David Skaggs: “I support this bill. I believe its enactment is necessary if we are going to continue to make progress in reducing…”

“I support this bill. I believe its enactment is necessary if we are going to continue to make progress in reducing dolphin mortality associated with fishing for tuna. I, like many of my colleagues, always have cause to pause for a moment before challenging the position of my friends and colleagues from Massachusetts and California on an issue like this. Certainly it is disconcerting to have words like ``conned'' and ``duped'' thrown into the debate. I think everybody here is in agreement about our basic objective, which is reducing dolphin mortality. It is evident that opinions are divided about how to pursue that objective, and so there is a division of opinion about this bill. I respect those that question the bill's approach, because I know that what they are primarily seeking here is what I am seeking, and that is reducing to the minimum, as efficiently as we can, the deaths of dolphins. We all remember the horrifying pictures of dolphins dying in fishermen's nets. That brought the public clamor that got us the very major progress that we have made to date in this issue. The improvement that has been made is largely the result of the La Jolla Agreement. That agreement has brought much reduction in dolphin mortality. But last year, as has been discussed, a dozen tuna fishing nations, including the United States, met to try to build on that agreement and put together a binding international agreement to replace the strictly voluntary La Jolla Agreement.”