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As you are all aware and to the best of my knowledge, all indus- 

 trial nations have nationalized their fisheries resource for the ben- 

 efit of their nationals. We must ensure first and foremost that we 

 provide availability of our fisheries resource to the citizens of the 

 United States, both for commercial employment and recreational 

 enjoyment. 



Under Title 2, foreign fishing, international fisheries agreement, 

 under section 101-267, section 206, large scale driftnet fishing, 

 under B findings, "the Congress finds that, two, the use of large 

 scale driftnets is expanding to new regions of the world's oceans, 

 including the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean." We support an 

 amendment that would include the Pacific, Antarctic and Arctic 

 oceans. 



Additions to the Magnuson Act. The Magnuson Act must be 

 amended to instruct the States or the proper bodies to identify the 

 nursery grounds where bottom fish spawning occurs. We need to 

 prohibit fishing on these identified areas during spawning. 



As stewards of our national fisheries resource, we must learn 

 from the collapse of many of the New England fishing stocks some 

 15 years ago which primarily occurred due to overfishing. Statisti- 

 cally higher catches have always resulted during spawning areas 

 when these great schools of specific species congregate to spawn in 

 traditional nursing grounds. Year after year we have harvested 

 this resource without regulation and began to systematically devas- 

 tate future age classes of fish stocks for our industry and our 

 Nation to enjoy. 



We must prevent any future ruin of these delicate fish stocks to 

 preserve fishing in the Northwest and Alaska, where stocks remain 

 relatively prolific when compared to the Eastern Seaboard. Under 

 title 3, the National Fisheries Management Program, under section 

 301, which are standards for fishery conservation and manage- 

 ment, under section 98-623, it is imperative that language is added 

 that protects the shore-side processors and seafood distributors and 

 their employees. The Magnuson Act accomplished its specific objec- 

 tives quite well since its enactment in 1976. 



However, with the changing economic and social coastal commu- 

 nity interdependence on fishery resource, coupled with the national 

 per capita consumption increase of seafood, it is imperative that 

 the United States Government continue to acknowledge and sup- 

 port the fishermen and their families, but also acknowledge and 

 support through the Magnuson Act the processors and distributors 

 that depend on this national resource for their livelihood. 



This significant piece of legislation cannot be exclusive of the 

 processing and distribution families who ensure that this national 

 resource is properly processed and efficiently distributed to our 

 Nation to enjoy. According to National Marine Fisheries Service 

 statistics, there are over 73,000 families from the processing and 

 distribution segment that depend upon this resource. 



The statistical information does not include the retail seafood 

 counter employees, as an example, restaurant wait staffs and other 

 business entrepreneurs that sell and promote this national re- 

 source to the American consumer. It would be a serious detriment 

 to all the families who depend on this resource if our Federal Gov- 

 ernment missed this opportunity to enhance the social and econom- 



