Nick Rahall: “The gentleman from Oregon is entirely correct. It is my understanding that the bill would permit the Pacific Council…”

“The gentleman from Oregon is entirely correct. It is my understanding that the bill would permit the Pacific Council process to continue. We recognize that the Pacific Council has made substantial progress and do not intend to disrupt their efforts to develop and implement an appropriate groundfish management program, consistent with this act. There is also another provision in this bill which is long overdue. We have had extraordinary closures of the salmon season on the west coast this year, despite the fact that there are quite a number of plentiful runs of salmon, because one run, the Klamath River, is very, very unhealthy. Over the last 5 years, this administration has done nothing to begin to improve the health of the river. This legislation will begin some of the mitigation restoration activities to restore the health of that fishery which is critical so that we can begin to continue to harvest other salmon species which are more plentiful and not in trouble. For that and a number of other provisions in the bill, I am very supportive of the legislation.”