[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 30 (Wednesday, March 18, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E410-E411]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           THE DUNGENESS CRAB CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. GEORGE MILLER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 18, 1998

  Mr. MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing a bill 
which will allow the States of California, Oregon, and Washington to 
continue to manage the Dungeness crab fishery in the exclusive economic 
zone. The bill may be cited as the Dungeness Crab conservation and 
Management Act. This bill authorizes the States to continue to 
cooperatively manage the Dungeness crab fishery along the west coast, 
as authorized for an interim period in the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 
Conservation and Management Act of 1996. This legislation would ensure 
continued conservation of the Dungeness Crab, a valuable regional 
resource. It would resolve allocation issues, protect tribal rights, 
and avoid direct Federal involvement in a regional agreement which has 
widespread support from its stakeholders.
  The States and the industry have worked together to establish limited 
entry programs, cooperate on season openings, size limits, and harvest 
requirements. The fishery is conducted in both State and the exclusive 
economic zone, and management is coordinated by the Dungeness Crab 
Committee of the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission. Congress 
granted the states interim authority to manage the Dungeness crab 
fishery in the Exclusive Economic Zone to accommodate the rights of 
Northwest Indian tribes to harvest a share of the crab resource off 
Washington. The Pacific Fishery Management Council was then asked to 
report to Congress on progress towards a Federal fishery management 
plan or impediments to such progress.
  The Council and the Tri-State Dungeness Crab Committee examined the 
options for the fishery, and after careful evaluation of the merits of 
various management regimes voted unanimously to request that Congress 
allow the existing management structure to be made permanent with 
certain changes. These changes include a clarification of what license 
is required for the fishery, broader authority for the States to ensure 
equitable access to the

[[Page E411]]

resource, and clarification of tribal rights. This action is consistent 
with previous actions under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation 
and Management Act where fisheries have remained under the jurisdiction 
of individual States or interstate organizations, such as the Gulf of 
Alaska king crab fishery.
  Neither the Council nor the fishermen in the three States want to see 
Federal management of the fishery. This amendment offers the 
stakeholders in the fishery an opportunity to maintain an effective 
management systems which protects both the resource and the working men 
and women of the west coast fishing fleet who depend upon it. I look 
forward to the timely consideration of this bill.

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