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the council, and I have testified many times before the council on 

 various marketing and conservation issues, and generally the sys- 

 tem works. I know that it appears at times to be cumbersome, is 

 frustrating, but the system does work. 



We have supported efforts to have industry-funded observers on- 

 board, two on the CDQ vessels, and to weigh the catch to get a bet- 

 ter handle on the amount of biomass extracted from the sea. Our 

 partners in the CDQ operation have done a very good job on that 

 and we commended them for it. 



We appreciate the structure of the council in its current makeup. 

 Structurally, there is a functioning scientific committee and a sepa- 

 rate industry advisory panel that provides a useful, analytical 

 chain in the council's decisionmaking process. 



As far as its makeup is concerned, I am unaware of any sub- 

 stantive issues on which the Alaskans "have all lined up on one 

 side and the members from Washington/Oregon have been left out, 

 or left in the minority." I have never seen that. Generally the is- 

 sues breakdown along the lines of gear conflicts and the like. 



The Chairman. You know, that is a big issue there right now. 

 They say that it is happening, at least in the view of the Senators 

 from Washington State, Senator Murray and Senator Gorton. In 

 the past, Washington fishermen have said they are 

 underrepresented and should have greater representation. 



It is a matter of basic arithmetic. As I pointed out, you are get- 

 ting 6 billion pound catches, the majority of the U.S. catch, in one 

 State. As I see it, you deserve to have that kind of representation. 

 However, that is an issue that Senator Stevens and I will be con- 

 fronted with on the committee. I do not know the details, but I 

 have been around long enough to see everybody moving for posi- 

 tions. 



Mr. Nielsen. I think, for the Senators' education, they should 

 come and observe how the council functions, but in either case 



The Chairman. The people on the council would support your 

 statement, that there has not been any really categorical overrepre- 

 sentation, like we had just recently on our budget; we could not get 

 a single Republican vote. Is it that you cannot get a single Alaskan 

 to vote for something of interest to the State of Washington? 



Mr. Nielsen. I do not see where one State outweighs the other. 

 I think that, as I was going to state earlier, both Washington and 

 Oregon consider Alaska their distant water fisheries, so I do not 

 know where their concern is, whereby they do not have the mag- 

 nitude of the fish that they take from our waters. I think it is, al- 

 though cumbersome, I think the system works good. 



The Chairman. I will go right to the farm fishing that Mr. 

 Naneng was talking about. I was in Washington 26 years ago, with 

 John Lindbergh, Charles Lindbergh's son and Dixie Lee Ray, who 

 was the State of Washington oceanographer before she was Gov- 

 ernor, and they were doing just that, fish farming. They developed 

 these little pan-fry pink and white salmon that weighed about a 

 pound and a half. Now as I understand your testimony, releasing 

 those out to the sea has a damaging effect? 



Mr. Nielsen. It does. It is eating the same food that our wild 

 stocks are. And we do not have any idea, we do not have any sci- 



