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February 2, 2006

The Honorable Diane Feinstein
The Honorable Barbara Boxer
The Honorable Ron Wyden
The Honorable Maria Cantwell
The Honorable Patty Murray
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senators:

As members of Environmental Entrepreneurs, we are writing to urge you to prevent S. 1549, the Cooperative Hake Improvement and Conservation Act, particularly the current Sec. 5 ("Conservation of Pacific Whiting"), from being enacted into law as it jeopardizes the sustainability of many Pacific groundfish and the profitability of industries dependent on these marine resources.

E2 is a national community of business professionals who support sound environmental policy based on its economic merits. As business leaders, we recognize the huge impact of the fishing industry on our region's economy and the economic benefit of restoring depleted fish populations. A recently released study, Fish Economics: The Benefits of Rebuilding U.S. Ocean Fish Populations, found that the net economic value of rebuilding depleted fish populations is three times the net economic value of allowing those populations to remain at current levels.

As you are likely aware, in July of 2005 Senator Smith introduced S. 1549, which relates to the management of the Pacific whiting fishery. We are particularly concerned about Sec. 5, which would significantly weaken protections for the many species of depleted Pacific groundfish caught as bycatch in the whiting fishery. This is a bad idea, both from an ecological and economic point of view.

At this point in time, seven of the other Pacific groundfish species are classified by the government as overfished. Existing provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Act provide a system to end overfishing of these already depleted stocks and to rebuild them as quickly as possible. The Magnuson-Stevens Act also contains a requirement that conservation and management measures must be designed to minimize both incidental catch as well as mortality rates where by-catch is unavoidable. S. 1549, Sec. 5 takes a very different approach; bypassing measures to avoid incidental catch of other groundfish species in an effort to reduce limits on the Pacific whiting catch. S. 1549 would lift protections for groundfish that are intended to prevent overfishing, enable depleted stocks to rebuild and minimize bycatch.

Overlooking the management needs of seven overfished groundfish species in order to increase the volume of the whiting industry sets a dangerous precedent for management of our fisheries and ecosystems. In addition, this approach would have an extremely negative effect on fishermen and others who derive their livelihoods from the harvest of Pacific groundfish. According to data managed by the Pacific Fisheries Information Network, in 2004, the shore-side value of all Pacific groundfish was over four times greater than shore-side value of Pacific whiting alone. In California, the shore-side value of all Pacific groundfish was over 12 times greater.

S. 1549, Sec. 5 outlines provisions that would benefit some fisherman and marine industries at the great expense of many others. Please take a leadership role in preventing these provisions of S. 1549 from being enacted into law, either as stand alone legislation or through re-authorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act.

