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big industry people. Please do not lose sight of the fact that this 

 is an Alaskan resource and Alaska is the voice of conservation of 

 the resource and it needs to continue this way. 



The bycatch issue is of intense concern to the local population 

 and needs resolution. The bycatch of king and silver salmon is a 

 very public issue and there are more halibut thrown away than are 

 caught in the directed halibut fishery. This has always been a con- 

 cern of the native people and will remain so. 



And while I am talking about management and conservation, I 

 would like to touch on issues before the NPFMC. We need to focus 

 on good science over economics. Since this has been relegated to 

 the Department of Commerce instead of the Interior Department, 

 for whatever political reasons there were, all statistics they gather 

 are in terms of pounds of finished product instead of numbers or 

 pounds of fish caught, with no mention of the shrinkage that occurs 

 when a catch has been processed and bones, heads, and entrails 

 have been removed. 



Also, the management has been single-species specific instead of 

 the more viable ecosystem management, which can detect problems 

 sooner and intervention can occur before the system is irreparably 

 harmed, and here is where the local wisdom can be a valuable tool 

 in preserving the health and strength of stocks. 



To illustrate this, we noticed that the seagull eggs we gathered 

 had a funny taste after the Exxon Valdez oilspill, and realized we, 

 too, had been impacted. This was before all the dead sea birds 

 started washing ashore along our beaches. And Larry Merculief, of 

 St. Paul and trie Aleutians, has been mentioning the increasing 

 thinness of sea otter skins, which points to a serious problem in the 

 waters of the Pribilofs. 



Thank you for listening to my concerns today and I hope you 

 take the proper steps to ensure these issues are addressed. 



The Chairman. Well, I thank you very much, Ms. Olsen. I can 

 testify on the political reasons for putting marine fisheries in the 

 Commerce Department. In the mid-1960's we had an extensive 

 study that was known as the Stratton Commission. Julius Stratton 

 was a provost at MIT and he headed a consummate, coordinated, 

 comprehensive marine research commission that reported on all 

 fisheries, all coastal zone, all oceans, all atmospheric concerns. We 

 relied upon and joined in together in supporting their work. 



Senator Magnuson asked that I head up the hearings. In fact, at 

 that time I chaired the Oceans and Atmosphere Subcommittee, and 

 we had 3 years of hearings, in 1967, 1968, 1969, and finally in 

 1971 I got to President Nixon. 



I reached him through a friend of mine who I had known in the 

 law practice, John Mitchell. He later had to go to the penitentiary 

 as the Attorney General. I think he was taking a fall for the other 

 folks, because he was an outstanding bond attorney, considered the 

 leading authority on municipal bonds, if the mayor is still around. 

 John Mitchell headed up the firm, Perkins, Cole, Symbol & Mitch- 

 ell, then later went to another firm. He had headed up the bond 

 division of the American Bar Association, and had been appointed 

 Attorney General. 



I went to him and said: "Jack, I have had these all hearings and 

 cannot get anything done. There is a fellow named John Erlichman 



