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resources of the Georges Banks region are in serious decline. 

 In the Chesapeake Bay, waterfowl and numerous commercially 

 valuable fish and shellfish species are showing significant 

 population declines. The Caribbean Sea, which produces 

 fishery resources important to United States, is experiencing, 

 system-wide degradation. Similar problems are occurring 

 elsewhere in the world in marine ecosystem areas for which the 

 United States has important economic and environmental 

 interests and international agreement obligations. 



The problem shared in all of these regions is that 

 resources are declining on a system-wide basis. The result is 

 that species and population stocks that are of considerable 

 commercial, ecological, subsistence, and aesthetic value are 

 reaching a point where legal restrictions may be, or are 

 already, necessary in an effort to halt or reverse the 

 declines. These restrictions can apply not only to the 

 species in need of protection, but also to the use of other 

 resources that have a spatial or ecological relationship to 

 the adversely affected species. For example, fishing 

 operations that impact the food web of marine ecosystems may 

 have to be curtailed under the ESA or other laws to protect 

 other depleted fishery resources, marine mammals, marine 

 birds, sea turtles, or other marine wildlife species. By 

 focusing on marine ecosystem-based research and management and 

 following a proactive approach to identifying ecosystem-based 



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