[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 184 (Tuesday, December 9, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2348]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             ``KEVIN STOKESBURY--FRIEND OF THE FISHERMEN''

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BARNEY FRANK

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 9, 2008

  Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, on the last weekend of 
September of this year, I was supposed to be at the Fishermen's 
Festival in New Bedford, an event I always enjoy and which I look 
forward to attending. Instead, as you know, I was here in Washington, 
D.C. as we were working to try and put the $700 billion credit system 
rescue plan into final form.
  Among the events I missed at that festival was the awarding of the 
2008 Friend of the Fishermen Award to Kevin Stokesbury. Dr. Stokesbury 
chairs the Department of Fisheries Oceanography at SMAST--the extremely 
important and valuable part of the University of Massachusetts, 
Dartmouth, which studies the fishing industry.
  He received this award from the people in the fishing industry of New 
Bedford because of the high quality of the work he has done to provide 
the kind of first-rate scientific information that is so essential to 
the continued survival of the fishing industry. One of the great 
successes--probably the greatest success--we have seen in regulation of 
the fishing industry in New England is with the scallop fishery, and no 
one is more responsible for this success than Kevin Stokesbury.
  Madam Speaker, because Kevin Stokesbury's work shows that it is 
possible to support a thriving fishery in an environmentally 
responsible way, it is particularly noteworthy that he received this 
award from the fishing industry of New Bedford--the most important 
fishing port in America. I ask that the explanation by the fishing 
industry of this award to Kevin Stokesbury be printed here.

           Introduction of 2008's ``Friend of the Fishermen''

       This year's recipient of ``The Friend of the Fishing 
     Industry Award'' needs no introduction to most of the NB 
     fishing industry, particularly the scallop fishermen. It took 
     him a while to find his way here to us as he seems to have 
     taken a long way around, but he now lives in Westport with 
     his wife Shawna, & four children; Kasey, Tyrez, Taysia, & 
     Henry.
       Starting with his B.Sc. & M.Sc. both of which he earned at 
     Arcadia University in Nova Scotia, he then received his PhD 
     in Marine Ecology from Universite Laval, Quebec City, Quebec 
     in 1994.
       He worked as a Research Assistant 1994-1996 at the Center 
     for Marine Science Research at the U. of NC at Wilmington 
     before moving to the U of Alaska Fairbanks, as a Research 
     Assistant from September 1996-1998.
       Ten years ago in September 1998 he finally found his way 
     here when he joined SMAST at U MASS, Darmouth as an Associate 
     Fellow. In September 2000 he became an Associate Professor. 
     In September 2005 he became the Chair of the Department of 
     Fisheries Oceanography. Do you sense a trend here?
       In 1999 Kevin conceived a plan to videotape & map the 
     seafloor; the resulting survey would actually count scallops 
     with the intention of determining the size of the biomass. He 
     got together with a few scallop vessel owners & others from 
     the industry, & as they say, ``the rest is history''.
       Kevin & his associates from his lab at SMAST have probably 
     logged more sea-time than a lot of fishermen over these past 
     9 or 10 years. They have completed more than 100 video 
     cruises surveying Georges Bank & the Mid-Atlantic fishing 
     grounds; this is more than 600 DAS. Their video library 
     consisting of footage from more than 200,000 video samples 
     has been used in every scallop fisheries management plan 
     since 1999.
       Today this work has become much more detailed & expansive & 
     it now must be acclaimed as some of the leading environmental 
     work regarding sea floor habitat, & the marine benthic 
     community.
       Not surprisingly, Kevin's work has not received the same 
     acclaim from many of his peers that it has from the fishing 
     industry & his associates. This unique cooperative research 
     that has existed between the fishing industry, Kevin & SMAST 
     since its inception, has turned much of the ``Old Science'' 
     on its ear, & some did not take kindly to that. Without this 
     `New Science'', it's possible that we still would not be 
     scalloping in the Closed Areas!
       As Chair of the Department of Fisheries & Oceanography, 
     Kevin's oversight now includes along with scallops; 
     groundfish, lobster & marine environments. Perhaps even more 
     importantly, he is now fostering a new generation of marine 
     scientists & researchers who, if the fishing industry is 
     lucky, will follow the path that Kevin has so brightly 
     blazed!
       It gives me great pleasure to present ``The Friend of the 
     Fishermen's Award'' to someone I'm proud to call my friend; 
     Dr. Kevin D.E. Stokesbury.

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