On the recordMay 8, 2012
I rise as a Representative from a great fishing community, Monterey, California. Many of you may have heard about Monterey because it was the sardine port of the world, the largest sardine port in the world; and it certainly was written about in Steinbeck's famous ``Cannery Row.'' We don't catch sardines anymore. They're all gone. We fished them all out, destroyed an entire industry. No programs there to help people in the 1950s when that whole Cannery Row closed down. It took about 50 years to rebuild it as a tourist industry, but the sensitivities of all the Italian and Portuguese fishermen that were in that community are still there today. We have a catch share program on the west coast, and people endorse it wholeheartedly. {time} 2320 I've been listening to this debate. Unfortunately, the debate hasn't really gone to the amendment. Let me read what the amendment is: None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to develop, approve or implement a new limited access privilege program. It doesn't say anything about fishermen's votes or catch shares or anything like that. This is just taking a tool out of the toolbox and saying you can't even use it, that you cannot use it. There hasn't been a program developed, approved or implemented yet. So why are we trying to say you can't use any of these funds to go and do that? It's because the process is from the bottom up. That's the way it was worked out in all of these fisheries.…
