Mr. Wittman's proposed bill eases requirements that will provide more access to fisheries by recreational fishermen but does little to allow commercial fishermen similar access to their fisheries.

H.R. 2304, introduced by Representative Wittman, is a good start, but it fails to help all fishermen.

H.R. 2304 addresses a timely issue that must be addressed before the end of this year, to prevent uninformed fishery management decisions.

Conserving our natural resources for generations to come is a priority for me and many of the folks here with us today.

This bill is a common sense measure to add sunlight to the fisheries management process, and I urge the Committee to support it.

I strongly urge the Committee to move these bills as soon as possible.

I urge my colleagues to support sound science and resource management by supporting H.R. 2304, the Fishery Science Improvement Act.

I too support the concept of adding SSC oversight.

I appreciate you taking the opportunity to schedule this important hearing on amendments to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.

Preserving these resources requires attention to detail--to science, resource allocation, and management.

I think we all hear concerns from time to time about the validity and the robustness of the data used to make these very difficult decisions.