19 



stand up against the tide when everyone else seems to be ignoring 

 what efforts the United States may be making? 



Dr. Foster. As I mentioned at the beginning, we think that it is 

 imperative that the United States take a very aggressive position 

 with regard to what these other nations are doing in the eastern 

 Atlantic and in the Mediterranean. We are all signatories to the 

 same treaty. 



We all have the same responsibilities, and we are not responsible 

 just for our fish. We are responsible across the board, and they are 

 not living up to their responsibilities. Therefore, we think that we 

 should do what we can in an aggressive way to get them to abide 

 by the same rules that we have to abide by. I don't think the 

 answer is to say, we shouldn't have to do it anymore or we 

 shouldn't because they are not doing it. The answer is to make 

 them abide by the recommendations. 



Mr. ToRKiLDSEN. Do you have any steps under your current 

 power or — that you can suggest that would bring those countries 

 into compliance? Because clearly they are not in compliance now. 



Dr. Foster. Well, I am not sure how successful we will be in 

 bringing them into compliance, but I think that there are things 

 that we need to do that we have not done or have not done aggres- 

 sively in the past. First, I think that we have not been particularly 

 aggressive in ICCAT. I think we have to exhaust that. We have to 

 go in with a very proactive approach. 



We have talked about the possibility of going country to country, 

 and then we have other tools. We have the embargo provision in 

 ATCA. It has been suggested, and with the resolution, that we look 

 at Pelly (Pelly Amendment). So we do have an arsenal of tools that 

 we can at least consider, but I think we need to have a strategy, we 

 need to become aggressive about it. 



Mr. ToRKiLDSEN. Thank you. I will just conclude saying that I 

 think that would be appreciated by the people who make their 

 living up in Massachusetts and the coastal areas in the northeast if 

 that aggressiveness for a level playing field could be achieved. That 

 is very, very important. Whatever steps you could take to speed up 

 the collection of data would also be appreciated because a number 

 of people were out on their boats when they heard that they were 

 closed down. 



We had a similar situation in New England on ground fish in 

 area two, and it is giving NMFS a reputation that they are really 

 not in control of what they are supposed to be doing. I know that is 

 not true, but people's livelihood depends on these decisions, so 

 whatever steps you could take would be very much appreciated. 



Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. Manton. The gentleman from North Carolina,. 



Mr. Lancaster. 



Mr. Lancaster. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, ladies 

 and gentlemen of the panel for your testimony. 



I am concerned about the testimony I heard here today about the 

 situation in the eastern Atlantic. I wonder if you could educate me 

 a little more on the problem. Is this a problem of signatories who 

 are not complying with the agreement? 



Is the agreement not strong enough to protect this fishery in the 

 eastern Atlantic, or are we talking about countries that are not sig- 



