40 



You know, using carp to start out with, raises flags of concern, 

 given the public's concern with carp. 



Senator Stevens. You do not put king salmon in pens and you 

 do not put moose in zoos. I do not know if you know that. You can- 

 not keep them in pens and you cannot keep moose in zoos. 



We wonder very out loud about these hybrids and what they 

 might do to our wild fish. Do you have any studies that would indi- 

 cate what would happen if tnere was an intersection of a hybrid 

 species with the wild fish? 



Dr. Burris. Well, it depends if the hybrids are sterile or not. You 

 see, many of the hybrids are sterile. And so it is unlikely, of course, 

 that they would breed if they are sterile. I do not have the informa- 

 tion on the particular hybrid you are talking about to know wheth- 

 er or not it is a sterile hybrid. If it is a sterile hybrid, then, of 

 course, chances are 



Senator Stevens. Well, we had a sterile hybrid of the pink, 

 which was the pan-sized salmon that was pen raised. And so far 

 as I know, there was no real problem about that. But there is such 

 an overabundance of natural wild pinks that that really did not 

 catch on. And we gave away 40 tons of pinks last year from State 

 because they could not even get up the rivers to spawn. We really 

 have an overproduction of pinks in Alaska. 



The idea of the pink-kings, I think, is to reduce the size of the 

 kings. That worries us a great deal. And, as I say, we worry out 

 loud about that. But, our king salmon run, now that we have got- 

 ten rid of the driftnets — I see the chairman is back, but I will make 

 my last comment — our limit on the Cook Inlet this year was to be 

 one king salmon per fisherman. We were successful in removing 

 the driftnets from the world's ocean, I think thanks to a great ex- 

 tent to the work of this committee, and all of them were taken 

 down by December 31 of last year. 



The king salmon run that came into Cook Inlet this year has 

 been so great that with an overwhelming escapement, enough 

 going upstream to assure absolute full maximum reproduction, all 

 limits were taken off the king salmon in Cook Inlet this year. 



The individual fishermen were allowed to catch as many as they 

 could catch because there was such great abundance. Which means 

 that we have to be very, very militant about our position with re- 

 gard to devices such as the driftnet. We were successful in limiting 

 the driftnet. I am certain there will be another device invented by 

 a man that will be equally harmful to our fish if we are not vigi- 

 lant. 



But that is a real, real interesting thing. It only took 1 year to 

 come back. Those nets were intercepting so many of our fish that 

 we have maximum availability in the first year of the elimination 

 of the driftnets. So, I thank you, gentlemen. I see the chairman is 

 back. 



Mr. Helms. Senator Stevens. 



Senator Stevens. Yes, sir. 



Mr. Helms. May I make one last statement? 



Senator Stevens. Yes, sir. 



Mr. Helms. If you do have your hearing in Alaska in August and 

 you need additional testimony, I will be glad to volunteer. [Laugh- 

 ter 1 



