[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 47 (Tuesday, March 14, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H3099-H3100]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


            SEA OF OKHOTSK FISHERIES ENFORCEMENT ACT OF 1995

  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
pass the bill (H.R. 715) to amend the Central Bering Sea Fisheries 
Enforcement Act of 1992 to prohibit fishing in the Central Sea of 
Okhotsk by vessels and nationals of the United States.
       The Clerk read as follows:

                                H.R. 715

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This act may be cited as the ``Sea of Okhotsk Fisheries 
     Enforcement Act of 1995''.

     SEC. 2. FISHING PROHIBITION.

       The Central Bering Sea Fisheries Enforcement Act of 1992 
     (16 U.S.C. 1823 note) is amended--
       (1) in section 302, by inserting ``and the Central Sea of 
     Okhotsk'' after ``Central Bering Sea''; and
       (2) in section 306--
       (A) by redesignating paragraphs (2), (3), (4), (5), and (6) 
     in order as paragraphs (3), (4), (5), (6), and (7); and
       (B) by inserting after paragraph (1) the following:
       ``(2) Central sea of okhotsk.--The term `Central Sea of 
     Okhotsk' means the central Sea of Okhotsk area which is more 
     than two hundred nautical miles seaward of the baseline from 
     which the breadth of the territorial sea of the Russian 
     Federation is measured.''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Alaska [Mr. Young] will be recognized for 20 minutes, and the gentleman 
from Massachusetts [Mr. Studds] will be recognized for 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Alaska [Mr. Young].
  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  (Mr. YOUNG of Alaska asked and was given permission to revise and 
extend his remarks.)
  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, as the sponsor of H.R. 715, I urge 
my colleagues to join me in this effort to help save valuable living 
marine resources in a small enclave of international waters known as 
the Peanut Hole.
  Three years ago, congress approved my Central Bering Sea Fisheries 
Enforcement Act, which prohibited the destruction of pollock stocks in 
an area known as the Donut Hole.
  While this law has promoted conservation efforts for the region, it 
has had unwanted results. Certain fishermen from China, Japan, Korea, 
and Poland have now moved their operations to the Peanut Hole and they 
are severely overfishing the pollock stocks in this region. Unless 
immediate steps are taken, these stocks will collapse.
  My bill, which has been cosponsored by the leadership of the 
Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans, Jim Saxton and Gerry 
Studds, would amend the 1992 statute to prohibit U.S. citizens from 
fishing in the Peanut Hole unless the fishing operation fully complies 
with international fishing agreements between the United States and 
Russia.
  The bill is noncontroversial and well supported. It passed the House 
twice in the last Congress and it is helpful to our negotiators in 
their ongoing efforts to establish agreements to conserve fish stocks 
in international waters.
  [[Page H3100]] May I suggest at this time to the gentleman from 
Massachusetts [Mr. Studds], it is amazing what you learn when you go to 
a new committee, such as the Committee on Natural Resources. The 
gentleman just had the opportunity not only to support this legislation 
that he worked so hard on last year, but to become an expert in the 
American Native movement, and I hope and I wish him well.
  Mr. STUDDS. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. I yield to the gentleman from Massachusetts.
  Mr. STUDDS. Mr. Speaker, I would also be very, very excited at the 
possibility of learning how to pronounce this particular sea.
  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I would yield to the gentleman from 
Massachusetts if he can also improve my pronouncement.
  Mr. STUDDS. Mr. Speaker, I could not possibly. I was asking the 
gentleman.
  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. I would say it is Okhotsk. I hope that satisfies 
the gentleman. I would spell it O-k-h-o-t-s-k.
  Mr. STUDDS. I congratulate the gentleman.
  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. STUDDS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  (Mr. STUDDS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. STUDDS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 715, the 
Sea of Okhotsk Fisheries Enforcement Act.
  The decline of fisheries worldwide, and the need for multilateral 
cooperation in fisheries management, have become increasingly evident 
as of late. A recent U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization report 
classified almost every commercial fish species in every ocean and sea 
as either ``depleted,'' ``fully exploited,'' or ``over-exploited.'' 
Stocks in 4 of the world's 17 major fishing regions are seriously 
depleted, while catches in 9 other regions are declining. If this tide 
