Whac-A-Mole

Floor Speech

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Ms. DelBENE. Many of my colleagues today have been highlighting the impacts on sportsmen and -women who are unable to access our National Wildlife Refuges and for other public lands. As they've made clear today, this is a serious problem that's costing our country millions of dollars and is denying access to those who would otherwise be enjoying the great outdoors.

In my home State of Washington, there are 11 wildlife refuges where the public can hunt or fish. All of those refuges are closed because of the shutdown.

But it's not only recreational users that are being impacted. Commercial fishermen in my State will be seriously hurt in the coming weeks if this shutdown does not end. Right now, fishermen from Washington State are in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, getting ready for the Alaska king crab season that's supposed to start in less than a couple weeks. These are the same fishermen and boats that you see on the reality show ``The Deadliest Catch.''

But because of the shutdown, they may not get to start fishing this season. That's because the staff at the National Marine Fisheries Service have largely been furloughed. As a result, no one is available to issue the rules and individual quotas for boats and processors that will permit our commercial fishers to work.

The Bering Sea crab fishery is worth hundreds of millions of dollars to fishermen from Alaska and Washington. And now, because of inaction by Congress, the fishing fleet, the captains, their crews, and the processors stand to lose millions. So instead of a fiscal cliff, right now we're facing a fishing cliff in the Bering Sea unless Congress acts before the season is scheduled to start on October 15.

If the season doesn't start on time, the cost to industry is significant. A delay could mean they'll miss out exporting to the all-important Asian holiday market when demand is at its highest and most lucrative. Missing the Asian market when it's in peak demand means prices significantly decrease by as much as 20 to 30 percent, which means millions of dollars in lost value. This would be a crippling loss to these businesses.

In addition to the potential loss of millions of dollars caused by market disruptions, the effects of the shutdown will be felt in other ways. Fishing boats typically incur costs of roughly $1,000 per day while sitting tied to the docks. Things like moorage fees, fuel, and food to feed the crew all cost the boat owners money.

A delayed crab season means processors will have empty facilities and an idle labor force that still has to be housed and fed. So processors will be contending with costs for housing, fuel, electricity, food for laborers, and more while not bringing in any desperately needed revenue.

Every day this shutdown continues, we're hurting the fishing industry. Without knowing when the season will start, these businesses have no certainty or visibility to plan. If we delay the start of the crabbing season by even a few days, we risk costing the entire industry millions of dollars in lost market value.

This is unacceptable. Our fishermen deserve better than this. Their families deserve better than this. The processors, suppliers, and other businesses that rely on a vibrant Alaskan king crab season all deserve better than this.

It's clear that this shutdown is hurting people, businesses, and our economy. It's time to end it and get to work on passing a long-term budget that will grow our economy, reduce our deficit, and responsibly create jobs.

I urge all of my colleagues to work together and do the job the American people sent us here to do. We must end the brinkmanship and do the responsible thing and reopen the government.

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