Coastal development is going to impact marine resources more and more. In this country, and I am sure in most other countries, population growth and urban development within 50 miles of the coastline is proceeding at about four times the national average. This long-term trend is likely to cause major stress on all our coastal resources, particularly wetlands vital to many species at various life stages, for the foreseeable future. There is an effort by many countries who have much less developed fisheries management regimes than we do to take advantage of that fact and flood our markets from essentially unsustainable fisheries. We must resist the call, in the name of 'remaining competitive,' to loosen our own conservation standards so that our fisheries too become unsustainable in the long run.
Fishermen can only lose in the process.
Instead we need to use every available international tool to bring the level of the playing field up to our level, not down to theirs. We also really desperately need a workable international fisheries management regime. Because of a lack of international management mechanisms we have very little international control over highly migratory species, though there are some efforts now in that direction. We cannot waste any more, waste is unforgivable in today's world. We've got to find uses for everything we land and everything that can be used.