is to be turned, the United States and all coastal nations have a 
responsibility to participate in international agreements and 
organizations that provide responsible conservation and management of 
high seas resources.
  This bill demonstrates the U.S. commitment to cooperative management 
of shared resources on the high seas. The Sea of Okhotsk, also known as 
the Peanut Hole, is an area of international waters completely 
surrounded by the Exclusive Economic Zone [EEZ] of the Russian 
Federation. Russian resources that migrate into the Peanut Hole are 
being adversely affected by heavy foreign fishing in that area. Recent 
efforts by the United States and Russia to forge a management agreement 
for the Peanut Hole have been thwarted by the lack of cooperation from 
other countries currently fishing in the area.
  This bill would prohibit U.S. fishing in the Peanut Hole until a 
cooperative international agreement has been reached among the nations 
that fish there. It would also prohibit entry into U.S. waters to any 
vessel fishing in the Peanut Hole while no cooperative management 
agreement exists and to any vessel that violates the agreement once it 
has been negotiated.
  By requiring the United States to work cooperatively in an area of 
the ocean where fisheries of importance to our own fishermen occur, 
H.R. 715 signals the U.S. dedication to multilateral management of high 
seas resources. It is also an important step in our efforts to restore 
global fisheries, and I am delighted to join the gentleman from Alaska 
in this effort. I urge Members' support.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, may I suggest that the gentleman from Massachusetts 
brings up a very good point. Our seas are in serious trouble, primarily 
because of indiscriminate overfishing. This is just a small step 
forward, but we are going to address this hopefully on another level 
very soon in the Magnuson Act with an attempt to again arrest some of 
the misuse of our seas as far as fishing efforts.
  I am one who believes very strongly that there are enough fish if we 
take care of them, if we scientifically put them on a biological 
survival rate that we can continue to fish. But if we do not do 
something with the activities from all of the countries jointly we will 
be destroying that capability to provide the fish to all of the people 
of this world.
  So I again welcome my good friend, the gentleman from Massachusetts, 
Gary Studds, to the Committee on Natural Resources, because there is no 
one who has worked harder over the years to provide and protect the 
fishing industry for the continued yield of the species which we depend 
on than the gentleman from Massachusetts. So we will be looking forward 
to looking with him hopefully sometime in May, bringing to this floor a 
bill that will address the domestic side of this issue as well as the 
international side of this issue. For those who may not be aware of 
this, to me the sea has to be recognized as a provider, and it is our 
responsibility not only to protect but to conserve and to continue 
providing of the fisheries, as I have said before, that we depend so 
heavily upon.
  So again I welcome the gentleman from Massachusetts to the committee.

                              {time}  1445

  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. STUDDS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I thank the gentleman for his kind remarks. This is the most 
wonderfully nonpartisan of all matters. I never met a fish who gave a 
whit about the gentleman's political affiliation or mine, and we have 
responsibilities here that dramatically and significantly transcend 
some of the partisan differences that are occasionally reflected on 
this floor.
  I am authorized by the good people of Cape Cod to extend another 
invitation to the gentleman, notwithstanding all the partisan things 
that have occurred here, notwithstanding some of his other contractual 
obligations, to say to him that he is still welcome on Cape Cod and to 
see if we can lure him again this year. We look forward to that.
  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. If the gentleman will yield, I accept that 
invitation as well as you have been so generously accepting my 
invitation to travel to the great State of Alaska and participate in 
the cuisine as provided by our great blue waters. If I go to Cape Cod, 
I hope I have the added attraction of having that which can be provided 
by your ocean to my palate regardless of what contract I will be 
working under for the last hundred days.
  Mr. STUDDS. That is a deal, as they say. The gentleman will simply 
have to adjust himself to beauty of another scale.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Shays). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from Alaska [Mr. Young] that the House suspend 
the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 715.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
  

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