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providing a priority for use of the "cleanest" gear and fishing practices which are 

 available for harvesting a particular fishery resource. In addition, the Act should be 

 amended to discourage economic discards and provide NMFS and the Councils the 

 necessary legal and technical tools to design a comprehensive approach to bycatch 

 management. 



THE NEED TO PROTECT OUR COASTAL COMMUNITIES AND BUILD A STABLE SHORESIDE 



ECONOMY 



The purpose of creating 200-mile fishery management zones worldwide was to 

 provide nations, people, and communities immediately adjacent to fishery resources 

 the ability to protect and benefit from those resources. Protecting our coastal fish- 

 eries from the impacts of a large distant water fleet of foreign vessels operating off 

 our shore was the driving force behind the passage of the Magnuson Act. Concern 

 for the economies of the Nation's coastal fishing towns is once again on the front 

 burner of the national fishery management agenda. 



On the west coast, overcapitalization in the offshore segment of the U.S. fleet is 

 threatening the very industry and coastal communities the Congress was trying to 

 protect at the time of original passage of the Act. This rapid overcapitalization, and 

 the resulting preemption of coastal fisheries, has come atxmt because construction 

 of the fleet was subsidized and encouraged through a combination of foreign financ- 

 ing subsidies, federal loan guarantees, and liberal interpretations of the anti- 

 reflagging act by the Coast Guard. 



The problem is further amplified because the offshore component of the industry 

 is operating outside the requirements that other segments of the industry must 

 comply with. The offshore fleet is exempt from paying minimum wage, and pays vir- 

 tually no tax on the fish caught. They are operating under a more lenient regulatory 

 environment, with less stringent requirements for air and water quality, and vir- 

 tually no worker health and safety enforcement.No other nation in the world has 

 constructed a distant water fleet to harvest its own resources to the detriment of 

 its existing shorebased fleet and dependent coastal communities. 



The State of Alaska has been supportive of allocations to prevent preempt ion of 

 the fishery by one segment of the industry over another, and is supportive of imple- 

 mentation of limited access systems for Alaska offshore fisheries if the nature of the 

 fleet can be maintained and the economies of coastal communities can be protected. 

 The State of Alaska believes that the goal of achieving economic efficiency in the 

 harvest of our fishery resources is important, but should be balanced along with the 

 need to conserve stocks and achieve full utilization of harvested resources, the need 

 for balance among the various segments of the industry, the desirability of main- 

 taining diversity in the fishery and the industry, and the economic and social needs 

 of coastal communities. The goals, purposes, and national standards should be 

 amended to require this balance, minimize preemption of one sector of the industry 

 over another, and reinforce the national intent to protect and enhance the economies 

 of our coastal fishing communities. 



A recent innovative program initiated by the North Pacific Fishery Management 

 Council to enhance local fisheries economies in rural Alaska is the Western Alaska 

 Community Development Quota (CDQ) 9rogram. This is a joint program between 

 the State of Alaska, the NPFMC, and the Secretary which sets aside relatively mod- 

 est amounts of quota (7.5 percent of the Bering Sea pollock quota) to promote fish- 

 ery based economic development. Over fifty Bering Sea communities, most with a 

 mixed economy based largely on subsistence, are participating in the program. The 

 communities involved in this program have some of the highest rates of unemploy- 

 ment in the country, some of the lowest average per-capita incomes in the country, 

 and some of the highest costs of living in the country. These communities are imme- 

 diately adjacent to one of the Nation's largest fisheries, and have benefited least 

 from that fishery. The CDQ program holds the first true opportunity for many of 

 these communities to develop a stable, long-term economy. By successfully imple- 

 menting the CDQ program we hope to reduce dependence on government transfer 

 payments and services in these communities, and provide a solid benefit to the Na- 

 tion by promoting new economic growth and reducing the drain on both the State 

 and federal treasuries. 



To date, six CDQ corporations have formed, representing all of the eligible Bering 

 Sea communities. These corporations, which are composed of fishers from eligible 

 communities, have entered into joint venture partnerships with major U.S. seafood 

 companies and have successfully harvested their 1992 pollock allocation of roughly 

 100,000 mt, and the first half of their 1993 allocation. This has resulted in a signifi- 

 cant increase in direct local employment, in the creation of several fisheries training 

 and educational programs for local residents, and in capitalizing numerous fisheries 



