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SUBSTITUTE SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL NO. 8001
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Passed Legislature - 1989 Reg.
State of Washington 51st Legislature 1989 Regular Session
By Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources (originally sponsored by Senators Metcalf, Rasmussen, DeJarnatt, Sutherland, Amondson and McMullen)
Read first time 1/24/89.
TO THE HONORABLE GEORGE BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED, AND TO THE UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE, THE UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF COMMERCE, AND THE UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF DEFENSE:
We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:
WHEREAS, The salmon and steelhead resource of the state of Washington is important to the commercial fishing industry and to the recreational fishing public; and
WHEREAS, Juvenile and adult salmon and steelhead feed in the open areas of the Pacific Ocean before returning to their home rivers to spawn; and
WHEREAS, Foreign high seas fisheries which ostensibly fish for squid with gill nets are actually targeting on juvenile and adult salmon and steelhead which originate in North American streams; and
WHEREAS, The foreign high seas fisheries are causing a significant depletion of salmon and steelhead runs and are having a serious economic and conservational impact on Washington state salmon and steelhead resources; and
WHEREAS, The United States Coast Guard and the National Marine Fisheries Service are empowered to enforce fishery regulations within the fisheries conservation zone;
NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that:
(1) The Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, in Congress assembled, instruct the secretary of state to pursue vigorous sanctions upon foreign fishing nations who are harvesting Washington state salmon and steelhead on the high seas and to take any other diplomatic measures which will cause a reduction in their interceptions; and
(2) The Congress instruct the Secretary of State to pursue treaties establishing no-fishing-zones in each ocean's international waters so that juvenile fish can return to their native waters without being subjected to mixed stock fisheries in international waters; and
(3) The Congress instruct the National Marine Fisheries Service and the United States Coast Guard to fully enforce all fisheries regulations within their respective authorities; and
(4) The Congress be encouraged to fully fund the United States Coast Guard enforcement operations and consider the increased manpower needs for such enforcement.
BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable George Bush, President of the United States, the United States Secretary of State, the United States Secretary of Commerce, the United States Secretary of Defense, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each member of Congress from the State of Washington.