163 



(A) "which will provide the greatest overall benefit to the nation, 

 with particular reference to food production, employment , and 

 recreational opportunities for the people of the United States " 



Title II - FOREIGN FISHING - INTERNATIONAL FISHERY AGREEMENT 



Section 201 Foreign Fishing 



(i) FULL OBSERVER COVERAGE PROGRAM -- 



99-659 



(2) "The requirement in paragraph (1 ) that a United States observer be 

 placed aboard each foreign fishing vessel may be waived by the Secretary if he 

 finds that - 



(A) in a situation where a fleet of harvesting vessels transfers its 

 catch taken within the exclusive economic zone to another vessel, aboard 

 which is a United States observer, the stationing of United States 

 observers on only a portion of the harvesting vessel fleet will provide a 

 representative sampling of the by-catch of the fleet that is sufficient for 

 purposes of determining whether the requirements of the applicable 

 management plans for the by-catch species are being complied with; 



(B) the time during which a foreign fishing vessel will engage in 

 fishing within the exclusive economic zone will be of such short duration 

 that the placing of a United States observer aboard the vessel would be 

 impractical; or 



(C) For reasons beyond the control of the Secretary, an observer 

 is not available." 



We support a revision requiring observers on all foreign vessels in our 

 waters without exception - a one hundred percent observer program for all 

 foreign vessels. 



