foreign fishing fleets in our 200-mile zone prior to the Magnuson 

 Act was greater than that going on now, although they were unre- 

 ported and uncontrolled at the time. 



I welcome this hearing because I think it is the first time we will 

 come close to addressing some of the new issues that are going to 

 come out of the revised version of the Law of the Sea Conference 

 documents, and I do have some questions concerning the subjects 

 that you have mentioned as they relate to that new version of the 

 Law of the Sea Treaty. 



I welcome these witnesses. I think this is a very vital subject for 

 us to be addressing. And, like you, I hope that we can get back to 

 the subject of the Magnuson Act reauthorization. I think that it is 

 vital for us to address some of the issues that are contained in that 

 bill, particularly the subject of waste which you have touched upon, 

 which is a rather difficult subject for the North Pacific at the 

 present time. 



Thank you for calling the hearing. I am sorry to tell you that I 

 will not be able to join you in New Bedford. 



Senator Kerry. We will not have any lobsters to offer you any- 

 way. [Laughter.] 



Senator Stevens. I think there might be some other creatures of 

 the sea that we could experience up there anyway. 



Senator Kerry. You could indeed. 



Senator Stevens. I do think that is a very necessary hearing, 

 and I look forward to that being completed so that we can get back 

 to the Magnuson Act issues. 



Thank you for holding the hearing. 



Senator Kerry. Thank you very much. Senator Stevens. 



Senator Gorton. 



Senator Gorton. No opening statement. 



Senator Kerry. Senator Burns. 



OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR BURNS 



Senator Burns. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I do have a state- 

 ment. And I am going to approach this in just a little bit of a dif- 

 ferent way if you do not mind. I thank you for starting this process 

 of gathering information on what we think is a very serious prob- 

 lem. 



When I first came to the U.S. Senate we started to address the 

 driftnet problem. Senator Packwood and many of us in the North- 

 west were concerned about the Northwest salmon. And sometimes 

 we tend to overreact, but I want to come at it just from a little bit 

 of a different angle, because the National Marine Fisheries Service 

 does impact Montana even though we are regarded as an inland 

 State. The salmon recovery efforts have had a tremendous and sub- 

 stantial impact on my State in the Northwest. I believe these con- 

 cerns are related to our efforts to increase the salmon population 

 in international waters. 



I just want to address that species. We tend to forget that we are 

 expending billions of dollars on the Columbia River and its drain- 

 age area for the recovery of the salmon. That should be a major un- 

 dertaking for this Nation, and I would support that to a degree. 

 But we also have to understand that we are also talking about a 



