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Admiral Rufe. Thank you. I have with me this morning Capt. 

 Bill Anderson, who is chief of my maritime law enforcement branch 

 for the 17th Coast Guard District. 



As you mentioned, Mr. Chairman, the waters of the North Pacific 

 and Alaska contain some of the world's richest fishing resources. 

 The abundant groundfish, salmon, and shellfish harvest are of tre- 

 mendous economic importance to our Nation. It is vital we preserve 

 this tremendous natural resource. As you mentioned, Senator Ste- 

 vens, the Magnuson Act has been very effective in making the wa- 

 ters of the EEZ, an exclusive American fishery. Foreign fishing is 

 no longer active within our EEZ, but that does not mean that we 

 are no longer concerned about foreign fishing. I would like to talk 

 to you today about two areas of particular continuing concern for 

 us from the foreign fishing fleets. 



First, the high seas driftnet concern. As you know, we are ac- 

 tively enforcing the first year of a worldwide United Nations ban 

 on high seas driftnet fishing, and I am happy to report to you that 

 the threat from this fishery has been greatly diminished. 



The Coast Guard is actively patrolling and demonstrating U.S. 

 commitment by our patrols. The sightings so far this year were 

 early in the season and very few in number. We have boarded only 

 three vessels this year that were equipped for high seas driftnet 

 fishing. All were claiming Chinese registry. When we boarded these 

 ships, we found that none had fish aboard, but they were all pre- 

 paring to conduct fisheries operations in the traditional high seas 

 driftnet area. 



In all three cases we directed the vessels to return to China. 

 They did so, and in one case we escorted one vessel with one of our 

 high endurance cutters all the way to Shanghai, where we turned 

 it over to a Chinese patrol vessel. 



The fact that these vessels were detected before they started fish- 

 ing, I believe is a measure of our effectiveness and a strong deter- 

 rent to others. In conducting this mission, our radar-equipped C- 

 130's, based right here at Kodiak and operating from Kodiak and 

 from the Aleutian Islands, and our Hamilton-class high endurance 

 cutters with deployed helicopters have made an effective high seas 

 law enforcement team. 



This is also the first year of a 2-year moratorium on fishing in 

 the Donut Hole. Our patrols so far have confirmed that the morato- 

 rium is being observed. The only vessels that we have observed in 

 the Donut Hole have been scout vessels that are allowed by the 

 moratorium. A Coast Guard cutter just last month, the Coast 

 Guard Cutter Yocona, homeported here in Kodiak, conducted con- 

 sensual boardings of three of those scout vessels in the Donut Hole 

 to confirm their activities and to record the catch data. What they 

 found was that the fishing in the Donut Hole continues to be very 

 poor. But looking long term, we feel that with the moratorium in 

 effect, fishing will improve, and as stocks rebuild, fishing obviously 

 will resume. 



We strongly support the current U.S. efforts to develop an inter- 

 national management regime in the interest of long-term conserva- 

 tion of fisheries in Alaska. The Coast Guard strongly advocates 

 such a regime including reciprocal boarding provisions. 



