Marine Resources Commission; membership. (SB1087)
Introduced By
Sen. John Miller (D-Newport News) with support from co-patron Sen. Richard Stuart (R-Westmoreland)
Progress
✓ |
Introduced |
✗ |
Passed Committee |
☐ |
Passed House |
✓ |
Passed Senate |
☐ |
Signed by Governor |
☐ |
Became Law |
Description
Marine Resources Commission. Requires that, among the eight citizen members of the Marine Resources Commission, one member shall be both a commercial fisherman as defined in 28.2-241 of the Code of Virginia and a holder of an active license to take crabs and one member shall be a member of the Virginia Waterman's Association. Read the Bill »
Outcome
Bill Has Failed
History
| Date | Action |
|---|---|
| 01/13/2009 | Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/14/09 094450275 |
| 01/13/2009 | Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources |
| 01/19/2009 | Impact statement from DPB (SB1087) |
| 01/26/2009 | Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources with substitite (13-Y 2-N) (see vote tally) |
| 01/26/2009 | Committee substitute printed 093130275-S1 |
| 01/27/2009 | Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) (see vote tally) |
| 01/28/2009 | Read second time |
| 01/28/2009 | Reading of substitute waived |
| 01/28/2009 | Committee substitute agreed to 093130275-S1 |
| 01/28/2009 | Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB1087S1 |
| 01/29/2009 | Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) (see vote tally) |
| 02/05/2009 | Impact statement from DPB (SB1087S1) |
| 02/11/2009 | Placed on Calendar |
| 02/11/2009 | Read first time |
| 02/11/2009 | Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources |
| 02/11/2009 | Assigned ACNRsub: #3 Chesapeake |
| 02/12/2009 | Subcommittee recommends laying on the table by voice vote |
| 02/24/2009 | Left in Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources |
Comments
I oppose this bill as it....it is way too heavily weighted by commercial interests....who are unable to view the best actions in the long term as they are only concerned about immediate resource harvest and not preservation for the future.
“SB1087 is a tremendous setback for marine resources in VA. It will reverse 10 years of hard work …â€
My shock could not have been greater in learning that Senate Ag. had voted in favor of essentially turning over control of Virginia’s marine resources to commercial fishing interests. That is the effect of SB 1087 which proposes adding TWO additional required commercial representatives to the VMRC where ONE designated commercial representative seat already exists. Currently, recreational and commercial interests (and the public’s) are properly balanced by having ONE representative seat each.
What possible logic is there for tripling the voting power of the commercial sector, and handing over the stewardship of our precious marine resources to commercial interests? On the contrary, history suggests that commercial watermen have repeatedly been guilty of depleting the very resources upon which their livelihood depends. Commercial interests have no right to dominate decisions regarding a public resource.
SB 1087 seeks to destroy the progress that has taken decades to achieve. The 13 to 2 vote of the Senate committee on Agriculture, Conservation, and Natural Resources was a devastating blow to those of us who already have grave concerns about the future of Virginia’s marine resources. I fear they may have been mis-informed on this issue.
Ultimately the issue of stewardship of our marine resources is not about commercial vs. recreational interests. It’s about responsible management of a public resource. SB 1087 is a bad bill, and will do great damage to the marine regulatory process. I hope this will be killed when the vote comes to the floor of the Senate.