[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 173 (Thursday, December 13, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2273]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   FISHERIES CONSERVATION ACT OF 2001

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 11, 2001

  Mr. DELAHUNT. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this 
legislation which includes reauthorization of the Striped Bass 
Conservation Act.
  When my predecessor, Gerry Studds, first introduced the Striped Bass 
Conservation Act in 1984, the species had been battered by pollution 
and over-fishing. Harvests had plummeted so far, so fast--by over 10 
million pounds over the preceding 10 years--that there was legitimate 
fear for the literal future of the species.
  If the problem was clear, the solution was not. Striped bass are 
highly migratory, and move primarily along the three-mile coastal zone 
which is under the combined jurisdictions of 12 states and the District 
of Columbia. Balancing the needs of the fish, the fishermen, and the 
regulators, Congressman Studds and his colleagues crafted a unique and, 
as it turned out, highly effective scheme to bolster state management 
efforts to restore the stocks.
  By all measures, the results of this cooperation among the states, 
and between the state and federal governments, have been astonishingly 
successful. Today, the fish are found in impressive numbers, up and 
down the coast. The federal-state partnership embodied in the Striped 
Bass Act has restored the species to its former, considerable glory as 
one of the most important sport and commercial fisheries on the east 
coast.
  These strides for conservation also have direct economic 
consequences. In my area, healthy striped bass stocks mean business for 
campgrounds in Truro or tackle shops in Edgartown--and striped bass 
fishing has even returned to Boston Harbor. It's a classic case of 
doing well by doing good.

                          ____________________