Fisheries management needs an overhaul of major proportions here.

I hope the government will commit to filing an appeal on behalf of the industry, because this ruling represents devastating consequences for the groundfish industry in New England.

I certainly wouldn't suggest that it's working in the New England groundfish industry.

I think we can turn it around. I thank the Committee for holding a hearing like this.

That's exactly right.

I thought it was the most notable in your funding request, that, of all the funding requests, it represented the greatest increase of $100 million.

Litigation should be the last resort, not the first resort.

Do you think that your recommendations, if fully implemented, would be able to ease the crisis in fisheries management that we have today, especially with this litigation-based management?

You have said that we should be taking immediate steps to improve the situation by providing a comprehensive assessment.

Senator Snowe, I met with fishermen last night in Maine. They are numb. They are in shock. There is despair.

There should be a sense of urgency about this, because we need to turn this agency around.

We certainly want to be involved in every way possible to ensure that we proceed in a timely fashion.

I think it's a real surprise that the judgment exceeded this settlement in a very restrictive way.

I hope we can create a national program with a national approach that will reassure the industries that are directly affected by these kinds of decisions.

We obviously have to reverse this destructive trend toward litigation which is proliferating.

Shouldn't you be making the final decision? There is a concern here on our part about who's going to make the final decision.

I hope that sentiment prevails and is expressed in very strong terms to the Department of Justice.

We must break this cycle. The courts should not be managing our fisheries--that is the job of NMFS and the Regional Fishery Management Councils.