NATURAL RESOURCES COMMITTEE

Chairman John Fleming (LA-04)

The Subcommittee is responsible for all issues pertaining to wildlife resources, fisheries, oceanography, and insular areas. The Insular areas of the U.S. include the territories of American Samoa, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI), as well as the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

Republicans on the Subcommittee are committed to implementing commonsense policies to protect wildlife and ensure public access to our public lands. The Subcommittee is also working to ensure the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have sufficient resources to effectively manage their programs and keep our ocean resources thriving and sustainably managed.

Hot Topics:

• National Ocean Policy
• Endangered Species Act

Did You Know?

• The U.S. exclusive economic zone (EEZ) extends 200 nautical miles offshore and is the largest in the world, spanning over 13,000 miles of coastline and containing 3.4 million square nautical miles of ocean—larger than the combined land area of all fifty states.
• U.S. ports handle more than $700 billion in merchandise and the cruise ship industry and its passengers raise another $12 billion in spending, with the maritime industry producing more than 13 million jobs. The U.S. coastline is 12,383 miles and its shoreline is 88,633 miles.
• According to 2000 estimates, ocean-related activities generated more than $117 billion and supported over two million jobs. When including coastal activities, the numbers increase to more than $1 trillion or one tenth of the nation’s annual gross domestic product is generated in the nearshore area adjacent to the coast referred to as the nearshore zone. When the coastal watershed county economies are included, the contribution swells to over $4.5 trillion, half of the nation’s gross domestic product and accounting for some 60 million jobs.
• The National Wildlife Refuge System is comprised of 550 units located in all 50 states and U.S. territories that provides hunting, fishing, wildlife observation and other recreational opportunities to the more than 40 million Americans who visit at least one refuge each year.

Membership:

The Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans and Insular Affairs consists of 16 Members, 9 Republicans and 7 Democrats.

Jurisdiction of the Subcommittee:

• All matters regarding insular areas of the United States.
• All measures or matters regarding the Freely Associated States and Antarctica.
• Fisheries management and fisheries research generally, including the management of all commercial and recreational fisheries (except for the reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act), interjurisdictional fisheries, international fisheries agreements, aquaculture, seafood safety and fisheries promotion.
• Wildlife resources, including research, restoration, refuges and conservation.
• All matters pertaining to the protection of coastal and marine environments, including estuarine protection.
• Coastal barriers.
• Oceanography.
• Ocean engineering, including materials, technology and systems.
• Coastal zone management.
• Marine sanctuaries.
• U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.
• Sea Grant programs and marine extension services.
• Cooperative efforts to encourage, enhance and improve international programs for the protection of the environment and the conservation of natural resources otherwise within the jurisdiction of the Subcommittee.
• General and continuing oversight and investigative authority over activities, policies and programs within the jurisdiction of the Subcommittee.

Referred Legislation:

• Legislation Referred to the Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans and Insular Affairs (THOMAS Search)