Sincerely,

Curtis Abbott
CEO, Lucesco Lighting Inc
Maryvonne Abbott
Larry Bain
Director, Food From the Parks
Lianne Barnes
Jessica Barrows
Lance Batten
President, Tilden Park Software
Jayne Battey
Co-founder, Essex Environmental, Inc.
Mark Battey
Miramar Capital
Andrew Beebe
Tony Bernhardt, PhD
Northern California Director, Environmental Entrepreneurs
Gary Bettman
Senior VP, The Miller Group Advertising
Suzanne Biegel
Maureen Blanc
Director, CHARGE ACROSS TOWN
Eric Bowen
Executive Director, Business Development & Legal Affairs, Renewable Energy Group
Susie Bowman
George Brandt
Evan Brooks
Founder, DigiDesign
Violet Brooks
Barbara Brenner Buder
CFO, San Francisco Theological Seminary
Marisa Bueno
Doctoral Student, Stanford University
Buzz Burlock
Leslie Burlock
Meg Caldwell
Director, Center for Ocean Solutions
Peter Carson
Partner, Bingham McCutchen LLP
Priscilla Carson
Renato Cedolin
Matt Cheney
CEO, CleanPath Ventures LLC
Roger Choplin
Proprietor / Owner, Our Earth Music, Inc.
Tom Cole
CEO, Consuming, Inc.
Stephen Colwell
Executive Director, Philanthropy Associates
Christine Comaford
Venture Partner, Novus Ventures
Holly Corn
Holly Corn, MD, Children's Hospital Los Angeles
Paul Danielsen
VP Business Development, MMA Renewable Ventures
Peter Danzig
Tim Dattels
Managing Director, Newbridge Capital
Duncan Davidson
Senior Advisor, NetServices Venture Group
Jean Davidson
Managing Director, VantagePoint Venture Partners
Evie Davis
Matt Davis
Mateva Capital, LLC
Peter Davis
Retired Attorney
John Dawson
Co-founder, Zentek Technology
Rick DeGolia
Partner, Exigen Capital
Andrew Deitz
Co Founder, Climate Earth
Sally DeSipio
Nathan Diemer
Founder and Executive Vice President, DreamHammer, Inc.
George Dies
Scott Dietzen
CEO, Pure Storage
Eileen Donahoe
Visiting Scholar, CISAC
Brian Dougherty
CEO, AirSet Inc.
Ted Driscoll
Director, Digital Healthcare Lead, Claremont Creek Ventures
John Dunham
Caw Foundation
Alvin Duskin
CEO of Clean Coal Energy
Dave Edwards
Chief Executive Officer, Koru
Bob Epstein
Co-founder, Sybase, New Resource Bank, Environmental Entrepreneurs
Rob Erlichman
Founder & President, Sunlight Electric, LLC
Lynn Feintech
Anne Feldhusen
Noel Fenton
General Partner, Trinity Ventures
Sally Fenton
Kacey Fitzpatrick
President, Avalon Enterprises Inc
Peter Fortenbaugh
Executive Director, Boy and Girls Club of the Peninsula
Cole Frates
Renewable Resources Group
Ivor Frischknecht
Investment Director, Starfish Ventures
Lisa Gansky
Entrepreneur & Speaker, Digital Tapas
Don Garman
Senior Vice President, Senior Portfolio Manager, Morgan Stanley - Global Wealth Management
Mindy Garman
Aaron Gershenberg
Managing Director, Silicon Valley Bank
Ken Goldsholl
CEO, x.o.ware, Inc.
Nancy Goldsholl
Marianna Grossman
President & Executive Director, Sustainable Silicon Valley
David Groves
Representative, Angeles Medical, Inc.
Joseph Guth
Legal Director, Science and Environmental Health Network
Tom Haggin
Co-Founder, Sybase and Tilden Park Software
Vicki Haggin
Russell Hall
Managing Director, Legacy Venture
Anna Halpern-Lande
Manager, Biofuels, Royal Dutch Shell
Bob Hambrecht
Self-Employed
Gary Hammer
Chairman, Great Circle Water, Inc.
Xenia Hammer
R.B. Webber & Company
Patricia Hansen
Pres. Legal & Licensing, Chicken Soup for the Soul Enterprises
Laura Hattendorf
Carol Hazenfield
James Higgins
Partner, Lakeside Enterprises
Jill Tate Higgins
General Partner, Lakeside Enterprises
Russ Holdstein
Susan Holdstein
Janet Huseby
Volunteer coordinator, Berkeley High School
Stuart Jacobson
Tom Jacoby
CEO, Tymphany Corporation
Kristine Johnson
Director, Kingfisher Foundation
Charlene Kabcenell
Former Vice President, Oracle Corporation
Derry Kabcenell
Former Executive Vice President, Oracle Corporation
Jonathan Kaufelt
Private Investor; Former Attorney
Holly Kaufman
CEO, Environment & Enterprise Strategies
Robert Keith
Partner, Beartooth Capital Partners
Arthur Keller
Managing Partner, Minerva Consulting
Adrienne Kentor
Eric Kentor
Michael Kieschnick
President, Working Assets
