31 



Testimony of 



Nelson R. Beideman 



Executive Director 



Blue Water Fishermen's Association 



Before the 



Subcommittee on Fisheries Management 



Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries 



United States House of Representatives 



October 20, 1993 



Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee: 



Thank you for inviting me to speak to you about the Atlantic Tunas 

 Convention Act (ATCA) . 



I cun Nelson Beideman, Executive Director of Blue Water Fishermen's 

 Association (BWFA) . Since 1989, I served as Blue Water's President until 

 last April when my boat, the F/V Terri Lei, was tragically lost at sea. 

 I have been a fisherman since childhood and began commercial fishing 

 year-round after my graduation from Maine Maritime Academy in 1975. 



Blue Water Fishermen's Association (BWFA) represents a substantial 

 portion of the commercial fishermen, vessel owners, fish dealers and 

 supporting supply companies with an interest in Atlantic highly migratory 

 marine species, with members from Maine to Texas and California to the 

 Caribbean Islands. These feunily-run small businesses are comprised of 

 hard-working Americans who, despite the tough economic times, are proud 

 to carry on the tradition of providing healthy food for other Americans 

 who cannot or do not want to catch their own. 



BWFA was formed to provide a united voice to respond to proposed 

 management measures that would have effectively closed the U.S. Swordfish 

 fishery. But, BWFA members have always supported conservation measures 

 that are practical, effective and based on a reasonable interpretation of 

 the available scientific data. BWFA is extremely active in voluntary 

 scientific data and specimen collection programs, fish tagging, and in 

 the fisheries conservation and management process. We have developed a 

 voluntary pilot program to donate dead swordfish (that fishermen are 

 currently required by government regulations to discard) to hungry 

 Americans, especially the poor and homeless in our urban areas. This 

 program is designed to help improve the available scientific information 

 for the swordfish fishery. 



The current condition of the swordfish stock and BWFA's record of 

 participation in the management process over the past three years clearly 

 establishes that cooperation and responsible involvement of the industry 

 provides conservation and management benefits faster than confrontation 

 and conflict. 



Re-authorization and strengthening of the ATCA is a critical part of the 

 revised management progreun for highly-migratory species (HMS) that 

 Congress initiated with the last amendments to the MFCMA and the ATCA. 

 Congress did the right thing then, and now it is essential that Congress 

 reaffirm its commitment to a balanced approach that coordinates domestic 

 and international efforts. 



BWFA has testified several times since 1990 on management of HMS and our 

 efforts to support an open regulatory process that recognizes the 

 necessity of an international focus. Although implementation of 

 Secretarial management authority has been delayed, significant 

 improvements have been made in the past three or four months. After 

 responding to a backlog of priority commitments for revising existing 

 swordfish and bluefin tuna regulations, NMFS has finally issued a formal 

 process document and has started to reach out for regional comments from 

 fishermen on improving existing plans. The recent round of thirteen 

 scoping meetings were comparable -to Council hearings in the past and 

 provided opportunities for public discussion on Issues and management 



