We would also point out that the United States' commercial and 

 recreational fleets harvest about 52 percent of the total western At- 

 lantic bluefin tuna quota, and that comes to only about 4 to 6 per- 

 cent of the total Atlantic catch, and that is generally true for our 

 involvement in ICCAT fisheries. Although the U.S. share of the 

 total Atlantic catch of species covered under ATCA is relatively 

 low, we continue to be aggressive participants and strong support- 

 ers of ICCAT and continue to believe that ICCAT is the primary 

 avenue by which these resources can be successfully managed. 



We support H.R. 779 and the reauthorization of this law. We do 

 have one suggested amendment. We propose to delete the provision 

 in the law that prohibits the Secretary from issuing regulations 

 which might have the effect of increasing or decreasing the total 

 quota of fish allocated to the United States. 



We think that provision potentially could cause a problem if the 

 United States wanted, for example, to establish a domestic quota 

 on the local stock or a substock for conservation purposes and that 

 quota should happen to be less than what was allowed by ICCAT. 



We believe that this provision inhibits some of the long-term ben- 

 efits and that it unnecessarily ties the hands of the Secretary. 



I understand that, and as the Chairman mentioned. Congress- 

 man Studds has introduced a concurrent resolution, and while it is 

 obvious that the administration has not yet taken a position on 

 this resolution, I would just like to say that we feel, again, very 

 strongly that the United States must take an aggressive and a 

 proactive role in trying to do any and everything we can, using all 

 the tools at hand, to see that other nations who are signatory to 

 ICCAT play by the same rules that we do. 



Thank you for letting me express these views, and we will try to 

 answer any questions you might have. 



Mr. Manton. I think that we will go through the entire panel 

 and then we will take questions from the various members. 



[The statement of Nancy Foster can be found at the end of the 

 hearing.] 



Mr. Manton. Our next witness, Mr. Nelson Beideman, Executive 

 Director of the Blue Water Fishermen's Association. 



STATEMENT OF NELSON BEIDEMAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, 

 BLUE WATER FISHERMEN'S ASSOCIATION 



Mr. Beideman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Members of the Sub- 

 committee, for inviting me to speak. 



I am Nelson Beideman, Executive Director of Blue Water Fisher- 

 men's Association and have been a fisherman since childhood and 

 began commercial fishing year round after graduating from Maine 

 Maritime Academy in 1975. 



Blue Water represents commercial fishermen, vessel owners, fish 

 dealers, and supporting supply companies involved with Atlantic 

 highly migratory marine species. These family-run small business- 

 es are proud to carry on the tradition of providing healthy food for 

 other Americans who cannot or do not want to catch their own. 



Our members are active in research programs, including tagging, 

 the fishery management process, and we have developed a volun- 

 tary pilot program to donate dead swordfish that we are currently 



