[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 59 (Tuesday, April 15, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Page S3031]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. SNOWE (for herself, Mr. Reed, Mr. Kerry, Mr. Lieberman, 
        Mr. Whitehouse, Ms. Collins, and Mr. Kennedy):
  S. 2865. A bill to permit qualified withdrawals from a capital 
construction fund account under chapter 535 of title 46, United States 
Code, for gear or equipment required for fishery conservation or safety 
of life at sea without regard to the minimum cost requirement 
established by regulation; to the Committee on Finance.
  Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Fisheries 
Capital Construction Fund Enhancement Act of 2008. This bill will help 
alleviate the potentially devastating economic impacts of recent 
regulations on the lobster industry issued by the National Marine 
Fisheries Service, and simultaneously encourage conservation in our 
Nation's fisheries and enhance the safety of the men and women who make 
their living at America's most dangerous profession.
  On October 5, 2007, the National Marine Fisheries Service, or NMFS, 
issued new regulations that will require ``fixed gear'' fishermen along 
the Atlantic Seaboard, including lobstermen, to use sinking groundline 
to connect their traps in large areas of the Gulf of Maine beginning 
next fall. The rules are intended to prevent entanglements of 
endangered whales in fishing gear. By NMFS's own estimates, this rule 
will impose annual costs of approximately $14 million on our fisheries, 
over 90 percent of which will be borne by the lobster industry. But a 
report issued by the Government Accountability Office in August 2007 
found the agency's economic analysis to be insufficient, and that it 
could not estimate the extent to which these costly measures would 
protect whales. While we must protect our endangered species, it is 
senseless to impose ineffective measures on an already struggling 
industry.
  These regulations are particularly concerning given the additional 
hardships our fishing communities currently face, especially down east 
where lobster plays an integral role in the regional economy. The 
groundfish industry, once the lifeblood of this region, is now 
virtually non-existent, with just one active permit remaining east of 
Penobscot Bay. Lobster has been the lone bright spot in recent years, 
with annual landings throughout the state in the neighborhood of $300 
million. Unfortunately, early returns for 2007 have declined by more 
than 20 percent from the record highs of 2005 and 2006, and with fuel 
and bait prices at record highs, the harvest numbers already are 
leading to tightening budgets and dwindling profits. The bottom line is 
that it is no exaggeration to say that these rules could put many 
lobstermen out of business. The effect on fishing families, and even on 
entire fishing communities, could be devastating.
  Furthermore, these rules bring additional safety concerns to the 
lobster industry. Many offshore areas in Maine have extremely rocky sea 
floors. Sinking rope vastly increases the likelihood that the line will 
chaff and snag, wearing the rope to the point that it can suddenly 
snap, or pulling the boat's rail towards the waterline where it can 
more easily be swamped and capsized by a large wave.
  Passage of this bill would be a step toward alleviating the economic 
and safety impacts of these rules by opening fishermen's individually 
held Capital Construction Funds, or CCF's, to purchases of fishing gear 
required to meet conservation measures required within a fishery or for 
purchase of equipment to increase the safety of life at sea. Currently, 
fishermen can deposit a portion of their pre-tax income into a CCF, and 
that money can then be withdrawn for purchase or reconstruction of 
fishing boats. Expanding the qualified withdrawals from these accounts 
would reduce the safety and economic impacts of these and other fishing 
regulations. Furthermore, this bill would provide an additional outlet 
for the $221 million currently held in CCF's nationwide, limiting the 
expansion of fishing capacity and enhancing conservation efforts by 
reducing incentives to buy or upgrade existing vessels.

  Our fisheries are the only remaining commercial wild capture 
industries in the Nation; fishermen are the last commercial hunters. As 
such, they must strike a unique balance between plying their trade and 
protecting the resource and the environment that supports it. The 
Nation's managers thus strive to balance the two parallel goals of 
sustaining our fish stocks and the viability of our fishing industries. 
The bill I introduce today will help achieve that balance by making 
fishing gear required for conservation or safety purposes more 
affordable for America's hard-working fishermen.
  I want to thank my colleagues, Senators Reed, Kerry, Lieberman, 
Whitehouse, Collins, and Kennedy for co-sponsoring this legislation.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                S. 2865

       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 ``Fisheries Capital 
     Construction Fund Enhancement Act of 2008''.

     SECTION 2. CERTAIN QUALIFIED CAPITAL CONSTRUCTION FUND 
                   WITHDRAWALS.

       Section 53509 of title 46, United States Code, is amended--
       (1) by striking ``or'' after the semicolon in paragraph (1) 
     of subsection (a);
       (2) by redesignating paragraph (2) of subsection (a) as 
     paragraph (3);
       (3) by inserting after paragraph (1) of subsection (a) the 
     following:
       ``(2) the acquisition of gear or equipment required for 
     safety of life at sea or to comply with conservation measures 
     within a fishery; or''; and
       (4) by inserting after ``withdrawal.'' in subsection (c) 
     the following: ``The minimum cost requirements established by 
     such regulations (50 C.F.R. 259.31) shall not apply to a 
     withdrawal described in subsection (a)(2).''.
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