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The Atlcintic States Marine Fisheries Commission was formed over fifty years 

 ago when the fifteen Atlantic coast states entered into a Compact that was 

 ultimately approved by Congress. The Compact stated that the purpose of the states 

 in coming together to form the Commission was: 



... to promote the better utilization of the fisheries, marine, shell and 

 anadromous, of the Atlantic seaboard by the development of a joint 

 program for the promotion and protection of such fisheries, and by the 

 prevention of the physical waste of the fisheries from any cause. 



Over the five decades of its existence, the Commission has successfully 

 carried out a vast array of programs on behalf of its member states. For the past 

 decade or so, the principal orientation of the Commission's activities has been 

 toward the coordination of fishery conservation and management programs for 

 coastal fisheries. This has been carried out through the Commission's Interstate 

 Fisheries Management Program (ISFMP). Through the ISFMP, the states have come 

 together to adopt nineteen fishery management plans covering over twenty major 

 coastal species. 



The program for which the Commission is principally known, the conservation 

 and management of Atlantic Striped Bass, is perhaps the best example of how states 

 and the federal government can come together and achieve successful conservation, 

 and even recovery, of valuable coastal fisheries. Striped bass have been a principal 

 issue for the Commission from the earliest days of its existence. In the 1980' s, 

 stripers experienced a predpitoios and serious decline in the coastal resource that 

 demanded coordinated and responsive action. Through the Commission, and with the 

 active support of the federal government, the states responded with a series of 

 managennent actions aimed at restoration of this uniquely valuable species. Over the 

 past four years, we have all seen the positive results of this action. The striped 

 bass resource along the Atiantic coast has rebounded almost everywhere it is found. 

 It is one of the outstanding examples of fisheries conservation that v/orks. Striped 

 bass management is still problematic and controversial. But at least today we are 

 confronted with questions about the best way to use this resource rather than the 



