15 



Ms. Coxe. I will just add a little bit, really for the benefit of Con- 

 gressman Jackson. 



Salt water is in the blood of anybody who lives in Massachusetts. 

 That is really why we are here, to appeal to you and Congressman 

 Torkildsen to do whatever you can to help us out, but to also con- 

 vey the sense that in Massachusetts we have taken matters into 

 our own hands and done everything that we think we can do to 

 make the situation relevant to the fishing crisis better. 



Additional efforts have been made by Massachusetts through a 

 very, very aggressive program to enhance underutilized species. 

 Not only are we doing an advertising campaign to get people to eat 

 and buy underutilized species, but the Governor issued an execu- 

 tive order about a year and a half ago in which all State facilities, 

 schools, jails, have to buy underutilized species as a way of provid- 

 ing purchasing power to that arena. 



We just recently, in the last year alone, have opened up more 

 than 40,000 acres of shellfish beds in an effort to keep people on 

 the water, knowing how important the opportunity of staying on 

 the water is to the fishing businesses of our State. 



The seaport bond bill, which includes a tremendous amount of 

 money, of fishing assistance to our fishing businesses, probably 

 went through the legislature faster than almost any bond bill we 

 have seen occur, because it was considered to be an incredibly high 

 priority for the State. 



We have suffered and struggled through the whole discussion 

 and dialogue of Titles 5 and 7, a very hard discussion that con- 

 fronts us every day of the week, one that requires people on all 

 sides to really sit down and figure out what we are going to do 

 about the future, what kind of sacrifices are we willing to make, 

 and how can we do that efficiently. 



So I think the State really deserves a lot of credit, working with 

 the fishing community and working with towns and cities along the 

 shoreline, of trying anything and everything we can to bring fish- 

 ing back to our State and keep it alive well into the future. 



Chairman Torkildsen. Thank you, Madam Secretary. 



I am now going to defer to Congressman Jackson for questions 

 he may have. I have to excuse myself for one moment. In the inter- 

 est of bipartisanship, Congressman Jackson will be chairing the 

 hearing until I return. I thank him for doing so. 



Mr. Jackson [presiding]. Let me thank the Chair for being so 

 kind as to allow me the privilege of chairing my first hearing. I 

 have been here all of about 6 months, so expect a lot of mistakes 

 in the next 5 minutes. If you bear with me, I will certainly bear 

 with you. 



My first question is really for the SBA. I am interested in how 

 you define — and maybe it is a function of how we define it statu- 

 torily — how you define a natural disaster, and under what cir- 

 cumstances would fishermen in Massachusetts and these three 

 counties the Governor has determined to need this assistance, in 

 what ways would we define natural disaster to cover the crisis they 

 are confronting? 



Mr. Kulik. Mr. Chairman, first let me say it is a pleasure to ad- 

 dress you as "Mr. Chairman." 



