94 



With these incentives more selective gear will automatically be 

 developed and used. Also the cleanest techniques will be adapted 

 and the bycatch problem will be curtailed. 



This has already worked, by the way, during the Americanization 

 of the fishery. And somehow this fell by the wayside. 



Therefore we request that the following language be included in 

 National Standard Five: "Conservation and management measures 

 shall assign harvest priority to use of selective gear and practices 

 that minimize waste of catch of target species, minimizes bycatch 

 of nontarget species and minimizes disruption of habitat." 



The Alaska Marine Conservation Council supports selective gear 

 and selective practices. As a cautionary note, if limited access pro- 

 grams are enacted before the council addresses the issues of waste 

 within the fishery, these problems will only be compounded. 



Thank you for giving us this opportunity to testify. 



The Chairman. Very good. Thank you. And we next have Ms. 

 Pagels. 



STATEMENT OF PENNY PAGELS, NORTHWEST FISHERIES 

 CAMPAIGNER, GREENPEACE 



Ms. Pagels. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On behalf of Greenpeace 

 and its approximately 1.8 million supporters here in the United 

 States, I am pleased to present our organization's views regarding 

 the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act. My 

 name is Penny Pagels, and I am the northwest fisheries cam- 

 paigner for Greenpeace. 



I work specifically on North Pacific fisheries issues, advocating 

 for the conservation of living marine resources. I am also serving 

 my second term on the advisory panel to the North Pacific Fishery 

 Management Council. It is with great pleasure that I present this 

 testimony to you today. 



As an environmental organization dedicated to protecting the 

 marine environment, Greenpeace is concerned with several issues 

 that will be under review during this reauthorization process. We 

 are steering committee members of the Marine Fish Conservation 

 Network and are currently working on a national outreach pro- 

 gram to empower citizens of the United States to become involved 

 in ocean issues. 



In our view, the Magnuson Act has ample room for strengthening 

 and improvement. More emphasis should be placed on the long- 

 term sustainability of living marine resources and the marine 

 ecosystems that support them both inside the U.S. EEZ and out- 

 side of our national jurisdiction. As we are well aware, marine spe- 

 cies do not respect international boundaries and it is therefore in 

 our interest to include ocean policies that extend beyond 200 nau- 

 tical miles. 



Almost 17 years after the passage of the Magnuson Act, the state 

 of our Nation's fisheries has not improved. We have not halted 

 overfishing, and for the most part, we have not allowed for the con- 

 servation or prudent management of fish stocks. The National Ma- 

 rine Fisheries Service reports that 42 percent of the managed fish 

 stocks in this Nation are overutilized. 



Today, in fact, the matter in which our fisheries are prosecuted 

 begs the question as to why we have allowed and even encouraged 



