[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 130 (Thursday, September 19, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10932-S10934]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       SUSTAINABLE FISHERIES ACT

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senators who 
wish to speak on S. 39 have 10 minutes.
  Several Senators addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.
  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I again thank the people who were 
involved in this. As I said, prior to the passage of the bill, this is 
a bill we have worked out in 18 months. When it was previously before 
the Senate, it took 5 years. This has required a tremendous amount of 
staff time.
  I am particularly indebted to my staff people:
  Trevor McCabe and Earl Comstock; and to Tom Melius, who has worked 
with the chairman of the committee, Senator Pressler, and Penny Dalton, 
who has worked with Senator Kerry and Senator Hollings from on the 
committee.
  Let me also thank Jeanne Bumpus with Senator Gorton; Justin LeBlanc 
with Senator Murray; Margaret Commisky and Scott Atkinson with Senator 
Inouye; Clark LeBlanc who is with Senator Snowe; Mike Parks and Darla 
Romfo with Senator Breaux; Glenn Merrill and Alex Elkan, Sea Grant 
fellows with the Commerce Committee; Peter Hill and Tom Richy on 
Senator Kerry's staff; Alex Buell on Senator Wyden's staff; Carl 
Biersak, who has worked with the majority leader, Senator Lott; Carol 
Dubard with Senator Hutchison; Rick Murphy with Senator Chafee; and 
Wayne Boyles with Senator Helms.
  Mr. President, this bill would not have come before us if it had not 
been for the tremendous support from the Marine Fish Conservation 
Network. I particularly want to thank Greenpeace and the Alaska Marine 
Conservation Network for working very actively for the passage of S. 
39, as well as the Center for Marine Conservation and the World 
Wildlife Fund.
  I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the entire list 
of the fish network, who have all been helpful.
  There being no objection, the list was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                  The Marine Fish Conservation Network

(100 Member Organizations Representing More Than Six Million Americans, 
                           as of June, 1996)

     Alaska Longline Fishermen's Association
     Alaska Marine Conservation Council
     Alliance of Rhode Island Saltwater Fishing Clubs
     W.H. Amaru Fisheries Research and Conservation
     American Oceans Campaign
     Atlantic Salmon Federation
     Bass Anglers Sportsman's Society
     The Billfish Foundation
     Biodiversity Legal Foundation
     Caribbean Conservation Corporation
     Carrying Capacity Network
     Center for Marine Conservation
     Chesapeake Bay Foundation
     City of St. Paul/Bering Sea Coalition
     Coastal Waters Project
     Columbus (OH) Zoological Gardens
     Concerned Citizens of Montauk
     Connecticut River Stripped Bass Club
     Conservation Law Foundation
     Croal Reef Action Group
     Deep Pacific Fishing Company
     Defenders of Wildlife
     Environmental Advocacy Outreach
     Environmental Defense Fund
     Environmental Solutions International
     Federation of Fly Fishers
     Fisheries Defense Fund
     Fishermen's Emergency Fund
     Fish Forever
     Fish Unlimited
     Florida League of Anglers
     Friends of the Earth
     Glacier Creek Smoked Salmon
     Good Knight Campaign for Protection of Children and the Earth
     GreenLife Society--North American Chapter
     Greenpeace
     Hawaii Fishermen's Foundation
     Hawaiian International Billfish Association
     Interfaith Council for the Protection of Animals and Nature
     International Game Fish Association
     Jersey Coast Anglers Association
     King and Sons Fishing Company, Inc.
     Kodiak Conservation Network
     F/V Lady Anne, Inc.
     Maine Animal Coalition
     Maine Lobsterman's Association
     The Marine Mammal Center
     Maryland Saltwater Sportfishermen's Association
     Massachusetts Audubon Society
     Massachusetts Wildlife Federation
     Mid-Coast Anglers
     Monterey Bay Aquarium
     Mystic River-Whitford Brook Watershed Association
     Nahant SWIM (Safer Waters in Massachusetts)
     The National Aquarium (DC)
     NAUI (National Assoc. of Underwater Instructors)
     National Audubon Society
     National Coalition for Marine Conservation
     National Fishing Association
     Natural Resource Consultants (Idaho)
     Natural Resources Defense Council
     New England Aquarium
     New England Coast Conservation Association
     New Pioneer Co-op Fresh Food Market (IA)
     NY/NJ Harbor Baykeeper
     New York Sportfishing Federation
     North Pacific Fisheries Protection Association
     North Pacific Longline Association
     Ocean Futures Foundation
     Oregon Natural Resources Council
     Oregon Trout
     Oregon Wildlife Federation
     People for Puget Sound
     PADI (Professional Assoc. of Diving Instructors)
     Project ReefKeeper
     Puget Soundkeeper Alliance
     Reid International
     Salt Water Sportsman Magazine
     Save Our Shores
     Save the Sound
     Save the Bay
     Sierra Club
     Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund
     Society for Conservation Biology
     Sport Fishing Institute
     Stripers Unlimited
     Surfer Environmental Alliance
     Surfrider Foundation
     Tampa BAYWATCH, Inc.
     Trout Unlimited
     Trustees for Alaska
     United Anglers of California
     United Fishermen's Association
     Wildlife Conservation Society
     World Wildlife Fund

