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Good Morning, 



Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, I am State Senator 

 Bruce Tarr of Massachusetts. I represent the Pirat Essex and 

 Middlesex District which includes the oldest fishing port in our 

 nation, the port of Gloucester. I appreciate the opportunity to 

 appear before you today to aaek assistance in the face of the 

 tremendous socio-economic hardships which are confronting our 

 families involved in the fishing industry. 



The fishermen and women of Gloucester and New England «re 

 among the hardest working people in our country and our world. They 

 risk their lives on a daily baala upon changeable seas and in 

 unpredictable weather In order to provide a prime protein resource 

 to Americans and our trade partners abroad. Zn fact, an entire wall 

 In Gloucester City Hall catalogs the thousands of names of those 

 who have perished pursuing a vocation they loved. 



Yet today they face threats which are more uncertain and more 

 changeable than the weather in New England: a rapidly changing 

 federal regulatory scheme coupled with clinatological and 

 environmental changes for which we have no context of analysis or 

 understanding. Having navigated the high seas for hundreds of 

 years, our fishing families and related small businesses are 

 foundering in these sudden and uncharted circumstances. 



Each of then represents a distinct small business which is a 

 component in the foundation of our regional economy. The large 

 trawler represents the direct employment of 4-10 people, with 

 smaller trawlers, gillnetters and lcngliners employing 1-5 people 

 directly in fishing activity. These small businesses, however, have 

 an additional attribute. In their similarity to Manufacturing, they 

 require numerous inputs to production which give each dollar 

 directly earned in fishing an extremely large multiplier effect. 



Thus, ice must be purchased in large quantity from the local 

 ice company, fuel from the local fuel dealer, food from the local 

 grocer, repairs from the local mechanic, and gear from the local 

 gear shop. These inputs are woven into an efficient and aomewhat 

 specialized infrastructure Which is an asset to our fisheries and 

 which characterizes small business in America. 



Today, a tidal wave of federal regulation in the form of 

 Amendments 5 and 7 to the Northeast Fishery Management Plan 

 threatens the survival of this infrastructure and the way of life 

 it represents. Development and implementation of these 



