[Insert your name]
[Insert Street Address]
[City, State]
[Postal Code]
[Today's Date]
The Honorable [Rep. or Sen. X]
[Office Address]
Dear [Rep. or Sen. X]:
I am writing to request your assistance in securing financial support for the Pelagic Fisheries
Research Program at the University of Hawaii. This Program is vital to sustaining healthy recreational
and commercial fisheries for Pacific tunas, marlins, swordfish and other large pelagic species –
favorite foods in Hawaii and in many other States.
Investigators affiliated with the PFRP have produced over 350 publications in the fields of biology,
oceanography, economics, anthropology, and population dynamics. The results of these projects are
applied to fisheries management problems both domestically through the Western Pacific and Pacific
Regional Fishery Management Councils, and internationally, through the Inter-American Tropical
Tuna Commission (IATTC), the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), and the Commission
for the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central
Pacific Ocean (WCPFC).
The beginning of the Twenty-first Century is a critical time for management of fisheries for highly
migratory species. Current stock assessments indicate that the tuna resources in the Pacific Ocean are
fully exploited and that any further increase in exploitation would be unsustainable. At the same time,
vessels are entering the fishery from both Europe and Asia. New fisheries treaties in the Pacific may
lead to restrictions on fishing activities on the high seas as well as within the United States Exclusive
Economic Zone. These important changes in the fishery are taking place during a period marked by
rapid climate change. It is a time to strengthen research capabilities, not weaken them.
I respectfully request that you support funding of the Pelagic Fisheries Research Program by
continuing the appropriation in FY2009 and by encouraging NOAA Fisheries to give the PFRP the
priority it deserves by including it in the Administration budget request.
Thank you for your attention to this critical matter.
[Signature]
[Insert name]