HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.
![handle is hein.congrecreports/crptxdgh0001 and id is 1 raw text is: AUTHENTICATED
U.S. GOVERNMENT
INFORMATION
Op
Calendar No. 520
105TH CONGRESS SEAEREPORT
2d Session SENATE 105-283
GREAT LAKES FISH AND WILDLIFE RESTORATION ACT
OF 1998
JULY 31, 1998.-Ordered to be printed
Mr. CHAFEE, from the Committee on Environment and Public
Works, submitted the following
REPORT
[To accompany S. 659]
The Committee on Environment and Public Works, to which was
referred the bill (S. 659), to amend the Great Lakes Fish and Wild-
life Restoration Act of 1990 to provide for implementation of rec-
ommendations of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service con-
tained in the Great Lakes Fishery Restoration Study Report, hav-
ing considered the same, reports favorably thereon with an amend-
ment, and recommends that the bill do pass.
GENERAL STATEMENT AND BACKGROUND
The Great Lakes-Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and On-
tario-contain almost 20 percent of the world's fresh surface water
and cover approximately 95,000 square miles. Only the polar ice
caps contain more fresh water than the Great Lakes. Approxi-
mately 25 percent of the total population of Canada and 10 percent
of the United States population live within the Great Lakes Basin,
and 25 million people use it as their water supply. The Great
Lakes serve as an enormous natural and economic resource to the
approximately 35 million people who reside in the Basin, generat-
ing billions of dollars in economic activity, of which almost $7 bil-
lion is related to the fishing industry. The Basin also serves as
home to hundreds of species of fish and wildlife, including 24 en-
dangered or threatened species.
Commercial fishing pressures in the post-Civil War period led to
declines in native fish populations, which further declined dras-
tically in the 1950's and the 1960's, due to overfishing, pollution
59-010](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.congrecreports/crptxdgh0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)