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Thank you Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee for 

 providing this opportunity to express the views of the Sport 

 Fishing Institute (SFI) on the draft Atlantic Coastal Cooperative 

 Fishery Management Improvement Act and on the general concept of 

 interjurisdictional fisheries management. I am Andrew Loftus, 

 fisheries research specialist at SFI. For several years I have 

 been involved with Atlantic coast interjurisdictional fisheries 

 with particular emphasis on the Atlantic Striped Bass 

 Conservation Act and Chesapeake Bay issues. 



The Sport Fishing Institute, a nonprofit fisheries 

 conservation and education organization, represents the interests 

 of the sport fishing industry and the tens of millions of 

 American citizens who rely on recreational fishing as a healthy 

 and wholesome leisure activity. Proper management of fish stocks 

 which provide for long-term stability and yield is paramount to 

 providing robust recreational fisheries and to fostering a stable 

 economic climate in which sport fishing related businesses can 

 thrive. As written, the draft interjurisdictional fisheries 

 management bill, with strengthening amendments, will provide for 

 improved management, and as such, is supported by the SFI. The 

 enclosed graph illustrates the dramatic improvement in the 

 striped bass recreational fishery after the passage of the 

 Atlantic Striped Bass Conservation Act in 1985 and serves as an 

 indication of what may be expected to occur with other fisheries 

 if legislation of this nature is passed covering other coastal 

 species. 



The current status of Atlantic fisheries is deplorable, and 

 quick passage of legislation of this nature would provide some 

 relief to devastated fisheries. According to the National Marine 

 Fisheries Service, 19 of 38 fish species on the Atlantic coast of 

 major recreational and commercial importance are currently over- 

 exploited, while an additional eight (8) species are at their 

 maximum level of exploitation. The spawning biomass of weakfish 

 and summer flounder, both species being very important to the 

 recreational fishing industry, are at less than five (5) percent 

 of their historical levels. This poor management results in 

 harvests far below their potential, depriving American citizens 

 of the opportunity to optimally reap the benefits of common 

 property resources and costing thousands of jobs and billions of 

 dollars in lost economic activity to coastal communities that 

 depend on a thriving recreational fishing industry. 

 Additionally, continuing delays in implementing sound management 

 brings us closer to the potential for complete collapse of these 

 fisheries. Weakfish and summer flounder have been described as 

 being in worse shape than striped bass were at their low point, 

 and implementation of management plans which have been developed 

 for several years must be immediate . 



These data provide ample evidence of a management process 

 which has failed. Inconsistencies in management goals between 

 individual states and between the states and the federal 



