20 



based industries we could explore. Fishermen could not develop 

 that kind of vision their own, they don't know what's out there. We 

 need to bring in the processors. We need to bring in the other sec- 

 tors of this economic sector to forge a positive vision and then make 

 it happen. 



And I think that is probably one of the most fundamental miss- 

 ing pieces in the mix at the moment, for me anyway. 



Thank you. 



Senator Kerry. Thank you very much, Peter. Very helpful. 



Bruce, I know you had to arrive a little late. You missed the 

 glowing words about you, but your ears shouldn't be burning. 



STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE BRUCE TARR, 

 MASSACHUSETTS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 



Mr. Tarr. Thank you, Senator. It's good to be back in New Bed- 

 ford, the sister port of Gloucester, and see so many folks and 

 friends who are working so hard at making this industry work, I 

 want to thank you for this hearing and this opportunity. 



I think when we look at the reauthorization of the Magnuson 

 Act, it's particularly important right now to try to develop a frame- 

 work which would allow us not only to transition, but to maintain 

 sustainable resources. 



I speak to vou today not only as the State representative from 

 the city of Gloucester, but I am also the president of Gloucester 

 United, which is a group of over 200 individuals which are not just 

 fishermen, they are bankers, lawyers, retailers, members of various 

 chambers of commerce. 



The fact is that we realize the interdependencies of our economy, 

 of all of those people we've joined together to try to work with you 

 and work with others. We appreciate you giving us this oppor- 

 tunity. 



I also just for a minute want to recognize two gentlemen who I 

 have the pleasure of serving with. Representatives Quinn and 

 Strauss, and remind you that we have filed legislation in Massa- 

 chusetts which will provide for an additional $15 million of assist- 

 ance to match the work that's being attempted by the Federal Gov- 

 ernment. 



I want to touch very specifically on a couple of points. 



And first of all, let me speak to the emergency situation that we 

 have, and then go into Magnuson reauthorization and do that very, 

 veiy quickly. 



First of all, the primary problem that I see with all of our fish- 

 eries and all of the aid, and almost every person at this table has 

 touched upon it, is we still have not addressed the critical problem 

 of long-term debt that's being carried by the folks in the New Eng- 

 land fishery. I would suspect that the lack of addressing that com- 

 municates a very serious problem, and that is that we don't know 

 where we're going, and therefore we don't address long-term debt 

 because we don't know what we want to do about it. I think we 

 need to go forward and certainly work toward that. 



Second, I think that we would be suffering far less of the prob- 

 lems that we're currently suffering if we didn't tolerate economic 

 waste. It's absolutely redundant to say there is a difference be- 

 tween fishermen and conservationists. Fishermen are conservation- 



