93 



The Chairman. Thank you very much. Mr. Rauwolf. 



STATEMENT OF ANDREW RAUWOLF, MEMBER, ALASKA 

 MARINE CONSERVATION COUNCIL 



Mr. Rauwolf. Thank you for the opportunity to testify. My name 

 is Andy Rauwolf, and I am here today representing the Alaska Ma- 

 rine Conservation Council. I submitted a lengthy testimony, and 

 our group did in Anchorage through Trevor. And he informed me 

 that it is here. But this is a condensed version, and I think we can 

 get the point across. 



Our members come from diverse cultural and economic back- 

 grounds throughout the State of Alaska, primarily coastal commu- 

 nities from here in Ketchikan to Kodiak to Bethel and on to Un- 

 alaska. Our livelihoods depend, for the most part, either directly or 

 indirectly on the sea. We are part of the Marine Fish Conservation 

 Network and support its recommendations including placing con- 

 servation over efficiency, adopting a precautionary multi species ap- 

 proach to management, identifying and protecting marine habitat, 

 and promoting clean fisheries. 



The Magnuson Act provides the framework for conservation of 

 fisheries off our coast, but unfortunately the priority it gives to effi- 

 ciency and optimum yield for targeted species is resulting in huge 

 amounts of dead and dying fish and marine life being discarded 

 each year. In Alaska last year alone over 507 million pounds of 

 groundfish were dumped over the side as economic discard or 

 bycatch. Allowing this industrial scale of wanton waste to continue 

 is a national disgrace. Its effects are rippling through coastal com- 

 munities and villages throughout the entire State jeopardizing our 

 livelihoods and our heritages. Unlike other areas of the world in- 

 cluding the Gulf of Mexico and the northeast coast of the United 

 States where most fisheries have been depleted in the last 25 

 years, Alaska is lucky in that most of its major fishery resources 

 are still supporting healthy harvests. In fact, Alaska supplies over 

 55 percent of all the fish caught in the United States. 



But the warning signs are all about us, particularly in the Bering 

 Sea, Gulf of Alaska, where there are population declines of numer- 

 ous top of the food chain predators. Bird species such as murres 

 and kittiwakes, fur seals, harbor seals and, of course, the stellar 

 sea lions. Both President Bush and President Clinton have pledged 

 that the United States reduce bycatch within a 200-mile fishery 

 management zone. Unfortunately these international commitments 

 have not been written into domestic law and have therefore not 

 been addressed at the council level. 



While the problem of wanton waste and destruction of marine 

 habitat are widely recognized, Alaska Marine Conservation Council 

 has taken the issue one step further and developed a plan that if 

 implemented will help solve these problems in the next few years. 

 Recognizing that fishermen are highly imaginative and resourceful 

 we propose using harvest priorities as economic incentive to more 

 selective gear groups and techniques. Fisherman will voluntarily 

 make the change to clean fishing if the council gives harvest prior- 

 ity to the cleanest fishermen. As an example the council can allow 

 the clean fishermen to start a month earlier. 



72-216 -94.-4 



