Recap of Capitol Hill Briefing

The first luncheon seminar titled "Overcoming Hurdles to Implementing IFQs in the U.S. Fisheries" was held Wed., Nov 12, 2003, at the Longworth House Office Bldg. As Mike and I told Alex the day after, we are quite pleased with the results. There were 87 mostly house and senate staffers in attendance. According to Randy Simmons, who has helped put on about fifty of these functions over the last five years, it is twice the average number who have attended previous luncheon seminars on the hill.

Notably, Wayne Gilchrest, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oceans, Fisheries, and Conservation, helped open the seminar, telling those in attendance that this seminar held important ramifications for him and other members of his committee. He will soon be introducing legislation on guidelines for implementing IFQs in U.S. fisheries. Pete is right, staffers want to hear mostly from fishers on this issue.

We are now putting together notes and other materials that will go into our first seminar booklet, which will be posted on this Web site.