (The Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972 as amended) generally set out two goals for our nation. First, the Act would be used to restore water quality threatened by point source pollution. Second, the Act would restore our waterways to benefit fisheries and wildlife.

It is this second part where the Act has admittedly been less successful. Despite the improvements we've seen in point-source pollution reduction, more work is needed, and there are opportunities to promote the reduction of non-point source pollution and the degradation of fisheries habitat in many of our rivers, streams, lakes, and estuaries. Today, 38% of our nation's waters are not considered fishable or swimmable and do not fully support a healthy aquatic community.

According to some sources, barely two percent of America's 3.6 million stream miles are healthy enough to be considered high quality, and 70 percent of the nation's riparian corridors have been damaged in some way or destroyed outright. At least 19,000 miles of sport-fishing streams have declined in terms of habitat and water quality. Nearly half (41 percent) of America's perennial rivers and streams are adversely affected by reduced flows, siltation, stream-bank erosion, and channelization. What's more, the four most threatened, imperiled, or endangered groups of species have the pitiful luck to call our rivers, streams, lakes, and estuaries home. They often provide the first signs that something is wrong. The single largest reasons for this are habitat degradation and non-point source pollution.

Roughly 50 percent of America's existing water quality problems are generally considered to be the result of non-point sources. That's why a partnership relying on innovative solutions and methods focusing on overall watersheds is so critical to continued progress in our efforts to make sure that all of our streams, rivers, lakes, and estuaries are indeed fishable and swimmable.

The Solution

The Fishable Waters Act of 2000 is a voluntary, non-regulatory, partnership-oriented, incentive-based plan that brings together the fisheries conservation community, state and federal fisheries managers, and the agriculture community for the first time to begin to seriously address the water quality problems associated with non-point source pollution, fisheries habitat protection, and improved water quality as partners rather than adversaries. And we have done this in a way that recognizes the realities of what is both politically acceptable and financially credible.

This concept is working on the ground in spots -- Oregon, Washington, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Florida. It can work nationally. The Fishable Waters Act of 2000 would establish a national framework buttressed with real financial and technical support for locally led, incentive based, voluntary partnerships to boost watersheds.

It is paid for through a new authorized program within the Clean Water Act. If a state chooses to establish a program and approve the creation of locally driven, solution-oriented watershed councils, the funds deposited into the state's Fisheries Habitat Account could be used to provide the financial and technical support needed to implement conservation projects and recommendations contained in approved Plans. The Fishable Waters Act also would expand states' existing spending authority under the CWA Section 319 program. If a state has established a program, it can utilize up to 20 percent of its Section 319 funds to provide financial support either directly to landowners participating in approved projects or to designated watershed councils.

What's Different About Our Approach

The focus through this program will now be on protecting and restoring our fisheries habitat and improving water quality on an overall watershed basis. The approach relies on voluntary, non-regulatory, incentive-based, locally led partnerships.

If a governor or tribe does not want to make a commitment to this innovative program, they don't have to do so. Their respective state or tribe simply won't get access to funds appropriated under this program, not-to-mention the expanded spending authority provided relative to Section 319 funds.

A new incentive is created for the use of existing federal conservation programs by allowing funds made available under this Act to be used to meet the non-federal cost-share requirement of those programs so long as the projects and agreements where this happens are part of approved Plans established by the local watershed council.

Enough flexibility is provided to allow for an urban, community-based component to help improve waters in urban settings.

Through the establishment of locally led watershed councils, we are bringing diverse parties to the conservation table and giving everyone an active stake in the future of our watersheds and fisheries.

Given existing practical realities, we are taking the most aggressive approach possible to achieve real results and improvements in the health of our watersheds. No one credibly disputes the fact that much work has been done and much still needs to be done, and most of it involves non-point source pollution where we have not achieved the same level of success as we have with point-source pollution.

Incentives are provided for a consistent national program to improve fisheries habitat and water quality that is also responsive to the needs of individual states, local communities, and those in agriculture.

Finally, the conservation recommendations and decisions about what is best for a particular watershed are made at the local and state level with technical assistance provided by federal agencies that administer federal conservation programs and manage public lands.

Nick Karas wrote in his book "Brook Trout" that "Manhattan didn't always look the way it does now." Karas went on to write that brook trout fishing as 'an American sport' got its start in many of Manhattan's creeks and streams that are today "covered with asphalt roads and cement sidewalks." This is symbolic of the importance, indeed, the necessity, for us to find innovative, creative ways to protect and restore America's remaining fisheries for its citizenry. The Fishable Waters Act of 2000 is about providing the kind of creative partnerships to do just that. This legislation will provide the flexibility and encouragement necessary for citizens.

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