22 



Before I turn to John Bullard, I want to congratulate all of you 

 on some important comments, and I think there is a great deal of 

 substance that has been laid out in front of us. 



I particularly am impressed, I must say, by Captain Simonitsch's 

 suggestions. I think some of you reacted that way, it is a no-non- 

 sense, hardhitting, straighforward approach, ana frankly that is 

 what is needed. 



I have been at this for 10 years now, not as long as some of you, 

 but I have been deeply immersed in the legislative end of it. I have 

 watched promises get broken and great concepts fall by the way- 

 side. 



I respect the fishery management councils. Captain Mirarchi, but 

 the fact is, the truth is, that councils represent the regional inter- 

 ests, and they have sometimes been afraid to come to closure with 

 some of the tough decisions. And no council really has wanted to 

 bite the bullet early because you have a natural reluctance to im- 

 pose difficult restraints. 



So, it is very difficult for a council to impose on itself the full 

 measure of effort that has to be taken. And the truth is some coun- 

 cils have just avoided it and avoided it and never coame to a deci- 

 sion. 



So, I want the most democratic process possible, but I also want 

 closure. I want a decision made, and I want it to be something that 

 we can all understand and live by. 



I think. Captain Simonitsch, you have laid out a very reasonable 

 and rational proposal here which we are going to have to think 

 hard about embracing in some form. 



And, Peter Shelley of the Conservation Law Foundation also has 

 laid out several tasks we need to discuss here. We must not just 

 manage the collapse of the fishery. If all we are doing is guarantee- 

 ing that these grants are getting out better or that there is money 

 there to stave off a few fishermen from disaster, we are not ad- 

 dressing this problem. 



We must deal with the long-term view of the fisheries, and the 

 idea that we are going to leave something behind us so that fishing 

 is always part of the culture of Massachusetts, not something like 

 other industries lost as we look back on it. 



With that quick insert, let me turn to John Bullard. I will give 

 him a little more time, then we are going to begin to really get at 

 each other, let us talk about how we put this long-term solution 

 into place. 



STATEMENT OF JOHN BULLARD, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF SUS- 

 TAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOS- 

 PHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 



Mr. Bullard. Thank you very much. Senator. 



I will summarize my written remarks and also try and touch on 

 some of the themes that have been raised here. I know some of the 

 individual issues we can deal with as we get into the roundtable 

 portion. 



I'm grateful to you for inviting me back to my hometown. It's al- 

 ways nice to have an excuse to come back. 



We are dealing with something that is not only a resource prob- 

 lem, but also a problem of human dimension. And part of the sub- 



