Opening Remarks

• U.S. Senator Ted Stevens
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  Opening Remarks

  U.S. Senator Ted Stevens

  Opening Statement
  Chairman Ted Stevens
  November 16, 2005
  
  
  Thank you all for being here today. This is a full Committee hearing to discuss the reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and specifically the legislation to reauthorize the Act that Senator Inouye and I introduced yesterday. The bill is cosponsored by Senators Snowe, Cantwell, Vitter, and Boxer. The Magnuson-Stevens Act was last reauthorized in 1996 with the passage of the Sustainable Fisheries Act. The authorization of appropriations for the Act expired in 1999. Our bill will authorize the Magnuson-Stevens Act through 2012 and provide some adjustments to the law to improve national compliance with the Act. Our bill represents a true bipartisan effort and is based on recommendations from the Administration, Regional Councils, States, industry (fishermen, processors, and suppliers), environmental groups, recreational interests, members of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy and Pew Ocean Commission, and the numerous listening sessions this Committee held over the last year, which several Members attended. Over the August recess Senator Inouye and I put out a draft bill for comment and review and we received over 700 comments that staff worked through and evaluated for possible inclusion in the bill. Over the last year we have received a considerable amount of information and generated a great deal of dialogue on the reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. The intent of our bill is to build on some of the sound policies enacted in the Sustainable Fisheries Act and continue the successes we have achieved under the Act to provide for the sustainability of the resource. The Committee will hear testimony from one panel of witnesses representing the Administration, ocean policy experts, and a state representative: James Connaughton, Chairman, White House Council on Environmental Quality; John Dunnigan, Director of Sustainable Fisheries, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; James Watkins, Admiral (Ret) USN, Chairman, U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy; and George La Pointe, Commissioner of Resources for the State of Maine. I thank the witnesses for being her today to discuss the reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.

Testimony

• Mr. George LaPointe

  Commissioner

  State of Maine Department of Marine Resources
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  Testimony

  Mr. George LaPointe

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• Admiral (Ret.) James Watkins

  Chairman

  U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy
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  Testimony

  Admiral (Ret.) James Watkins

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• Mr. James Connaughton
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  Testimony

  Mr. James Connaughton

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• Mr. Jack Dunnigan

  Director

  Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
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  Testimony

  Mr. Jack Dunnigan

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