[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 66 (Thursday, May 21, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E934-E935]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO NAT BINGHAM

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. GEORGE MILLER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 21, 1998

  Mr. MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I would like to pay tribute to 
Nat Bingham, an advocate for the fish and the fishermen on the West 
Coast, whose untimely death earlier this month has left a void so 
large, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to fill. His list of 
accomplishments on behalf of the fish and forests was long and varied, 
forging compromise between opposing groups for the good of the 
resource.
  A commercial fisherman for over 30 years, his efforts in fisheries 
restoration began almost as long ago when, in his typical forward 
looking way, he headed projects in North Coast watersheds for salmon 
rearing and stream

[[Page E935]]

restoration. He initiated the Sacramento winter-run salmon broodstock 
program and the Sacramento spring-run chinook working group. He was a 
critical voice in the debate leading to the enactment of the Central 
Valley Project Improvement Act, rallying the fishing industry to 
support our efforts to provide water for fish and wildlife.
  He was active in coho salmon recovery efforts, and was a member of 
the Ecosystem Roundtable dealing with funding proposals for the Bay-
Delta. He was a long-time member of the Commercial Salmon Stamp 
Committee and the California Advisory Committee on Salmon and Steelhead 
Trout. He also served as president of the Pacific Coast Federation of 
Fishermen's Association (PCFFA) for 9 years. Through it all he fought 
tirelessly for the industry and the restoration of the fish they depend 
on.
  Nat gave up fishing a few years ago to work full-time on fish and 
fish habitat conservation as the Habitat Director for PCFFA. In this 
role, he was instrumental in the developing and building support for 
new habitat protection measures that were included in the most recent 
reauthorization of the Magnuson Act. He was a current member of the 
Pacific Fishery Management Council, and prior to be appointed to the 
Council he served as chairman of their Salmon Advisory panel. A 
proponent for protecting marine areas, he was to be the Pacific 
Council's representative on the upcoming Year of the Ocean Conference 
in Monterey.
  Nat Bingham was an independent thinker, a strong moral voice, and a 
great conservationist who looked at the long term, not just the 
present. He would take on large industry--whether it was oil, timber, 
or agribusiness--the government, the environmental community, or even 
his own fishing industry when he felt they were wrong. He approached 
these challenges as a consensus builder not an adversary, however, 
trying to build bridges between opposing interests for the good of the 
resources and the people that depend on them.
  There are some people who have been so important and have been doing 
the work for so long in their community that their value to the people, 
the community and the resource is impossible to measure. At the same 
time, they have been fighting the fight for so long, you can't remember 
what it was like before they came along. Nat Bingham was one of those 
people. His contributions to the protection of the resource and our 
environment were immeasurable, and the thought of fighting the good 
fight without him is almost impossible to imagine. We will continue to 
fight however, to save the salmon and their habitat. Nat would expect 
no less, and it is an appropriate way to honor his memory.

                          ____________________