12 



STATEMENT OF JOHN JEMEWOUK, DIRECTOR, WESTERN 

 ALASKA FISHERIES DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION 



Mr. Jemewouk. Thank you, Senator Hollings, and I would like 

 to welcome you again to Alaska, our great State. 



For the record, my name is John Jemewouk. I am the chairman 

 of the Western Alaska Fisheries Development Association. WAFDA 

 was formed for the purposes of promoting economic development 

 through the CDQ program, and the organization was founded by 

 the six CDQ corporations, Bristol Bay Economic Development 

 Corp., the Coastal Villages, Yukon Delta, and the Norton Sound 

 Economic Development Corp. 



Today I also am speaking on behalf of the Aleutian Pribilof Is- 

 land Community Development Association and the Central Bering 

 Sea Fishermen's Association. I also serve as the president of the 

 Norton Sound Economic Development Corp., which provides me 

 with direct involvement in the CDQ program. 



Even though it was only started in December of 1992, the CDQ 

 program has been a great success in a region that suffers from 70- 

 percent unemployment, and in some other villages it is probably 

 even higher. As a commercial fisherman and a resident of the Nor- 

 ton Sound area, you know, since the CDQ program has come into 

 effect, I have seen villages very excited about getting into the off- 

 shore fisheries. You know, they have participated in — you know, as 

 a subsistence fisherman both with the halibut, king crab, salmon, 

 the different salmon species, and through the CDQ program, you 

 know, there has been a great sense of hope in a program that could 

 be expanded, and could be expanded to other fisheries in Alaska. 



And I think, you know, for this opportunity, we would like to 

 thank Senator Stevens and you, Senator Hollings, for active in- 

 volvement in making sure that this program was put into — into 

 being. 



Each of the CDQ corporations has used a CDQ pollock allocation 

 to leverage the creation of economic development projects in the re- 

 gions. These include investments in the fishing vessels and shore- 

 side facilities, job training programs, new markets for salmon and 

 herring, expansion into new longlining and crab fisheries, and over 

 200 local residents employed on vessels throughout the Bering Sea 

 in the first 2 years and also career opportunities in the Bering Sea 

 fishing industry, from processing worker to deckhand to gear oper- 

 ator to office manager. 



The CDQ program provides access to fish, not money. The west- 

 ern — the residents of western Alaska have the responsibility for 

 turning this access into economic value. The pollock allocations are 

 competitive and based on performance. The program is very thor- 

 oughly monitored by the State and by the Federal Government. We 

 have to undergo management audits, performance audits and fi- 

 nancial audits on a regular basis. We do not object to the scrutiny 

 because it is our best advertisement of the program's performance. 



To my knowledge, I do not think there has been a Federal pro- 

 gram that has provided a lot of opportunity with — you know, with 

 this much impact, with so little investment by the Federal Govern- 

 ment. 



In June I traveled to Washington, DC, with two other western 

 Alaskans to explain the program to the Clinton administration offi- 