Meg Kingsland
Sam Kingsland
Managing Director, Granite Ventures
Stephanie Kiriakopolos
Bob Klausner
Chip Koch
Partner, Petrosus Energy
Stephen Koch
Portfolio Manager, AIG Global Real Estate
Jeff Lawrence
Founder, President and CEO, Clivia Systems Inc.
Sue Learned-Driscoll
Administrator, Stanford University
Noelle Leca
Vice Chair, Chair-Elect, NCPB, Inc.
Nicole Lederer
Co-Founder, Environmental Entrepreneurs
Betty Lee
Ross Levy
Principal, Levy Art & Architecture Inc.
Anna Lijphart
East Bay Sanctuary
Donna Liu
Former policy analyst, NRDC
Ron Lloyd
VP Advanced Manufacturing Projects, Tesla Motors
Alison Long Poetsch
Principal, SHR Investments
Chris Lynch
NY Life
Steve MacKay
Principal, Scourie Network Partners
Joel Makower
Chairman and Executive Editor, GreenBiz Group
Ughetta Manzone
Attorney-at-Law
Drew Maran
President, Drew Maran Construction, Inc.
Daniel Maskit
Technical Director, Digital Domain
Julia Massa
Patti McClung
Bill McClure
Attorney/Partner, Jorgenson, Siegel, McClure & Flegel LLP
Christina McClure
Community Volunteer
Renee Miller
President/ Creative Director, The Miller Group Advertising
Kate Mitchell
Managing Partner, Scale Venture Partners
Wes Mitchell
Board Member, Foto Forum, SFMOMA
Carol Moné
Producer, Our Earth Productions
John Montgomery
Chairman, Montgomery & Hansen, LLP
Jeffrey Mora
Chef
Michael Moradzadeh
Commodore, Corinthian Yacht Club
Allen Morgan
Principal, Mayfield
Kathy Murphy
CFO and Administrative Partner, Trinity Ventures
Tom Neff
Jeffrey Neu
President, TLE Properties
Tori Nourafchan
Rick Nowels
Kathy Nyrop
Consultant
Lise Olson
Larry Orr
Managing Partner, Trinity Ventures
Alex Osadzinski
Jiali Osadzinski
Jack Oswald
CEO, SynGest Inc.
Jim Panttaja
Vice President, Corporate Development, RebelVox
Mary Panttaja
Vice President, Product Management, RebelVox
Jen Parker
CEO, Canopy Cards
Vic Parker
Managing Director
Mark Parnes
Attorney, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Sunil Paul
Co-Founder, Managing Director, Spring Ventures
Ron Pernick
Co-founder and Managing Director, Clean Edge
Sam Perry
President, Ascendance Ventures
Jeff Poetsch
Principal, JCP Advisors
Randy Rosenberg
Curator, Natural World Museum
David Rosenstein
President, Intex Solutions
Amy Roth
Eric Schmidt
Executive Chairman, Google
Wendy Schmidt
Founder, The 11th Hour Project
Bette Schuster
Stu Schuster
Novus Ventures
David Schwartz
President, COO, PIX System
Kris Seeman
Paul Seeman
Anneke Seley
CEO, ALIO Inc.
Joel Serface
Co-Founder and Managing Director, Clean Range Ventures
Ann Shulman
President, Philanthropy Associates, Inc.
Steve Silberstein
Co-founder, Innovative Interfaces Inc.
Aimee Silver
Project Manager, Silver Consulting
Sandra Slater
Owner, Sandra Slater Environments
Bob Smith
Former COO & CFO, Nellcor Inc.
Jennifer Solow
Author
June Stein
Virtual Group, LLC
Lee Stein
Chairman and CEO, Virtual Group, LLC
Tricia Stone
Founder, Stone Communications
Scott Struthers
Co-Founder, Sonance
Ed Supplee
Former CFO, UTStarcom
Sally Supplee
Former Chief Financial Officer, various companies
Gary Swart
CEO, Odesk
Kathy Swart
Lava Thomas
Bill Unger
Partner Emeritus, Mayfield Fund
Kathleen Unger
Of Counsel, Freeman, Freeman & Smiley
Stephen Unger
Managing Director, KSMU, LLC
Thomas Van Dyck
Sr. Vice President, RBC Wealth Management
Maria Vidal
Cindy Walden
Mark Walden
COO, Data Robotics, Inc.
Kirby Walker
Independent film/video producer
Lisa Wan
Mark Wan
Founding Partner, Three Arch Partners
Mal Warwick
Founder & Chairman, Mal Warwick Associates
Nick Wechsler
Nick Wechsler Productions
Stephanie Wechsler
Bill Weihl
Sustainability guru, Facebook
Dave Welch
Chief Technology Officer, Infinera Corporation
Heidi Welch
Donna Wengert-Neff
Bob Williams
General Partner, Bay Partners
Diana Williams
Cindy Winebaum
Jake Winebaum
Founder & CEO, Business.com, Inc.
Robert Wright
Principal/CEO, Marketing Arts, Inc.
Stephanie Yulga Deitz
Head of Lower School, Hillbrook
Stephen Zimmerman

204 members

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