ESTUARINE ORGANISMS. THESE PROGRAMS ALSO ARE CONCERNED WITH FISH STOCK ANALYSIS AND STUDIES ON THE DYNAMICS OF THE MENHADEN IMPORTANT FISH SPECIES OF NORTH CAROLINA AND THE SOUTH ATLANTIC ANALYSIS AND DISSEMINATION PROGRAMS ARE CRITICAL. THE FISHERIES MANAGEMENT PROGRAM IS NECESSARY FOR THE CONTINUED OPERATION OF THE EIGHT REGIONAL FISHERY MANAGEMENT COUNCILS. THE COUNCILS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF FISHERY MANAGEMENT PLANS, AND ARE ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL IF WE UNLESS INTEND TO SERIOUSLY MANAGE OUR LIVING MARINE RESOURCES. FUNDS FOR THE HABITAT CONSERVATION PROGRAM SHOULD ALSO BE RESTORED. THIS PROGRAM IS ESSENTIAL IN DETERMINING THE EFFECTS OF FEDERAL PROJECTS ON HABITATS SUCH AS WETLANDS AND ESTUARIES, WHICH ARE CRITICAL FOR HEALTHY AND ABUNDANT FISH POPULATIONS. STRONGLY SUPPORT THE RESTORATION OF FUNDS FOR THIS PROGRAM. I I ALSO SUPPORT THE RESTORATION OF FUNDS FOR THE ANADROMOUS FISH CONSERVATION PROGRAMS AND COMMERCIAL FISHERIES RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT FUNDS OR THE SO-CALLED GRANTS TO THE STATES. THESE FUNDS ARE PARTICULARLY IMPORTANT TO NORTH CAROLINA AND THE SOUTH ATLANTIC REGION. MANY COMMERCIALLY IMPORTANT SPECIES ARE HARVESTED IN BOTH STATE AND FEDERAL WATERS, AND MANY ANADROMOUS FISHES UNDERTAKE EXTENSIVE MIGRATIONS WHICH MAY INCLUDE STATE, OBVIOUSLY A UNIFORM FEDERAL AND INTERNATIONAL JURISDICTION. BASIS OF MANAGEMENT AND RESEARCH IS NEEDED FOR THESE RESOURCES, AND THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT THE GRANTS TO THE STATES PROGRAMS ACCOMPLISH. IN ADDITION, I SUPPORT THE RESTORATION OF FUNDS TO RESEARCH ON STRIPED BASS, A VERY IMPORTANT RECREATIONAL AND COMMERCIAL SPECIES OF THE ATLANTIC SEABOARD WHICH HAS SUFFERED A MAJOR DECLINE OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS. I ALSO WANT TO TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO EXPRESS MY DISMAY AT THE MASSIVE BUDGET REDUCTIONS PROPOSED FOR THE NMFS FISHERY RESEARCH LABORATORY AT BEAUFORT, NORTH CAROLINA. AS A RESULT OF THE VARIOUS REDUCTIONS PROPOSED IN THE NMFS BUDGET, THIS FACILITY WOULD LOSE OVER 50 PERCENT OF ITS STAFF, AND OVER TWO-THIRDS OF ITS OPERATING BUDGET. I WANT TO POINT OUT THAT THIS IS ONE OF THE OLDEST AND MOST RESPECTED FISHERY LABORATORIES IN THE U. S. AND INDEED THE WORLD. REDUCTIONS IN THE NMFS RESOURCE SURVEY, HABITAT RESEARCH, FISHERY OCEANOGRAPHY AND SURVEY TECHNOLOGY, AND INFORMATION ANALYSIS AND DISSEMINATION PROGRAMS WOULD HAVE A PROFOUND AND DETRIMENTAL IMPACT ON THE SHORT AND LONG-TERM FISHERY MANAGEMENT OF THE SOUTH ATLANTIC REGION. OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT IS NOT SO RICH THAT WE CAN NOW ABANDON OUR MARINE RESEARCH EFFORTS, NOR ARE WE AS A NATION SO POOR THAT WE CAN NOT AFFORD TO BETTER UNDERSTAND OUR FISHERY RESOURCES. I AM EXTREMELY PROUD OF THE WORK CARRIED OUT AT THE BEAUFORT LABORATORY, AND I URGE THE RESTORATION OF FUNDS FOR RESEARCH AND MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT AT THIS FACILITY. MR. CHAIRMAN, THE RESTORATION OF FUNDS TO THE VARIOUS PROGRAMS AS PROPOSED BY MESSRS. FORSYTHE AND BREAUX AND SET FORTH ABOVE ARE VITALLY NEEDED IF THE NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE IS TO ACCOMPLISH ITS NATIONAL MISSION. THE RESTORATION OF THESE FUNDS WILL FACILITATE THE UTILIZATION OF THE FISHERY RESOURCES WITHIN OUR 200-MILE FISHERY CONSERVATION ZONE AND, IN DOING So, PROVIDE EMPLOYMENT AND HELP TO REDUCE THE BURGEONING TRADE DEFICIT IN FISHERY PRODUCTS THAT NOW EXISTS. MR. CHAIRMAN, I URGE YOU AND THE MEMBERS OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE TO ACCEPT AND SUPPORT THE RESTORATION OF FUNDS AS RECOMMENDED FOR THE CONSERVATION, MANAGEMENT, AND UTILIZATION OF OUR FISHERY RESOURCES. Mr. EARLY. I want to thank you, Congressman D'Amours. As you know, you have been very effective in getting this Subcommittee to restore the Sea Grant monies over the years. Mr. D'AMOURS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. You know, the Republicans have been as much the leaders as any Democrat on this Committee to restore Sea Grant money and many of the coastal programs. I think you should be extremely pleased with what you have done over the past two years. Being landlocked, as my district in central Massachusetts is, doesn't help too much. I want to thank you for your testimony. Mr. D'AMOURS. They tell me you can see the ocean from the top of that new sports center you have in Wooster. Mr. EARLY. If I get a little taller. Mr. D'AMOURS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6, 1983. INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF WILDLIFE AGENCIES NOAA FISHERIES PROGRAMS WITNESS WES HAYDEN, LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FISH AND WILDLIFE AGENCIES Mr. EARLY. Next we will hear from Mr. Wes