Nick Rahall: “The pending legislation, the Catcher Processor Subsector Single Fishery Cooperative Act, was introduced by Senator…”

“The pending legislation, the Catcher Processor Subsector Single Fishery Cooperative Act, was introduced by Senator Cantwell in August 2009. Subsequently, our colleague, Congressman Larsen from the State of Washington, introduced H.R. 3910 as companion legislation. "Catch shares" are a fisheries management tool in which the total amount of fishing quota is divided among a group of fishermen. This tool is used to manage several fisheries in waters off of Alaska. However, one particular fishery in this area, the Pacific cod longline catcher processors, is not managed using catch shares. S. 1609 authorizes the Secretary of Commerce to approve this fleet as a cooperative operating a catch share. I commend our colleague, the gentleman from Washington, Mr. Rick Larsen, for his diligence. He has discussed this with me on numerous occasions and with members of our committee, and I commend his leadership on this legislation. I also recognize the efforts to bring the bill to the floor by my good friend and colleague from Alaska, Mr. Don Young. And I would note this measure is fully supported by the ranking member of our full committee, Doc Hastings of Washington.”