Prominent House lawmakers are urging the leaders of the Appropriations Committee to block funding for controversial new fishery management schemes as a part of the House-Senate negotiations on spending for next year.

A bipartisan group of 17 congressmen sent a letter this week to the leaders of the House and Senate spending panel asking them to support a rider that would block approval of new catch-share programs at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

They want the House-Senate conference committee to include the rider as they negotiate on the bill that will set spending levels for NOAA next year. Signatories to the letter include Reps. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) and Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who spearheaded an effort to include a similar rider in the 2011 bill, and 15 other lawmakers from New Jersey, Florida, Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire and Connecticut.

The Obama administration has championed catch shares or "limited access privilege programs," which set fishing quotas and give fishermen control of a portion of an overall catch.

The catch-share programs are controversial because they turn traditional fisheries management upside down. Instead of limiting the fishing season or the number of days that boats are allowed at sea, regulators impose an overall catch limit and divide the total share among buyers. Fishermen can then control when they go out to fulfill their portion of the catch limit.

Advocates for the management scheme say it halts the "race for fish" and can lead to more sustainable fisheries. But critics say ill-designed catch shares hurt small fishing operations, cause further consolidation in the industry and damage the economies of coastal communities.

"The last thing the American government should be doing in these economic times is spending millions of taxpayer dollars to expand programs that will put even more Americans out of work," the letter from the House lawmakers states.

The lawmakers want to revive and toughen a rider that was included in the fiscal 2011 appropriations bill. For that bill, House members voted 259-159 to approve a rider.

The final 2011 spending measure blocked funding for NOAA to approve new catch shares. But that language did little to change NOAA's work on the ground since no new catch shares were up for approval.

Under guidance from its general counsel, NOAA continued program development even though the nation's eight regional fishing counsels were barred from taking final action to approve new catch-share efforts (Greenwire, May 6).

This time around, Jones and Frank want the spending committee to specify that no funds can be used to "develop or approve" any new limited access privilege programs along the East Coast.

Environmental groups have fired back with their own effort to block the rider. Six large national groups sent a letter to lawmakers last month asking them to oppose any rider that would limit catch-share spending.

The groups -- the Conservation Law Foundation, Environmental Defense Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council, Nature Conservancy and Ocean Conservancy and World Wildlife Fund -- say regional fishing councils should be allowed to continue work on catch-share programs.

"We object to depriving stakeholders of a useful tool at a time when challenges in managing marine resources require creative, flexible solutions," the letter from environmental groups states.

The rider would be a part of negotiations on the "minibus" appropriations measure for the Commerce, Agriculture and Transportation departments for fiscal 2012.

The Senate approved its version of the "minibus" this week. Conference negotiations are expected to begin this month to reconcile the Senate conglomerate bill with the House versions of the three bills.

Lawmakers will also have to reconcile different funding levels for NOAA in the measure. The Senate's bill allots $5 billion for NOAA, and the House budgets just under $4.5 billion. In both cases, the funding comes in under the White House's nearly $5.5 billion request.

Fishery councils are assessing alternative management schemes for two fisheries in the South Atlantic, one in the Gulf of Mexico and for monkfish in New England. There are currently 15 catch-share programs in place, including new programs for groundfish in both New England and the West Coast.