83 



to work intensively on this issue in the coming months and stands ready to help 

 this Committee in any way we can. 

 Thank you again. 



Prepared Statement of Mark Simonitsch, Fish Weirs, Inc. 



To solve the New England groundfish problem: Are we prepared: 



• to close George's Bank for three years, on both sides of the Hague Line, to drag- 

 gers and sea scallopers. 



• to assign mandatory observers to collect data for fifty percent of the vessel s 

 days at sea in exchange for fuel payments for those trips. 



• to provide fisheries science education for commercial fishermen to make them 

 equal partners in the recovery process. 



• to develop hatchery and release programs, initially for Codfish, to further our 

 understanding of the biology and behavior of commercially important species and to 

 rebuild their numbers. 



• to construct a world class gear technology center to determine the overall im- 

 pact of various gear types on habitat and fishing mortality. 



• to increase National Marine Fisheries Service funding and staff and to insure 

 that NOAA distributes funds to NMFS as Congress desires. 



• to establish sanctuary zones in which all forms of bottom gear are prohibited- 

 managing reproductive habitat is fundamental to solving the problem. 



We cannot have a fishing industry for future generations without fish. 



Prepared Statement of Bruce E. Tarr, Massachusetts House of 



Representatives 



Mr. Chairman, Senator Kerry, thank you for the opportunity to share with you 

 this morning my thoughts relative to the reauthorization of the Magnuson Fishery 

 Conservation and Management Act. 



I am State Representative Bruce Tarr, and I am also the President of Gloucester 

 United, a community-based organization to revitalixe the economy of the City of 

 Gloucester. Presently, our more than 200 Members are focused on the fishing indus- 

 try, although our ranks include retailers, attorneys, insurance professionals and 

 people from nearly all walks of life. We have united around the fishing industry be- 

 cause of its economic, social and cultural importance to the City of Gloucester and 

 the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 



The opportunity you afford me today comes at a pivotal time for the future of fish- 

 ing as an economic force and a way of life in Gloucester and Massachusetts. Reau- 

 thorization of the Magnuson Act presents us all with a chance to review fisheries 

 management practices in our Nation. Doing so will allow us to approach the next 

 century with a statutory framework for a transition to prosperity in our fisheries. 



Reaching that goal will necessarily mean bringing together the expertise of those 

 in the academic field with the invaluable practical experience of those who harvest 

 our precious fisheries resources and those who process them into an essential pro- 

 tein resource for our country and our world. Critical to the inclusion of these compo- 

 nents is public participation. 



I can conceive of no better means for soliciting participation than our Regional 

 Management Councils. Although they may at times be criticized, the Councils reflect 

 the essence of our democracy. Through their work the views of the public are solic- 

 ited, assimilated and reviewed in representative fashion. Just as our federal and 

 state governments rely on representative democracy to secure the basic rights and 

 privileges of our society, so should we also guard our precious fisheries resources 

 with democratic vigilance. 



A true democracy accepts all participants, without separation by category. Simi- 

 larly, we should avoid unnecessary categorization of council members. Consider, for 

 example, those who would argue that Regional Councils should have an increased 

 number of members with environmental or conservationist concerns. These are 

 terms which describe our seafood harvesters and processors, and are therefore re- 

 dundant. Fishermen, concerned with their future and that of their children, have 

 conservation in today's list of priorities. 



Preserving the strength and effectiveness of the councils means also preserving 

 their integrity by limitingthe extent of intervention by the Secretary of Commerce 

 and other bureaucratic omcials. Certainly the Secretary and others have a role to 

 play. Yet, overruling or contravening the councils frequently will lead only to a 

 weakening of the process and continued mistrust in the present and future federal 

 management schemes. 



