ATLANTIC COASTAL FISHERIES MANAGEMENT 

 COOPERATIVE ACT 



WEDNESDAY, MAY 19, 1993 



House of Representatives, 

 Subcommittee on Fisheries Management, 

 Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, 



Washington, DC. 

 The Subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 2:06 p.m., in room 

 1334, Longworth House Office Building, Hon. Gerry E. Studds 

 [chairman of the full Committee] presiding. 



Present: Representatives Studds, Lancaster, Hamburg, Ravenel, 

 Kingston. 



Staff Present: Jeffrey Pike, Jim Mathews, Greg Lambert, Lori 

 Rosa, Jean Flemma, Tom Kitsos, Jill Brady, Margherita Woods, Ed 

 Lee. 



OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. GERRY E. STUDDS, A U.S. REPRE- 

 SENTATIVE FROM MASSACHUSETTS, AND CHAIRMAN, COMMIT- 

 TEE ON MERCHANT MARINE AND FISHERIES 



Mr. Studds. The Subcommittee will come to order. The Chair an- 

 nounces that the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Fisheries Man- 

 agement, the gentleman from New York, Mr. Manton, is unable to 

 be here, and in order to underline the importance which I attach to 

 this bill, I am going to assume the mantle for the first 20 minutes 

 or so and then be relieved in the Chair by the gentleman from 

 North Carolina, Mr. Lancaster. The Chair apologizes to the wit- 

 nesses because he himself will not be able to be here in body for 

 the questioning; he will be here in spirit. 



The Subcommittee meets today to hear testimony on H.R. 2134, 

 the Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act. The 

 goal of this bill is to create a partnership between the States and 

 the Federal Government in protecting and rebuilding our fish 

 stocks along the Atlantic seaboard. 



No one disputes that many of these stocks, and the fishermen 

 that rely upon them, are facing exceedingly difficult times. We 

 have all heard the numbers; weakfish landings in the past decade 

 have declined by 85 percent, summer flounder by 70 percent in the 

 last four years. The Commission has written conservation and man- 

 agement plans for many of these species, and States, such as my 

 own State of Massachusetts, have repeatedly instituted the re- 

 quired conservation measures. Unfortunately, implementation 

 among the various States has not been consistent, and fishermen 

 on Martha's Vineyard, Cape Cod, and the south shore of Boston 



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