Statements on Introduces Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

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Mr. REED. Mr. President, today, along with my colleague Senator Whitehouse, I am introducing the Rhode Island Fishermen's Fairness Act of 2015.

This legislation seeks to extend simple fairness to our State's fishermen by giving Rhode Island voting representation on the Mid-Atlantic Fishery-Management Council MAFMC. The council manages stocks, like squid, which are critically important to the fishing industry in my State. Rhode Island's commercial fishing industry depends more on MAFMC-managed stocks than those managed by the New England Fisheries Management Council, where Rhode Island is a member. More than that, Rhode Island has a larger stake in the Mid-Atlantic fishery than many of the states that currently hold seats on the MAFMC.

This is not a new proposal, nor is it unprecedented. North Carolina was added to the MAFMC through an amendment to the Sustainable Fisheries Act in 1996. In addition, the last reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act required a report on this issue. Now it is time to make this change.

I was pleased in the last Congress that this legislation was included in the Commerce Committee's discussion draft for the reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, as well as in the reauthorization bill introduced by then-Oceans Subcommittee Chairman Mark Begich at the end of last year. I hope that in this Congress we can take this commonsense step to bring fairness to Rhode Island's fishermen.

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