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you get beyond 3 miles, it is Federal waters. But the fish do not 

 hit 2% mile and turn back, they go out to the ocean. And so having 

 greater coordination between the Federal and State agencies would 

 help a lot. 



You have heard Myron Naneng and Andy talk about the chinook 

 salmon bycatch. The Yukon River is one of the main producers of 

 chinook or king salmon, and, as I said before, 30,000 to 40,000 

 kings are being caught and wasted each year. On the Yukon River, 

 the king salmon get the highest price in the State, anywhere be- 

 tween $2 and $4 a pound. If you caught a king salmon, Senator, 

 you know, they are a pretty heavy fish, so one king salmon can be 

 worth $100. 



The fishermen on the Yukon do not make too much money in a 

 year, maybe $5,000 or $10,000 for their whole commercial fishing 

 income for the summer, so every king salmon that comes back to 

 the Yukon River would help the people in the villages a lot. 



And some of the early studies consider that the chinook bycatch 

 in the Bering Sea could be anywhere from 20 to 50 percent of this 

 catch. Now, in exvessel value, that is only $1 million. The council 

 or National Marine Fisheries says, well, that is 1 million dollars' 

 worth of king salmon, but that groundfish fishery, that is worth, 

 oh, $50, 100 million, we cannot close that area, we cannot regulate 

 that groundfish fishery. 



In straight economic dollars, yeah, the groundfish fishery is al- 

 ways going to be worth more than the coastal fisheries here, but 

 $1 million of income, say, for lower Yukon fishermen, that is 20 

 percent of the whole season's catch, and you are talking about peo- 

 ple who have 5,000, 10,000 dollars' worth of income. 



So, just doing that strict economic cost-benefit analysis, well, 

 maybe it is good for the Nation, but the people — and in relative 

 terms, one king salmon is worth a lot to the people on the Yukon 

 River, as well as Nushagak River here, up and down the coast. 



What is particularly galling about this chinook bycatch is that 

 the Yukon River amendments to the Pacific Salmon Treaty, which 

 are in negotiation now, but there is agreed upon language that 

 says, "the United States and Canada agree that efforts designed to 

 increase the in-river return of Yukon River origin salmon by reduc- 

 ing marine catches and bycatches would benefit the status of the 

 Yukon River stocks. " The parties agree — and this is U.S. State De- 

 partment, Commerce Department, National Marine Fisheries Serv- 

 ice, and our own fish and game — agree to identify, quantify, and 

 undertake efforts to reduce these bycatches. 



Sad to say, that council, after years, is only just beginning to ad- 

 dress the salmon bycatch. They have done a little bit on herring, 

 a little bit on halibut, a little bit on crab, but with salmon somehow 

 they continue to drag their feet and say,"Well, we just do not know 

 where that fish is going, how much of it is going to the Yukon, how 

 much of it is going to this river. And, you know, besides, we cannot 

 close down these groundfish fisheries. They are worth too much." 



The Chairman. So, you think dragging of the feet is caused by 

 the overwhelming economic interests/ 



Mr. Albrecht. The councils and the U.S. Department of Com- 

 merce listened to the — I have got nothing against those fisheries. 

 They can catch the fish that they are supposed to catch, which 



