We need to start investing in our people.

I hope that the Committee will hold a hearing soon on the fisheries management challenges facing my constituents and others in the Western Pacific.

I hope that this hearing will bring further attention to those ideas as alternatives to the status quo.

I would argue that any approach that would soften annual catch limits, weaken accountability measures, or make enforcement of fishery laws and regulations more difficult is not in the long-term interests of those who depend on Gulf red…

Conservative, science-based management of this fishery remains critical to achieving sustainable harvest levels.

I ask for unanimous consent to enter into the record a press release from the National Ocean Industries Association, praising the Department of the Interior's revised rigs to reefs policy.

Every single dollar invested in the refuge system returns an average of $4 to surrounding communities.

The National Wildlife Refuge System protects representative pieces of many life sustaining ecosystems throughout the States and territories.

Protecting these and other special places from destruction is critical to scientific discovery and natural resource management.

The refuges provide enormous benefits to taxpayers.

The habitat conserved in the refuge system is one of the best tools we have to recover endangered species.