 In its basic essence, National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is intended to make certain that federal officials make informed decisions in a process that is transparent and open to the public. As applied to federal fisheries management, NEPA requires thorough environmental review of proposed fishing regulations and provides opportunities for all sectors of the public to be heard in the fisheries decision-making process. These activities are complementary to the MSRA and help fishery managers make better management decisions involving public resources. Some of the regional fishery management councils have proposed to radically weaken environmental review and public participation. Under the councils’ proposal, for management actions would be evaluated by the councils despite the clear conflicts of interest among council members with vested interests in the fisheries they manage.New agency rules for NEPA compliance must affirm that NMFS, not the councils, is the decision maker and responsible for ensuring compliance with environmental analysis and other laws.Both the language of the MSRA and its legislative history demonstrate that the new process must comply fully with NEPA and with the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations, which have provided guidance on how federal agencies should implement and interpret NEPA for three decades.
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