70 



Th« Honorable Ron&ld H. Brown 

 Ootobar 7, 1993 

 Page Two 



Atiantic harveata hava baan caducad by «a%> uatchas in r.hft etist 

 hava itiuraaaed by 31%. Even aora diaturbin? ia tha report of tlitt 



1992 ICCAT InfraotionB COffialttaa that, at tha vary least:, aoiuu 

 2>3 Billion fiih under tha 14 pound intarnarlonal mlninun size 

 eatabllnhad by ICCAT are taken aaoh year in tha Maditarranean and 

 EAOtern Atlantic. 



Khether you agree or net with the "two atoolc worlcing hypotnesie" 

 of this highly migratory spacjan nurrantly uaad by IcckT to 

 aatablifih diatinet managenant reconunendationa for the Waatern and 

 Bastern A-lantio, even tha moat nonaervativa antlniataa of a i\ 

 crossover between the atocka would indleata that thia eontinuttd 

 ovarharveat in the eaat will t\eiVit an advaraa impact on waatern 

 Btooka. In addition, it nakaa it difficult for riaharnen who 

 harveat waatern atocka to accept mora and mora reduotiena while 

 their foreign oounterpartu proapar. For th«iae raaaona, it ia our 

 view that tha U.S. deloaatien to TCCAT ahould vlgerout»ly pureue a 



1993 ICCAT agreement which enauras, at a winimum, that nationa 

 fiBhing in the Eaatern Atlantic and Maditarranaan comply with thu 

 original 197S ICCAT agreement Vhioh called for a 14 pound minimum 

 size and a cap on fiahing effort. For almeat 30 yoars, neither 

 of these proviaiona haa been adhovad to. 



The current ICCAT progrAtt that foeusaa oonaarvation naaauraa 

 entirely on the Weatarn Atlantic, whara only 13% of tha 

 AtlAntic-wide bluefin catoh ooeniva, i» unbalanced and 

 inefficient. Major r^eource gaina could be eohlavad if tha 

 spirit of inproved conssrvation and management wea extended to 

 the Eastern Atlantic snd Mediterranean, we'reoogntze that thie 

 presents a formidable challenge to the U.S. delegation, but w« 

 believe that it ia one thet ie eeaentlel to ZCCAT'a goal of long- 

 term conservation of tha raaouroe and to anaure faimaaa to 

 fishermen from all eountriaa Uiat benefit from va)uab]a bluefin 

 fisheries. 



We look forward to working with you and the U.S. commissi oners to 

 improve the ICCAT conservation prograxi for Atlantic bluefin tuno 

 and thank you for your oonaideration in this matter. 



Sincerely, 



9ir^ U^^tZf 



Qeorge J. Mitchell 

 Congress ' United ntatwa senate 



