28 



Can you take another look at that one? 



Dr. Baker. We will do that. 



[The information referred to follows:] 



NMFS does not have regulatory authority over inshore salmon runs. According to 

 the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G), which manages the Yukon 

 River chum salmon fishery, preliminary information indicates the number of chum 

 salmon returning to the Yukon Rover is much stronger than the number that re- 

 turned in 1993. ADF&G has opened the Yukon River to commercial chum salmon 

 fishery, based on the strength of the summer chum salmon runs. 



NMFS implemented an emergency rule that establishes a cap of 42,000 salmon 

 in the Bering Sea groundfish trawl fishery. If trawling during the period August 15- 

 December causes this cap to be reached, an area in the Catcher Vessel Operational 

 Area, which is known to be an important area of chum salmon, will be closed. Al- 

 though the continent of origin for the chum salmon by-catches occurring in the trawl 

 fisheries is not well understood, NMFS took this action as a conservative measure 

 to protect depressed chum salmon stocks. 



Senator Stevens. That has been put into the negotiations by the 

 Canadians on the Canadian Salmon Treaty. I do believe we have 

 got a terrible problem. Chum salmon provides the only income 

 those people have. And if the chum run does not return this year, 

 it is really a human disaster. 



Last, we have got a real problem at the Pribiloff Islands. Your 

 NOAA personnel have been meeting with representatives of St. 

 George and St. Paul, looking to clean up the areas that were used 

 by the National Marine Fisheries Service when the service ran 

 those islands. We do have a fund that was created under the De- 

 partment of Defense, which is the Defense Restoration Fund, using 

 defense dollars to restore lands that were contaminated by defense 

 activities in previous years which are no longer military reserva- 

 tions. 



We do not have a similar fund here to deal with the cleanup on 

 the Pribiloffs. It is not in your budget. There is a substantial 

 amount of contaminated waste that was left on those islands by the 

 National Marine Fisheries Service. The standards of activity in 

 those days were different than now. Looking back, we see that mis- 

 takes were made. But now the problem is that the people of St. 

 George and St. Paul are being asked to pay for the cost of that 

 cleanup. 



I think you ought to have a National Marine Fisheries Service 

 Restoration Fund for the areas where your people have been active. 

 You were at other places, I am sure, where you had similar activi- 

 ties. And I would urge you to find some way to focus on the cost 

 of the cleanup of the Pribiloffs. 



Has that been brought to your attention at all? 



Dr. Baker. Yes, it has. Senator. In fact, one of the first visits 

 that we organized was to have Bob Fagin, the head of our Office 

 of Administration, go to the Pribiloffs and take a team up there. 

 This is the highest priority for us right now in our environmental 

 compliance. In fact, we have a request of $6 million in the 1995 

 budget for Pribiloff cleanup. We are working closely with the EPA 

 and the Superfund rules to see how we can in fact develop a total 

 budget for the complete cleanup and how we can get it accom- 

 plished. 



Because, as you know, we can only work for a very short time 

 up there in the islands and actually get things done each year. And 



