13 



a very careful consideration of some experiments in this reauthor- 

 ization of the Magnuson Act, in particular to allow the concept of 

 developing a property right in the fishery, and to be assigned — 

 have that right assigned to individual fishermen. This goes beyond 

 an individual transferable quota or ITQ system which may not con- 

 vey a property right. 



I can say this quickly, because my time is almost up, this is an 

 extraordinarily difficult political exercise to engage in. It is not sim- 

 ple. 



The other message that I would like to convey here is the ex- 

 traordinary lack of information we have. The three Presidential ad- 

 ministrations prior to the present one systematically cut funding 

 for statistics, for economic and other data. We are extraordinarily 

 in the dark about the actual truth. 



You hear these kind of loose, off the cuff, informal, and always 

 anonymous comments that landings may be as much as 50 percent 

 underreported. Nobody knows. To some extent that's part of the 

 pain. An accurate reporting system is indispensible to an effective 

 approach to managing the resources. We need more statistics, we 

 need more information, we need to systematically beef up the col- 

 lection and dissemination of that information. Thank you very 

 much, Senator. 



^ STATEMENT OF MRS. GAIL JOHNSON, MAINE FISHERMEN'S 



WIVES 



Mrs. Johnson. Thank you. 



As Senator Kerry has said, I'm a founding member of the Maine 

 Fishermen's Wives Association and of the Blue Water Fishermen's 

 Association. — , 



My goal is to have a viable fishery that employs a great number 

 of people, allows a healthy marine biomass, and provides a product 

 to the Nation at a reasonable price. _J 



We need to be reminded, as we're talking about going forward, 

 of the basic principles of the Magnuson Act. And in my opinion 

 again, they are: one, dividing the Nation into separate areas be- 

 cause of differing socioeconomic systems, issues, environmental sys- 

 tems. / 



Two, understanding that the populations of fish stocks are in a [ 

 continual state of flux. They're neither up nor down all at the same \ 

 time. ( 



Three, aside from intrinsic value, fish stocks highest value is ; 

 food. j 



Four, recognizing that fishing is the social and economic basis of 

 many coastal communities. ^ 



Five, understanding that management decisions must include 

 carefully considered projections, both long- and short-term, of the 

 effect of those decisions. 



And I might add parenthetically that the^tate-of Maine has no 

 unemployment compensation for fishermen. 



Tlie proposed amendments to the Magnuson Act, most of them 

 right now, seem to act as bywords of disenfranchisement to many 

 fishermen. The proposals seem to be directed toward large cor- 

 porate entities or their representatives, and the individuals who 

 are the majority of the harvesters are feeling categorized as cheats, 



81-990 0-94-2 



