Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I am pleased to introduce the ``Driftnet Modernization and Bycatch Reduction Act.'' I thank Senator Capito for her cosponsorship as well as continued partnership on this important legislation. This bipartisan bill passed the Senate last Congress by unanimous consent and then passed the House of Representatives in December 2020. Unfortunately, then President Trump chose to veto the bill based on misguided policy and inaccurate data. I urge my colleagues to once again support this bill, which solely affects California fishery management, but has far-reaching beneficial impacts for a wide range of marine animals, including endangered species. This legislation modernizes a commercial fishery to promote sustainable fishery management and creates a win-win for conservation goals and commercial fishing profitability. The Issue Large mesh drift gillnets, as defined in this legislation, have a mesh hole size of 14 inches or greater and are used to target swordfish and thresher shark off the California coast. However, alarmingly, these nets utilized by this one fishery in Federal waters, according to NOAA, are responsible for 90% of porpoise and dolphin deaths in all west coast fisheries combined. These substantially sized nets are between 1 and 1.5 miles long and extend more than 100 feet below the ocean's surface.…”