  Mr. STEVENS. Let me also thank representatives of the Western Alaska 
Fisheries Development Association, the Pacific Seafoods Processors 
Association, the Alaska Groundfish Data Bank, the Alaska Draggers 
Association, the Petersburg Vessel Owners Association, and the Kodiak 
Longline Vessel Owners Association.
  Mr. President, I am sad to report that the two people who urged me in 
the first instance to support the original act and introduce it in 1971 
and then helped us get started once again on the revision that passed 
in 1976, Oscar Dyson and Harold Sparck, two Alaskans, are now deceased. 
I do want to recognize their memory in connection with this 
legislation, which they have also been instrumental in creating.
  Mr. President, I will not take all the time, but I do once again want 
to thank my good friend from Massachusetts. Had it not been for his 
determination and consistency, we would not be where we are today, 
having passed a significant, bipartisan bill.

[[Page S10933]]

  But beyond that, Mr. President, I want to issue one word of warning 
as I close. We have passed a bill to try to eliminate waste in the 
fisheries off our shores. Mr. President, if these mechanisms we have 
adopted through compromise do not work, I intend to be back with a 
stronger bill because it is the area off my shores, the shores of 
Alaska, that produce over half of the fisheries of this country.
  The waste has become just unacceptable, totally unacceptable. When we 
reached the level of 500 to 700 million pounds a year of fish being 
wasted because of the distant water fishing vessels, we have reached a 
level beyond our acceptance in the fisheries.
  Mr. President, I introduced the original 200-mile bill in 1971 
because I flew from Kodiak to the Pribilof Islands and counted over 100 
Japanese trollers off our shores. We sought to find a way to eliminate 
that scourge on our fisheries, and we did so by passing, finally 5 
years later, the bill that is now known as the Magnuson Act, at my 
request.
  That law brought into effect a new distant water fleet. It is the 
factory trollers. And 75 percent of that waste comes from the factory 
trollers. If they do not put their business back in order and get away 
from bottom line fisheries and start thinking about the conservation of 
our fisheries and the sustainability of our fisheries, we will be back 
because Alaska will not put up with the total depletion of our 
fisheries.
  There are no known species off our shores that are overfished now. 
Several may be very close to it. The day that we get one--even one--
caused by factory trollers, I will be back with another bill, because 
we demand that the reproductive capability of our fisheries be 
sustained. That is what this bill does. That is the intent of the bill. 
If it does not work, Mr. President, thanks to God and my Alaska voters, 
I will be here 6 more years, and we will see to it that a bill will 
pass that will eliminate these vessels that are destroying the 
reproductive capability of the North Pacific. Thank you, Mr. President.
  Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, how much time remains on the 10 minutes 
allotted?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Four minutes.
  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I used too much time. Mr. President, I 
ask unanimous consent for an extra 5 minutes on this bill.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I thank the distinguished Senator from 
Alaska for his comments. It is my hope that both God and some other 
voters will help me be back here to work with him.
  Let me just say, Mr. President, I thank the Senator for his comments 
about our joint work. It has been a great privilege working with the 
Senator from Alaska and his staff in an effort to try to move this very 
important piece of legislation. I think it is fair to say--and I know 
the Senator from Alaska will join me in this--a lot of countries around 
the world were waiting to see how the United States was going to 
respond to its crisis of dealing with its fishing stocks and the 
protection of our available fishing grounds from the waters off Alaska 
to the waters south all the way to San Diego, the tuna fleet, all 
through the gulf coast, the Gulf of Mexico, around to Florida all the 
way up to Charleston, SC, North Carolina, New York, New Jersey, to 
Maine.