Hayden, Legislative Counsel, International Association of Wildlife Agencies. Mr. HAYDEN. Good morning. The International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies welcomes this opportunity to have a part in your Subcommittee's examination of the national marine fisheries service budget for fiscal year 1984. As an organization committed to balanced fisheries resource conservation, management and development, we have a manifest interest in the programs being operated under NMFS jurisdiction and direction, particularly those with a high potential for effective state-federal coordination and cooperation and with special significance for our members in the 50 state fish and wildlife agencies. It is in that context that I share with your Subcommittee our deep concern over the truly devastating impact which the massive pending cuts being mandated for the Service can have on those programs. But our apprehension goes even beyond that immediate effect and also reflects our misgivings about the future outlook for the Service itself unless the trend evident in the current budget is reversed. As we indicated in testimony before this Subcommittee a year ago, there is a real and serious question in our mind whether any agency can absorb a one-third reduction in its operating funds in a single year and continue to function effectively over a protracted period of time in carrying out its primary mission. Pursuing that thought one step further, there may be reason to wonder if there is in this situation the portent for possible change and even a limitation of that mission. Marine resources, like those in agriculure and energy fields, are essential to this nation's pro ductive capacity. The primary NMFS mission has been stewardship of those resources. And what we find especially disturbing in that regard is the fact that most of the cuts being proposed in fiscal year 1984 spending for NMFS are in the same areas, and in the same or greater amounts than those sought under the fiscal year 1983 budget but restored to a substantial degree by Congress by your Subcommittee and by Congress at that time. We can only conclude that the Administration and Capitol Hill have differing sets of priorities where the NMFS mission is concerned. In light of that we suggest that the reductions now proposed warrant close scrutiny and detailed discussion. The statement we offer today will be intended for that purpose. Meanwhile, I will summarize briefly our primary recommendations with respect to them as determined by the Association's Ad Hoc Federal Budget Committee earlier this year. Our principal committee recommendations relating to the budget calling for a cut of about 38 percent from the fiscal year 1983 level included restoration of at least $4 million for comercial fisheries research and development program and $3 million for the NMFS section of the Anadromous Fish Conservation Act, both proposed for elimination by the Administration. Continuation of the 50 percent cut proposed in the budget for regional fisheries management councils, which would reduce their operating funds by $4.3 million from the requested level of $7.5 million, and I might add our feeling that this would reduce them, if that cut is maintained, it would simply reduce them to a caretaker status, and really ineffectual. Restoration of $4.5 million in the budget for fisheries habitat research activities, a cut of nearly 50 percent in the funding for those activities. We challenge the Administration's renewed attempt to phase out support for the Columbia River hatcheries program by reducing it by about $6 million, actually more than $6 million. This is a valid and legitimate mitigation development which should be continued, because to reduce it is simply an abrogation of federal responsibility. We are concerned about the allotment of funds for closure, which would cause closure of NMFS lab facilities at Glouster, Galveston, Tuburon, and St. Louis. We also suggest as an item for future Association discussion proposals for terminating aquacultural program activities and for diverting Saltonstall-Kennedy funds. I might point out that the question of the aquacultural elimination is the subject of hearings this morning by the Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee. One other item I would want to leave with you is the fact that we, too, have an interest in the Sea Grant and Coastal Zone Management Programs, and our Association is on record as supporting the legislation which Chairman Jones and Congressman D'Amours referred to in testimony just this morning, H.R. 5, which would divert a portion of the energy development funds to 35 coastal and Great Lakes states and territories to give them a share for continuation of marine resources facilities programs, a share of the proceeds from those energy developments. |