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STATEMENT OF DONALD BARRY, COUNSELOR TO THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY 

 FOR FISH AND WILDLIFE AND PARKS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, 

 BEFORE THE HOUSE MERCHANT MARINE AND FISHERIES SUBCOMMITTEE ON 

 FISHERIES MANAGEMENT CONCERNING THE DRAFT ATLANTIC COASTAL 

 FISHERIES COOPERATIVE MANAGEMENT ACT OF 199 3 



May 19, 1993 



Good afternoon, I am Don Barry, Counselor to the Assistant 

 Secretary of the Interior for Fish and Wildlife and Parks. I am 

 appearing here today on behalf of Secretary Babbitt. It is 

 indeed a pleasure to return to my old Committee. I look forward 

 to working with you on this and other issues. 



Mr. Chairman, the Department of the Interior strongly supports 

 the intent of the draft Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative 

 Management Act of 1993. However, we are still reviewing the 

 subcommittee's draft bill within the Administration, and will 

 provide you with our suggested amendments to the draft bill as 

 soon as possible. 



The Department of the Interior proposes several actions to ensure 

 the long-term viability of coastal fish populations. Numerous 

 fish populations are on the decline or at historic low levels of 

 abundance due to habitat loss and alteration, pollution, and 

 overfishing. Specific examples along the Atlantic coast include 

 weakfish and summer flounder populations. Total commercial and 

 recreational catch of weakfish dropped from an estimated 78.5 

 million pounds in 1980 to 11.4 million pounds in 1990. Based on 

 tow survey indices, summer flounder stock biomass is at the 



