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STATEMENT OF KATE GRAHAM, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, 

 AMERICAN HIGH SEAS FISHERIES ASSOCIATION 



Ms. Graham. Mr. Chair and members of the committee, I am 

 Kate Graham, executive director of American High Seas Fisheries 

 Association. 



We are a group of traditional trawl catcher vessels homeported 

 in all four west coast States, who participate in various groundfish 

 fisheries in the Bering Sea, the Gulf of Alaska, and along the Pa- 

 cific coast. We do not process the fish we catch, but instead sell 

 them both to shorebased and to floating processors. 



We were part of a joint venture fleet that pioneered the harvest- 

 ing of groundfish all along the west coast. We are proud of the part 

 we played in achieving the original goal of the Magnuson Act, the 

 Americanization of our Nation's fisheries. The Magnuson Act is the 

 cornerstone of our industry and we are pleased to have the oppor- 

 tunity to address the committee today regarding reauthorization of 

 the act. 



My written statement contains our views on such issues as the 

 balance of authority between the Secretary and the councils, con- 

 flicts of interest, council composition, and additional tools that 

 would be useful in managing our fisheries. It also has a section on 

 conservation measures, and I would like to use my time today to 

 provide more detail on this very important topic. 



American High Seas has always been a strong advocate for con- 

 servative management of our fisheries. For us, fishing is not just 

 a business venture, it is a way of life and we want our children to 

 have the same opportunities that we have had. 



It is significant to those of us who were pioneers in the industry 

 that the Magnuson Act emphasizes resource conservation. The 

 problem is that it simply is not possible to protect our resources ef- 

 fectively as long as we continue to use the Olympic system, which 

 is the management regime that is the basis for most of our com- 

 mercial fisheries. 



The Olympic system spawns a race for fish, a contest to see who 

 can catch the most the fastest. The result is our industry's dismal 

 safety record and overcapitalization in both harvesting and process- 

 ing capacity nationwide. It is also the root of our conservation prob- 

 lems. The Olympic system actually discourages the reduction of 

 bycatch of nontarget species, and at times even provides an incen- 

 tive for discard target species. There is little inducement to fish re- 

 sponsibly other than one's own sense of what is right. 



Our association has consistently been a vigorous proponent of 

 conservation and has initiated several measures to promote it, both 

 through the council system and within the fleet voluntarily. One of 

 our biggest frustrations is that the system penalizes us for doing 

 these things. To develop these measures, we lost both catch and 

 fishing time, and under the Olympic system this put us at a com- 

 petitive disadvantage with other fishermen. This is very discourag- 

 ing to those of us who understand the need for responsible fishing 

 practices. 



People often cite the reduction of bycatch achieved by the foreign 

 fishing fleets and decide that we must be wasteful and irrespon- 

 sible for not doing the same. But they are overlooking a critical dif- 

 ference between the two situations. The foreign fleets were essen- 



