The U.S. Congress extended a moratorium yesterday so fishermen can continue to safely hose down their decks without fear of violating the Clean Water Act.
The three year extension of the moratorium exempts commercial fishing vessels from needing incidental discharge permits and the bipartisan push was spearheaded by Senator Lisa Murkowski.
Sen. Murkowski: “This is something that every commercial fishing vessel under 79 feet would have been required to deal with an EPA permit to effectively allow them to hose the decks off.”
The current exemption from the Clean Water Act affects 8,500 Alaska vessels and was set to expire in one week.
Sen. Murkowski said the EPA regulation is intended to prevent fuels and hazardous wastes from contaminating the water and that makes sense however needing permits for deck wash does not.
Sen. Murkowski: “Keep this in mind, you’ve had a successful day out fishing, at the end of the day they are hosing slime off the deck and maybe some fish guts and that then becomes a reportable discharge to the EPA.”
Sen. Murkowski said she will continue to push for a permanent moratorium.