10 



as the proceedings on the floor allow us to. The Subcommittee will 

 stand in recess. 



[Recess.] 



Mr. Lancaster, [presiding] The Subcommittee will be in order. 

 We will resume the hearing which was begun by the Chairman, 

 Mr. Studds. We regret that the session on the floor today has made 

 things sort of discombobulated, and we probably will have addition- 

 al interruptions before we finish, but we will begin again, and I be- 

 lieve that two of the members of the first panel have given their 

 testimony. I will now call on Phil Coates, the Chairman of the At- 

 lantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, for his testimony. You 

 may, if you choose, Mr. Coates, enter your formal testimony in the 

 record and summarize, in the interest of time, if you would please. 



STATEMENT OF PHILIP COATES, CHAIRMAN, ATLANTIC STATES 

 MARINE FISHERIES COMMISSION 



Mr. Coates. I will be glad to do that, Mr. Chairman. I do have a 

 supplemental statement though. If I could be allowed to read that, 

 I would be most appreciative. 



Mr. Lancaster. You may indeed. 



Mr. Coates. Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, I am 

 Phil Coates, Director of the Division of Marine Fisheries for the 

 Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I am also Chairman of the Atlan- 

 tic States Marine Fisheries Commission, and it is in this capacity 

 that I appear before you today. 



We have already submitted our written testimony on the sub- 

 stantive portions of the bill, House 2134, so I just wanted to add a 

 couple of additional points as a result of some of the dynamics of 

 our most recent ASMFC meeting which just concluded at noon 

 today. 



For the past three days, the Commission has been meeting at its 

 spring meeting here in Washington. This morning, the Commis- 

 sion's Executive Committee took a significant step when it adopted 

 specific language to recommend to be included in the new Federal 

 legislation. The vote was overwhelmingly in favor of this action by 

 a margin of 13 to 1 to 1. Until today, our position was one of gener- 

 al support. We now have specific language that the Commission be- 

 lieves will get the job done. Your staff is generally a>yare of the 

 language that the Commission has recommepded and this language 

 has been used as the basis of much of the drafting that went into 

 House 2134 that is before the Committee today. 



The States are aware that they have a serious responsibility to 

 conserve and manage coastal fisheries for the benefit of all people. 

 The Commission has recognized that the essential partnership nec- 

 essary for effective conservation of our shared fishery resources re- 

 quires a Federal role in helping to ensure that this system works. 

 The Commission's draft does this while maintaining the States as 

 the primary fishery managers for coastal resources. I am pleased to 

 be able to tell the Committee of ASMFC's action this morning and 

 hope that this will give even further impetus to the enactment of 

 this important legislation. 



Mr. Chairman, there are some significant areas where the Com- 

 mission's position differs from House 2134. Those are summarized 



