36 



Now, you are sitting there and nodding your head. You know 

 that was happening. 



Mr. Davidson. What a sin. 



Senator Kerry. I agree. Who is going to do something about it? 

 They would have brought back the 3,000 pounds. But if everybody 

 went out and brought back the 3,000 pounds, there would be no 

 fish left. 



Now, we have a choice, and the choice is very simple. We either 

 restrain ourselves and manage ourselves and deal with this dimin- 

 ishing resource, or we claim responsibility for having permitted the 

 destruction of the oceanic ecosystem. That is the choice. 



Now, if we just let everybody go out there, drag away, catch all 

 the fish they want, and sell them on the market, that may be great 

 for today, but it is not great for the future. 



We have a responsibility that is not just to the industry of today, 

 it is also to not mortgage the future. And so this is hard, this is 

 very, very hard. What you just provided is a description of how 

 tough it is. You are feeling the pain, and a lot of other people are 

 feeling the pain as well. 



I am simply here today with everybody else at this table trying 

 to find the smartest, most sensitive method. I do not need you to 

 describe to me the pain. I need you to help me find how we get out 

 of this mess in a reasonable way. 



Mr. Davidson. Senator, I'm not describing my pain, I'm just tell- 

 ing you what happened. 



Senator Kerry. You said it's not fair. 



Mr. Davidson. What you say about the fish, 3,000 pound of had- 

 dock killed where the limit is 500, it's not the fishermen's fault, it's 

 the people who tell them they can go out and drag indiscriminately 

 and only take 500 pounds of haddock when they can keep giving 

 haddock and take codfish or some other thing. 



The thing is the Government allows them to do this. Stop them 

 from doing this. 



Senator Kerry. There is a suggestion. Stop them from doing it. 

 You tell me, how do we stop them from doing that? Should we 

 order them to have a different kind of fishing method? 



Mr. Davidson. Quota. 



Senator Kerry. They have a quota. The quota is 500 pounds. 

 They are catching 3,000. 



Mr. Davidson. It's too late. Conservation has to start when 

 there's a fishery to conserve. We started too late. 



Senator Kerry. I do not think most people here would agpree it 

 is too late. We think we can bring it back. 



Mr. Davidson. This will take me 3 minutes. Can I please read 

 that? 



Senator Kerry. Do you want to take the mike and read it? That 

 is fine. 



Folks, I want to have not just two people dominate this. I want 

 to have a lot of people. 



Do you want to go ahead? 



Mr. Davidson. I wasn't aware of this meeting until yesterday at 

 suppertime, and I was called and said pick up the Boston Globe. 

 On page 14. And it was an article about you. And you blamed the 

 State, the Federal Government, the fishing councils, the fishermen 



