114 



COMMONWEALTH OF 



THE NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS 



Statement of Jesus C. Borja 



June 1, 1995 



Commonwealth, recommended to Congress that legislation be enacted 



to make the Magnuson Act inapplicable to the Northern 



26 

 Marianas. At the same time, the Commission recommended enact- 

 ment of legislation to require the Secretary of State, upon the 

 request of and in cooperation with the governor of the Northern 

 Mariana Islands, to negotiate and conclude international fisher- 

 ies agreements for the conservation and management of tuna in the 

 waters adjacent to the islands and to require that the benefits 



from any such agreements be paid to the Commonwealth govern- 



27 



ment. 



The honorable vice Chairman of this Committee, Senator In- 



ouye, introduced legislation to put the Commission's recommenda- 



28 

 tions into effect and a number of the Commission's recommenda- 

 tions eventually became law. Congress did not act, however, on 

 the Magnuson Act or tuna fishery recommendations. 



26 



Welcoming America's Newest Commonwealth: The Second Interim 



Report of the Northern Mariana Islands Commission on Federal Laws 



114 (1985). 



27 



Id . at 119. The Commission in fact adopted these recommen- 

 dations at the very same time in 1983 that, unbeknownst to the 

 Commission, Congress was amending the Magnuson Act in the oppo- 

 site direction. 



28 S. 27 35, 99th Cong., 2d Sess. (1986). 



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