John Kerry: “I rise this evening as Chairman of the Oceans, Atmosphere and Fisheries Subcommittee to offer a few remarks concerning…”

“I rise this evening as Chairman of the Oceans, Atmosphere and Fisheries Subcommittee to offer a few remarks concerning H.R. 1989, to which I am offering a Senate amendment, along with the ranking member of the Subcommittee Ms. Snowe. The Senate amendment includes a number of provisions that will help fishermen around this country. Our amendment contains two important provisions that will help identify and address overcapacity in our fisheries. The first is a report from the Secretary of Commerce identifying the top 20 fisheries in the United States with excess capacity. In order to restore and maintain sustainable fisheries, we need to ensure we understand and develop a plan to address overcapacity that may be undermining our efforts to rebuild our stocks. By ranking the fisheries with the most serious capacity problems, we can target resources at reducing capacity in these fisheries and allow some fishermen to retire with dignity. This amendment also includes a provision that would require the Secretary of Commerce in coordination with the New England Fisheries Management Council to provide technical assistance and use all tools at his disposal--including the Coastal Zone Management Act planning procedures--to help industry develop a capacity reduction program for New England groundfish.”