Political Quotes

“The bill's supporters say that it is unreasonable for the United States to continue to impose a unilateral embargo on other fishing nations that wish to sell tuna in our country. I agree. It is time to lift the embargo. That is why Senator Biden and I, and a number of our colleagues, introduced legislation last year that would lift the country by country embargo against tuna that is caught by dolphin safe methods. Our bill would give all tuna fishermen the opportunity to export to the U.S. market as long as they use dolphin safe practices. In other words, we would open the U.S. market and comply with international trade agreements without gutting U.S. dolphin protection laws. We have offered repeatedly over the past year to sit down and negotiate a compromise with the administration. We have stated repeatedly that we agree it is appropriate to lift the embargo. We want to reach a compromise that is in the best interest of the American consumer, dolphins, and our U.S. tuna processing industry. The bills supporters believe that we should return to chasing and setting nets on dolphins because bycatch of other marine species is minimized. I believe that in order to sustain our renewable marine resources, we need to take a comprehensive ecosystem approach. I also recognize that management of a single species does not always produce benefits for the entire ecosystem.”