53 



Statement of 



PHILLP G. COAXES 

 Chairman, Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission 



before the 



Subcommittee on Fisheries Management 



Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries 



House of Representatives 



May 19, 1993 



Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, 



Good afternoon. I am Philip G. Coates, Director of the Division of Marine 

 Fisheries for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I am also honored ciirrently to 

 serve as Chair of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, and it is in this 

 capacity that I appear before you today. 



The subject of today's hearing is new federal legislation to improve the 

 process for implementation of cooperative interstate fisheries management programs 

 along the Atlantic coast. This is an issue that will greatly influence the states and 

 the Commission, and one that ASMFC has spent much effort on over the past few 

 years. Even this week, the question has received much discvission within the 

 Commission at our Spring Meeting, as we strive to recommend sound policy for the 

 conservation and management of valuable coastal fisheries. My testimony today 

 will focus on the nature of the problems of cooperative interstate fisheries 

 management and comment on the major provisions of legislation being considered by 

 e subcommittee. 



