[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 22]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 30994]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




A BILL TO MAKE CHANGES TO THE MAGNUSON-STEVENS FISHERY CONSERVATION AND 
     MANAGEMENT ACT AND TO MAKE ADJUSTMENTS TO THE BERING SEA CRAB 
                        RATIONALIZATION PROGRAM

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                             HON. DON YOUNG

                               of alaska

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, November 21, 2003

  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing a bill to 
make a number of changes to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation 
and Management Act. I believe there are three areas of the current Act 
that need to be changed. While the language I am proposing may not be 
the best way to address these concerns, I would like these proposed 
changes to spark a debate in the coming months.
  In addition, I am including language to amend the Bering Sea and 
Aleutian Islands crab rationalization program to address what I believe 
was an oversight in the plan. I believe this plan to rationalize the 
Bering Sea crab fishery is a living plan which will continue to be 
modified as changes are needed. I believe that the safety issues of 
this fishery necessitate some action, and I don't believe that no 
action is an option. Congress asked the North Pacific Fishery 
Management Council to give the Congress a proposal and they did so. We 
have studied this fishery for too long without doing something to make 
it safer. Having said that, I also believe that the plan to rationalize 
this important fishery needs to be dynamic and we need to be able to 
make adjustments as we see how the plan works. Everyone involved in 
this debate has good intentions, but we need to be mindful that good 
intentions sometimes cause unintended consequences. We need to watch 
the implementation of the plan very carefully.
  Finally, I am asking the Secretary of State to determine whether the 
retired U.S. staff of two international fisheries commissions who 
worked in Canada were unduly harmed by exchange rates and to what 
extent their retirement packages have suffered as a result of the 
exchange rate.

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