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STATEMENT OF DAVID BENTON, DD1ECTOR, OFFICE OF EX- 

 TERNAL AND INTERNATIONAL FISHERffiS AFFADtS, ALASKA 

 DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND GAME 



Mr. Benton. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. For the record my name 

 is David Benton. I am with the Alaska Department of Fish and 

 Game. I am the director for the external and international fisheries 

 affairs. 



Mr. Chairman, I too want to express our gratitude for you taking 

 the time from your busy schedule to come to Alaska. We know that 

 you have been a long-time friend of Alaska and a real leader in 

 fishery matters in the United States. And we truly appreciate your 

 coming here today, especially on your anniversary. And we want to 

 wish a happy anniversary. 



The Chairman. Thank you very much. I just do what Senator 

 Stevens tells me to do. Go ahead. 



Mr. Benton. That is good advice. 



The Chairman. Yes, sir. 



Mr. Benton. Mr. Chairman, I too have a long written statement 

 which will be included in the record with your permission. 



The Chairman. It will be. 



Mr. BENTON. I would like to summarize my statement. It sounds 

 to me like you have heard an earful from other Alaskans in the two 

 previous hearings regarding the value of the fisheries of our State. 

 Over 5 billion pounds of fish are harvested off our coast every year. 

 That is roughly one-half of the total harvest of the United States. 

 The seafood industry in Alaska is our largest single, private basic 

 industry employing 77,000 seasonal jobs, 33,000 year-round jobs, 

 with a total investment of roughly $4 billion. In our small State 

 that is a very significant contribution, and we place very great val- 

 ues on our fishery industry. 



I have basically three main issues that I would like to just briefly 

 cover with you regarding the Magnuson Act today. These include 

 the need to improve our ability to conserve our fisheries stock, to 

 deal with the complex issue of regulating and reducing bycatch and 

 minimizing discard waste in our fisheries. Closely tied with that is 

 the need, we believe, to protect and enhance the economies of 

 coastal fishing communities. In Alaska most of our communities 

 along the coast are heavily dependent on the seafood industry. 

 Some of them have no other commercial activity. And the third is 

 to strengthen the regional council system, because we are firm be- 

 lievers in that process. We think that it is working well up here. 

 And we would like to see just some minor modifications perhaps in 

 the act to strength that process to make it work more effectively. 



With regard to the need to conserve our fish stocks, generally 

 speaking, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, we be- 

 lieve, is doing a very excellent job in trying to take the long-term 

 view to make sure the stocks off Alaska are in good shape. None- 

 theless, we have been frustrated, both the state and, I think, the 

 council in dealing with issues such as waste and bycatch. 



For example, just to give you some figures, Mr. Chairman, in 

 1991 the discard of pollock in the directed pollock fishery — these 

 are pollock that are harvested, brought to the surface by a vessel 

 that is targeting on pollock, but then there are subsequently dis- 



