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at the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council. I have also deployed aboard 

 Coast Guard cutters and aircraft during major fisheries openings in order to fully 

 appreciate the complexity of at-sea fisheries law enforcement in this region. 



The picture is clear: the domestic regulatory regime is complex and the environ- 

 ment is unforgiving. I have two major areas of focus. They are providing enforce- 

 ment in support of long term fishery management goals and the safety of our fisher- 

 men. The measure of how good a job we are doing, however, is not how many tickets 

 we write. In both areas, the emphasis is on achieving a high rate of compliance with 

 the regulations designed to protect our fishery resources and the lives of those who 

 harvest them. 



In the area of living marine resource conservation, we work closely with the Na- 

 tional Marine Fisheries Service, the State of Alaska, and the fishing industry to 

 make the most effective use of our patrol units. Our strategy is to be in the right 

 place at the right time to meet the nighest threat of damage to the living marine 

 resources. The focus of our enforcement efforts is the resource abuser, who through 

 violation of the regulations inhibits responsible management of the resource or 

 gains an unfair competitive advantage on his law-abiding competitors. When board- 

 ing fishing vessels, we strive to conduct our operations-with a minimum of inconven- 

 ience to the fishermen. 



The Coast Guard's day-to-day presence on the fishing grounds enables us to pro- 

 vide valuable information to fisheries managers on changing patterns in a particular 

 fishery and-alert them to potential loopholes or shortcomings in existing regulations. 

 Our presence also supports a variety of other missions, including search and rescue 

 and marine environmental protection. 



In the area of fishing vessel safety, our focus is on preventing casualties. Two in- 

 gredients that help make a vessel safe are having the right equipment and knowing 

 how to use it. The voluntary dockside examination program is designed to help a 

 fisherman ensure his vessel is safe before it leaves the dock. The safety portion of 

 an at-sea boarding is designed to complement our dockside program through spot- 

 checks of the major lifesaving equipment and the ability of the.crew to use it. In 

 the past year, there have been a number of cases where having the equipment and 

 knowing now to use it turned a potential tragedy into a successful rescue mission. 

 None was more apparent than tne 70-foot fishing vessel Majestic, which sank in 

 September 1992 in the Bering Sea 70 miles south of the Pribilof Islands. The boat 

 broached and sank at night in seven minutes with no other boats in the vicinity. 

 They did not have time to radio for help. The crew, however, was prepared. They 

 had survival suits and an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB), 

 and they knew how to use them. They had .prearranged emergency assignments and 

 had drilled, she Coast Guard received the EPIRB alert 20 minutes after the sinking. 

 The Coast Guard responded immediately and within five hours a cutter on fisheries 

 patrol was within range to launch its HH-65A helicopter, which located the five fish- 

 ermen clinging to their EPIRB, and hoisted them all to safety. Their preparation 

 saved their lives. 



The Coast Guard's increased nationwide focus on fisheries enforcement is well re- 

 flected in the Seventeenth District. Over 900 cutter patrol days and 3,700 aircraft 

 flight hours were dedicated to fisheries law enforcement in the Seventeenth District 

 in 1992. That represents an increase of 150 cutter days and 450 HC-130 flight hours 

 over 1991. The increase in cutter days was facilitated by the increase in cutter 

 availability now that the Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization (FRAM) project on 

 our Haznilton-class high endurance cutters has been completed and two high endur- 

 ance cutters have been relocated to the west coast. Aircraft flight hour increases 

 were made possible by deploying aircraft based in the lower continental U.S. to 

 Alaska. The result has been an increased Coast Guard presence on the fishing 

 grounds. That increased presence appears to be paying early dividends both in liv- 

 ing marine resource conservation and safety. Wnile the number of fishing vessels 

 boarded has increased in each of the past two years, the percentage of those 

 boardings which resulted in a fisheries violation has decreased, from 18 percent in 

 1991 to 10 percent thus far in 1993. From 1987 through 1992, loss of life in the 

 commercial fishing industry remained relatively unchanged, with an average of 36 

 deaths each year. Thus far in 1993, there have been 11 deaths, as compared to 19 

 at this time last year. I am hopeful this indication of a downward trend will con- 

 tinue. 



Regarding the MFCMA, it is my view that no significant changes are necessary 

 to support Coast Guard responsibilities. Management of the North Pacific fisheries 

 is a success story. The foundation of the current process is the North Pacific Fish- 

 eries Management Council, whose chief concern is maintaining the health of the ma- 

 rine ecosystem and ensuring sustainable harvests of groundfish and crab resources. 

 The Council has recently embarked on a Comprehensive Rationalization Process to 



