the Coastal Zone Management Act, which is another driving force 

 for what we do. 



I am also happy to announce that today the Marine Fisheries 

 Service is upgrading the status of the California gray whale from 

 endangered to fully recovered, an important success story from the 

 Endangered Species Act. As you know. Secretary Babbitt and I an- 

 nounced yesterday a number of administrative changes in the En- 

 dangered Species Act which will make that act easier to manage 

 and more responsive to all of the constituencies, including the en- 

 dangered species. 



Now, in terms of building sustainable fisheries, an important pri- 

 ority for us, one of the new things that is in our budget this year 

 is fishery user fees. In 1995, our proposal that has come with the 

 President's budget proposes an increase of fishery fees for living 

 marine resources by $82 million. 



Four categories of fishery user fees are proposed. They are first 

 sale value of U.S. commercial landings, first sale value of edible im- 

 ported seafood, value of individual transferable harvest shares, and 

 vessels to cover costs of special management measures that directly 

 benefit specific fisheries and fish harvesters, for example, observ- 

 ers. 



This proposal was developed after a series of meetings with rep- 

 resentatives of Congress and industry constituent groups to develop 

 a proposal which we believe is both fair and practical. Our guiding 

 principle in developing these fees includes the idea that the fees be 

 reasonable and not represent an onerous burden, and that reve- 

 nues generated by the fees be used to benefit the people paying the 

 fees. A specific proposal to generate revenues was submitted to 

 Congress by the administration during the Magnuson Act reauthor- 

 ization process. 



A second part of our NOAA strategic plan is environmental as- 

 sessment and prediction. That is, describing, monitoring, and pre- 

 dicting changes in the Earth's environment in order to ensure and 

 enhance sustainable economic opportunities now and for the future. 



In our 1995 budget, we are requesting about $1.1 billion for ad- 

 vanced short-term forecast and warning services. Funds are re- 

 quested to maintain ongoing forecast and warning operations, in- 

 cluding the modernization and restructuring of the National 

 Weather Service. 



In the case of the next generation radar and the automated sur- 

 face observing station procurements and new office construction, 

 we are on the downside of the funding profile. The modernization 

 associated restructuring initiative, the Advanced Weather Inter- 

 active Processing System — that is, the software — and the current 

 series of our geostationary and polar satellites are on the upside of 

 the funding profile. 



Recently there has been some concern expressed regarding 

 whether it is safe for humans to live near the next generation ra- 

 dars. The system that we have operates at levels that are thou- 

 sands of times lower, in terms of radiation levels, than the 1992 

 American National Standards Institute and the Institute of Electric 

 and Electronic Engineers' thresholds. 



Now, in terms of cross-cut programs, NOAA in 1995 will share 

 host responsibilities with NASA for the Vice President's Inter- 



