[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 12]
[House]
[Pages 17671-17672]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                 ATLANTIC COASTAL FISHERIES ACT OF 2000

  Mr. SAXTON. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 4840) to reauthorize the Atlantic Coastal Fisheries 
Cooperative Management Act, as amended.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 4840

       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 ``Atlantic Coastal Fisheries 
     Act of 2000''.

     SEC. 2. REAUTHORIZATION OF ATLANTIC COASTAL FISHERIES 
                   COOPERATIVE MANAGEMENT ACT.

       (a) Authorization of Appropriations.--Section 811 of the 
     Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act (16 
     U.S.C. 5108) is amended to read as follows:

     ``SEC. 811. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

       ``(a) In General.--To carry out this title, there are 
     authorized to be appropriated $10,000,000 for each of fiscal 
     years 2001 through 2005.
       ``(b) Cooperative Statistics Program.--Amounts authorized 
     under subsection (a) may be used by the Secretary to support 
     the Commission's cooperative statistics program.
       ``(c) Reports.--
       ``(1) Annual report to the secretary.--The Secretary shall 
     require, as a condition of providing financial assistance 
     under this title, that the Commission and each State 
     receiving such assistance submit to the Secretary an annual 
     report that provides a detailed accounting of the use of the 
     assistance.
       ``(2) Biennial reports to the congress.--The Secretary 
     shall submit biennial reports to the Committee on Resources 
     of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
     Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate on the 
     use of Federal assistance provided to the Commission and the 
     States under this title. Each biennial report shall evaluate 
     the success of such assistance in implementing this title.''.
       (b) Technical Corrections.--
       (1) In general.--Such Act is amended--
       (A) in section 802(3) (16 U.S.C. 5101(3)) by striking 
     ``such resources in'' and inserting ``such resources is''; 
     and
       (B) by striking section 812 and the second section 811.
       (2) Amendments to repeal not affected.--The amendments made 
     by paragraph (1)(B) shall not affect any amendment or repeal 
     made by the sections struck by that paragraph.
       (3) Short title references.--Such Act is further amended by 
     striking ``Magnuson Fishery'' each place it appears and 
     inserting ``Magnuson-Stevens Fishery''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New 
Jersey (Mr. Saxton) and the gentleman from American Samoa (Mr. 
Faleomavaega) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Saxton).


                             General Leave

  Mr. SAXTON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks 
and to include extraneous material on H.R. 4840.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from New Jersey?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. SAXTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 4840 reauthorizes the Atlantic Coastal Fisheries 
Management Act through fiscal year 2005. This bill will extend the 
successful Federal-State fishery management partnership with the 
Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.
  The commission, Mr. Speaker, is made up of representatives from each 
of the Atlantic coastal States. Under the Act, the Federal Government 
can implement a moratorium on fishing in State waters if States do not 
comply with the plans written by the commission.
  The commission's greatest success is notable in the recovery of the 
Atlantic striped bass, Mr. Speaker. The striped bass suffered a 
population crash in the late 1970s for a number of reasons, including 
over-fishing. Today, for fishermen in the mid-Atlantic region, 
including those in Ocean County, New Jersey, which is part of the 
district I am privileged to represent and all along Long Beach Island, 
this comeback has resulted in the greatest fishing on the East Coast.
  Mr. Speaker, as a matter of fact, just a short time ago, last week, I 
had a nice group of folks join me on a 10-mile beach walk; and as we 
walked up the

[[Page 17672]]

beach on Long Beach Island, there were surf fishermen after surf 
fishermen in quest of the Atlantic striped bass and, I might add, with 
some success.
  This legislation simply authorizes $10 million a year to carry out 
the Atlantic coastal fisheries program to enable this striped bass 
program and others to move forward.
  The bill also allows appropriated funds to be used to carry out a 
fisheries statistics program which supports Atlantic coastal States 
fishery management plans.
  I believe this legislation is noncontroversial, and I would urge 
everyone to vote aye.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I certainly want to compliment my good friend, the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Saxton), the chairman of the 
Subcommittee on Fisheries, for his authorship of this legislation. I 
also want to thank the full committee chairman and the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Miller) for their support of this important 
legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, Atlantic coastal fishery resources that migrate or are 
widely distributed among the coast are of substantial commercial, 
recreational, environment importance and economic benefit to the 
Atlantic States and our Nation.
  Unfortunately, proper management of these species is often hampered 
by the fact that no single government entity has exclusive authority 
over them. Because of this, harvest and management of the Atlantic 
coastal resources has historically been subject to disparate, 
inconsistent, and intermittent State and Federal regulations.
  To help address this complication, Congress passed the Atlantic 
Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act since 1993.
  Since its inception, Mr. Speaker, this law has been an effective 
mechanism for supporting and encouraging the development, 
implementation, and enforcement of effective interstate conservation 
and management measures for the Atlantic coastal fishery resources.
  I fully support the reauthorization of the Atlantic Coastal Fisheries 
Cooperative Management Act. I urge my colleagues to support this 
important legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his authorship of this 
legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SAXTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers; but I would just like to say 
in conclusion, I would like to thank the gentleman from American Samoa 
(Mr. Faleomavaega) for his cooperation. It makes one feel very good to 
have the kind of bipartisan cooperation that we have had on this and 
many other bills in our subcommittee. So I thank the gentleman for his 
cooperation.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, in my capacity as the ranking Democrat of the 
Subcommittee on Fisheries and Oceans and Wildlife and Refuge, I also 
want to certainly compliment my good friend, the chairman of our 
subcommittee, for his leadership and for the cooperative way that we 
have worked closely for the past 2 years since my membership in that 
capacity in this subcommittee. Again, I thank my good friend for 
working together and cooperatively on this legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I have no further speaker, and I yield back the balance 
of my time.
  Mr. SAXTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Saxton) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 4840, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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