Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) today questioned expert witnesses during a hybrid legislative hearing of 15 conservation bills before the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Oceans and Wildlife. His line of questioning focused on unsustainable and illegal overfishing and the need to enforce existing laws, and whether primate pet ownership affects the decline of some species.
Congressman Cohen, a longtime member of the Congressional Animal Protection Caucus, also asked the Deputy Director for Policy at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service whether Big Game hunters should be banned from bringing their trophies into the United States.
See Congressman Cohen’s entire line of questioning here.
Witnesses at today’s hearing were:
- Representative Don Young
- Representative Jimmy Panetta
- Representative Ted Lieu
- Representative Debbie Dingell
- Representative Stephanie Murphy
- Representative Earl Blumenauer
- Ms. Janet Coit, Assistant Administrator, National Marine Fisheries Service, Acting Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, and Deputy NOAA Administrator,
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration;
- Mr. Stephen Guertin, Deputy Director for Policy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
- Mr. Nathan Rickard, Trade Counsel for Southern Shrimp Alliance
- Dr. Erika Zavaleta, CAMINO Faculty Director, Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Faculty Director
- Mr. Collin O’Mara, President and Chief Executive Officer for the National Wildlife Federation
- Mr. Justin Jahnz, President and Chief Executive Officer East Central Energy
