43 



servation efforts as to trip limits, days lay-in time, sizes of dredges, 

 and these types of things right from the get-go. We keep coming 

 even to this date to the fisheries management council, and pertain- 

 ing there again on other issues. 



But when you were saying pertaining to law enforcement, and 

 there again it fell on deaf ears from the management council. 



Senator Kerry. Why do you think that happened? Do you have 

 any sense of that? 



Captain Bruno. Why it happened is because from the way we 

 have a feeling of it here in the industry is the fishermen didn't 

 know what we were talking about. We are the harvesters of the 

 ocean. We knew the species, we're very good at what we do, our 

 job, and unfortunately they never took to our opinions. 



Senator Kerry. You are saying the council never did? 



Captain Bruno. The council. Fm saying from the get-go we insti- 

 gated these plans, which now they have taken pieces of it now at 

 this late date to act on. 



Senator Kerry. Why do you think the council did not? Was it the 

 conflict of interests within the council? What prevented the council 

 from 



Captain Bruno. For the reasons it's beyond me and it's beyond 

 a lot of the fishermen here. We're not exactly, you know, as far as 

 office workers or punching clocks, we're not of that nature. And, 

 you know, for a lot of the fellows to get up to the council is really 

 hard, because they're taking care of the boats and so on. 



But besides all that on the enforcement end of it, we have to — 

 the fisheries management council, time and time again, I'm a scal- 

 loper, to let us take the product as it ic. This business of sifting 

 through piles and piles of scallops and discarding the small and 

 bringing it back up and doing the same, we are killing off the in- 

 dustry. 



We had so much resource out there in the southeast part that 

 was — we would have had fishing for years if it was managed at 

 that time properly. We tried to put the input to the council. We 

 asked them to let us take it, and to state the way it came and trip 

 limits on it and so forth and so on. It just fell on deaf ears. It con- 

 tinues to fall on deaf ears. 



Senator Kerry. What do you think we should do now? 



Captain Bruno. We've got to have people listen to us. They're 

 not listening to us. Senator. 



Just last March we was up to Boston. We had a whole region 

 down to the mid-Atlantic there. If they had listened to us to close 

 that area off, we would have had fishing for a while. Let us go in 

 and take it in in trip limits, let us go in, you know, conserve. 



Senator Kerry. When you say they are not listening to us; who 

 is "they"? 



Captain Bruno. Well, at Boston, I was up at Boston when you 

 was there, when the $30 million package was appropriated. 



Right after that we had a meeting with the Secretary Brown and 

 Rollie Schmitten, and we told them exactly — in fact I personally 

 told Rollie, the area was 100 miles long from 20 to 40 fathoms. I 

 give him the area. I suggested all you have to do when you get 

 home is just take a plane straight out east where you are, down 

 there in Washington. 



