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abundance due to habitat loss and alteration, pollution, and over- 

 fishing. The bill under consideration will facilitate the conserva- 

 tion, restoration, and cooperative management of these and other 

 valuable interjurisdictional fishery resources along the Atlantic 

 Coast. 



We believe that several fundamental principles form the basis 

 for successful conservation and management of coastal interjuris- 

 dictional fisheries. First, fishery management plans must be based 

 on good scientific information. Second, there must be adequate 

 measures to prevent overfishing and to reduce the degradation and 

 loss of important fisheries habitat. Third, State and Federal man- 

 agement agencies must work cooperatively to achieve management 

 plan objectives, and management entities must be held accountable 

 for full implementation of management plans. 



We believe that fishery restoration actions should be undertaken 

 as a part of a broader ecosystem-based approach and should focus 

 on: identifying important habitats, such as those used for spawn- 

 ing, overwintering, growth or residency; monitoring the status of 

 habitat; and making recommendations to protect and restore habi- 

 tat. 



To address habitat issues, the Commission should establish a 

 process for reviewing potential actions that will impact important 

 fisheries habitat. Once these mechanisms are established, the Com- 

 mission will be able to effectively comment to those agencies that 

 regulate actions affecting habitat areas. Furthermore, those agen- 

 cies should give serious consideration to incorporating the recom- 

 mendations provided by the Commission into their planned activi- 

 ties. 



To ensure that all States fully implement Commission-adopted 

 interstate fishery management plans, mechanisms for accountabil- 

 ity must be in place. While Atlantic fishery coastal States partici- 

 pate in the development of plans, they are not required to imple- 

 ment and enforce management measures identified in adopted 

 plans. The resulting inconsistent management strategies have con- 

 tributed to the continued decline of Atlantic coastal fisheries. Of 

 the 17 plans that have been adopted by the Commission, only three 

 have been fully implemented. 



This lack of enforceability and accountability of management ac- 

 tions must be reversed. Failure to embrace the identified manage- 

 ment measures clearly increases the risk of further depleting valu- 

 able fishery resources. In addition, failure by one or more manage- 

 ment jurisdictions to comply with recommended management 

 measures decreases the ability of other jurisdictions to successfully 

 implement their management plans. 



The Department of the Interior supports an approach to manage- 

 ment of Atlantic coastal fisheries that embraces these above princi- 

 ples. Much can be learned from the success of the Atlantic Striped 

 Bass Conservation Act. The Striped Bass Act promotes conserva- 

 tion and cooperative management, ensures accountability by re- 

 quiring the States to implement and enforce the Atlantic States 

 Marine Fisheries Commission's plan, and through the moratorium 

 clause provides a strong incentive for the States to implement and 

 enforce management measures of the plan. As a result, Atlantic 