  We have had different interests that have been tugging within this 
bill. We have commercial fishermen tugging against recreational 
fishermen. This is a $50 billion a year industry to the United States 
on the commercial side and it is a $7 billion industry with respect to 
the recreational side. There are enormous pressures by that monetary 
interest to continue to deplete. But this is a finite resource, and we 
have to manage it.
  Other countries are wrestling with this. Great Britain is doing a 
buyout. Iceland, Russia, other nations, Norway, all of them have 
implemented particular environmental concerns. What we did here today 
was important to say that we are going to be a leader in that 
international effort and that we are serious. I join the Senator from 
Alaska in saying that this must work. If it does not, we will come back 
with tougher measures in order to guarantee that the stocks are able to 
replenish and that fishing is an ongoing effort.
  I simply repeat what I said yesterday. This is not a signal of an end 
to fishing nor even the downturn. If we do our job properly and if the 
management councils do their jobs properly, 300,000 new jobs can be 
created. This can be a growth industry for the United States of 
America. That is our goal.
  I want to thank the Senator from Louisiana for his continued and 
ever-present counsel and assistance in these efforts. He understands 
the issues as well as any person in the Senate, and his help has been 
instrumental in building the consensus that we brought here today. I 
yield the remainder of the time to the Senator from Louisiana.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Louisiana.
  Mr. BREAUX. Mr. President, I will just take a moment, but I say, that 
if the work on this legislation is any measure of the voters of Alaska 
and voters of Massachusetts, both of our colleagues will in fact be 
back in the next Congress to work on this legislation and many other 
areas.
  I just say to the Senator from Massachusetts, who has just spoken, 
that his fisheries area was on the brink of disaster, but because of 
his outstanding work on this legislation, I suggest that the New 
England fisheries are going to be much better off. Maybe not just this 
afternoon, but in the next year and the years after that and for the 
next several decades, that very vital fisheries area of the United 
States, the New England fisheries, is going to be better off because 
this bill will provide better science, better management tools for 
local fishery management organizations to manage the fisheries in that 
area.
  I think he deserves a great deal of credit, as does the Senator from 
Alaska, for putting together a bill that really has been nonpartisan. 
To be able to get the Gulf of Mexico and the New England fisheries to 
agree with the fishermen in the Northwest and in Alaska is quite a 
political achievement. I want to say to both of these leaders what an 
outstanding job they have done in bringing forward this piece of 
legislation. Millions and millions will be much better off because of 
their work today in this legislation.
  I want to also thank two members of my staff, Mr. Mike Parks, who has 
worked on this legislation for so long, and also my legislative 
director, Ms. Darla Romfo, for stepping in at the last minute. This is 
not her area, not her expertise, but she became a very quick expert in 
the area of fisheries. We thank them both for their effort. I yield the 
floor.
  Mr. STEVENS addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.
  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I see that the chairman of the committee 
is here now, Senator Pressler. I want to add to the comments that I 
made previously that he and Senator Hollings, the leader and ranking 
member on our committee, the Commerce Committee, have allowed us broad 
leeway and literally allowed us, with almost all our funding from the 
Commerce Committee, to travel in connection with the hearings we 
conducted on this bill in the period of 2 years.

  Senator Pressler has contributed very greatly to the outcome of this 
legislation. I want to acknowledge his leadership as well as his 
cooperation. Both he and the staff of the full committee have assisted 
us in every way. I do thank him. And Senator Hollings has done the same 
for Senator Kerry. So it was with the absolute cooperation of the 
leadership of the committee that we were able to achieve the passage of 
this bill. It is another bipartisan bill that goes down on the record 
of Senator Pressler during his chairmanship of this committee. We look 
forward to working with him in the years to come.
  I would also like to add my special thanks to Senator Inouye, who has 
stood beside us and made a major contribution to this bill.
  Mrs. HUTCHISON. I just want to add, once again, my thanks to the 
leaders of this bill. We have talked about the importance of this bill 
to the management of the waters of the United States. It could not have 
come about without the leadership of Senator Pressler, the chairman of 
the committee, who really made it come together when there were many 
issues still left on the table.

[[Page S10934]]

  Certainly, the distinguished chairman of the subcommittee, Senator 
Stevens, along with Senator Kerry, Senator Hollings, Senator Breaux, 
Senator Lott--everyone worked so hard to do something that I think 
really will be for the benefit of all of the people who care about our 
waters, and use them either for commercial use or for recreation and 
conservation. Kudos to all.

  I yield the floor.

                          ____________________