42 



Driftnetters Association and Kodiak Longline Vessel Owner Asso- 

 ciation to get their views on how we can improve the way we do 

 business. 



The majority of fishermen are hard-working, law-abiding Ameri- 

 cans. One of my brothers is a commercial fisherman, and I know 

 firsthand both the challenges and the rewards of making a living 

 from the sea. The job we do in fisheries law enforcement is impor- 

 tant, but I am committed to doing it with minimum interference to 

 the fishing community. 



I will be happy to answer your questions, Mr. Chairman. 



The Chairman. You did research and review of Coast Guard fish- 

 ery enforcement. During that review, I understand that there were 

 some complaints by commercial fishermen about enforcement. If 

 that is the case, what were they and what do you expect to do? 



Admiral Rufe. We did, yes, sir. I think that many of those com- 

 plaints go back some time. I think we are improving. We are not 

 perfect yet, but I do think we are improving. Just recently I re- 

 ceived a letter from a fisherman from Petersburg, who said ne was 

 boarded by one of our boarding parties. He had received two viola- 

 tions, and he was writing to say that although he was not happy 

 with having to pay a fine for his violations, he felt that our board- 

 ing team was courteous, that they were doing their job the best 

 they could and that they really had his safety at heart during the 

 boarding. That is only one indication. There are certainly others 

 where we have not been as effective, but that is the kind of re- 

 sponse that I am trying to attain, and we have made it a high pri- 

 ority to make courtesy boardings the way we do business in the 

 17th Coast Guard District. 



The Chairman. The witnesses at Dillingham were unanimously 

 in favor of community development quotas, or CDQ's. Now, you are 

 not a fisherman yourself; your brother is. Do you have an observa- 

 tion that that would help in any way with enforcement of such new 

 programs? 



Admiral Rufe. I think it is a mixed bag in terms of enforcement. 

 There are some advantages from an enforcement standpoint. We 

 would be able to check when we go aboard the vessel whether, one, 

 the operator did have a permit to fish in that particular fishery and 

 whether he had quota remaining for that year. It would have an 

 advantage from the safety standpoint particularly for the halibut 

 fishery, where the fishing is done in about a 24-nour period. And 

 it is an inherently dangerous fishery because that 24 hours is de- 

 termined well ahead of time and you may have bad weather on 

 that day. If that is the only opportunity to catch fish that year, or 

 maybe two or three of those a year, whether the weather is bad or 

 good, you are going to go out and fish. With the individual fishing 

 quota — IFQ — program, the fisherman would then be able to decide 

 when he wanted to catch his quota during the year, and presum- 

 ably he would opt to go out when the weather was a little better. 

 So, I think it does have some advantages from a safety standpoint. 

 We have not really taken a position on it, but I think from a safety 

 standpoint, it does have some advantages. 



Senator Stevens. You mentioned the three Chinese vessels. Was 

 there not a Honduran vessel involved in the North Pacific this 

 year, too? 



