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Oregon 

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OREGON TRAWL COMMISSION 



P.O.BOX 569, ASTORIA, OR 97103-0569 



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TRAWL MEMO 



U.S. House, Committee on Merchant Marine and 

 Fisheries, Subcommittee on Environment and 

 Natural Resources. -, 



Joe EasleyC^iiOe^i^^ 

 September 13, 1993 / 



SUBJECT: Question from Congresswoman Cantwell for 

 inclusion in the record of field hearing on 

 the reauthorization of the Magnuson Act. 



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Question: Are the nations fishery resources the property 

 of the commons? 



Answer: I assume by the phrase "property of the commons" 

 you mean a public resource that anyone can access. If 

 that is what you meant, my answer is that there is no law 

 that holds it so, that I know of. The courts have held 

 up several plans that have restricted access to the 

 resource. Limited Entry plans and even some individual 

 transferable quota plans. Much of the resources in this 

 nation were once the property of the commons but no 

 longer are, timber, minerals, oil, water, and grazing 

 land. Fish and game are just the last of these natural 

 resources held to be property of the commons by many 

 people. J 



These are valuable resources that need good management 

 and a lot of thought about how and who will access them. 

 One of the key issues will be how do you view the use of 

 natural resources and the economics coming from them. Are 

 you a capitalist, or are you a socialist. If you are a 

 capitalist you provide some kind of ownership, if you are 

 a socialist you keep all ownership in the hands of 

 government and limit access through some kind of effort 

 control and probably limit economic return. I do not 

 know where fisheries will come out, both kinds of 

 philosophy are at work at the present. I my self am a 

 capitalist in philosophy. 



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