[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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