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STATEMENT OF SUZANNE lUDICELLO, SENIOR PROGRAM 

 COUNSEL, CENTER FOR MARINE CONSERVATION 



Ms. luDiCELLO. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and Members of the 

 Committee. My name is Suzanne ludicello, and I am General Coun- 

 sel for the Center for Marine Conservation. We appreciate the invi- 

 tation to share our views today and the opportunity to present tes- 

 timony on behalf of ourselves and our colleagues in an organization 

 called ICCAT Watch, which is a joint initiative of the World Wild- 

 life Fund, the National Audubon Society and ourselves. 



You asked for our comments on several aspects of the implemen- 

 tation of the Atlantic Tunas Convention Act, as well as recommen- 

 dations for legislative changes to that law and to the Magnuson 

 Act. Our written statement provides detailed comments on a varie- 

 ty of issues, but in brief summary, we believe that the transfer of 

 management of highly migratory species from the fishery manage- 

 ment councils in 1990 has, in its implementation, shut out the 

 public participation that has been the cornerstone of fishery man- 

 agement since the Magnuson Act was enacted in 1976, and at least 

 in the case of tunas and swordfish, has rendered the Magnuson Act 

 pretty much irrelevant. 



The worthy goals of the highly migratory species provisions 

 remain illusory. At the time of passage, the record of the floor 

 debate should have made clear the intent of the Congress that nei- 

 ther the ATCA nor the FCMA would undermine the Secretary's 

 authority to take necessary action to protect the fishery resources 

 placed under his or her care through the Magnuson Act. 



In our view, that intent has yet to be realized. In numerous ef- 

 forts to encourage domestic non-allocation conservation measures 

 that should not be disadvantageous to U.S. fishermen, we have 

 been thwarted repeatedly because the agency views that this inter- 

 national mandate is a mandate to look for the lowest common con- 

 servation denominator. 



Secondly, with regard to U.S. leadership at ICCAT, it is our view 

 that the United States has abrogated its own fishery conservation 

 goals to an international regime that has proven unable to stop the 

 decline of the species under its jurisdiction. 



The United States could enhance its leadership at ICCAT 

 through four actions. First, by naming new U.S. commissioners to 

 replace the hold-over incumbents, by insisting on management and 

 adherence with credible science, and in this, we do agree with the 

 rest of the panel, by continuing to call for strong conservation 

 measures and by promoting the inclusion of NGOs as observers to 

 ICCAT proceedings. As you know, non-government observers, that 

 is, conservation and environmental groups, have been excluded 

 from ICCAT for several years. 



The first step toward leadership by the United States has been 

 taken actually today by the Congress with the introduction of 

 House Concurrent Resolution 169 calling for compliance by all fish- 

 ing nations with ICCAT conservation and management measures. 

 We would like to express our very strong support for this resolu- 

 tion, Mr. Chairman, and commend you and your cosponsors, Mr. 

 Studds and Mr. Young, for the strong sentiment expressed in it, 



