36 



A 18 Sunday Nove'^Der '0 1 



Member! 



RSH!NG 



coniinued ffom Page i 



■ After he look a $I.250-a- 

 week ]ob from crab hshermen. 

 council member Larr7 Cotter 

 changed hjs vote and tabled a far- 

 reachmg rule he'd previously fa- 

 vored and the crabbei^ opposed 



B Council member Oscar Dy- 

 ion voted to allow Japanese fish- 

 ing companies to take 10 million 

 nounos ol cod from the US 

 iisning zone after he struck a 

 pnvate deal for his company to sell 

 them a milUon pounds of cod 

 fillets 



■ Council member Ron 

 Hegges three freezer boats kept 

 their current hshing nghis whjle 

 competing travelers were slashed 

 in a plan approved by Hegge and a 

 council majonty in June Some 

 council observers sajd Hegge also 

 stands to gain from a fishing-quota 

 plan now under study, Hegge says 

 he could be hurt, not hel^d. by 

 the plan - , 



These council members all 

 deny they were considering their 

 pnvate business while they per- 

 lormed their public service. Bui 

 business people and other observ- 

 ers point to Ihe web of sel/- 

 inierests on the council every time 

 It decides who gets how much of 

 the hsh 



"Its a very senous problem, 

 and we re gening siruations here 

 that are very, very close lo the 

 edge, ■ said Rudv Petersen, a coun- 

 cil member from 1982 to 1988 and 

 owner of a Seanle-based faaory 

 :rawler 



b!cvf DavTs, longtime depury 

 director of the council staff until 

 he quit in July, said council mem- 

 bers taKe pains to mask iheir self- 

 interest in scientific rationales 



■■^^''hen you sit tfirough a coun- 

 cil meeting, you'll know there s an 

 underlying motive that's probably 

 the main reason they re doing 

 what thev re doing, or a particular 

 council member is pusfung a reeu- 

 laiion down a parricular pain. " 

 Da^ns said 



were raised last summer in a plan 

 to shift at least S250 million of 

 annual fish product from a Seattle- 

 based floating factory fled to a 

 largely Japanese-owned pnxxss- 

 ing industry on the Alaska shore. 



Washington, as a result of Ihe 

 plan, could lose more than 1.000 

 jobs Critics say the decision will 

 also mean higher pnces for fish by 

 curbing Ihe free market economy 



Seven of the 11 council mem- 

 bers live in Alaska, and four of 

 them stood to gain or lose person- 

 ally from the decision. But they all 

 voted 



The fishery council is exempt 

 Irom federal conflict-of-interest 

 laws because it is supposed to be 

 an advisory body, with the secre- 

 tary of commerce making Ihe final 

 decision The secretary, however, 

 almost never overrules • council 

 decision and is nol expeaed lo do 

 so in this case 



That leaves a handful of special 

 interests m charge of a federal 

 resource affecting thousands of 

 jobs and millions of consumers. 



The council has no rules on 

 abstaining from voles because of 

 personal interests, no rules against 

 seeking outside work from special 

 interest groups, and no require- 

 ments for lobbyists lo report their 

 aaiviiies or spending 



The council was set up under 

 fishing-industry control because of 

 « distrust of scieniists who might 

 sei fishing limits loo low. accord- 

 ing to Bud Walsh, former chief 

 counsel lo Ihe Senate Commerce 

 Commmee Walsh worlwd wiih 

 Sen Warren Magnuson <k Wash- 

 ington to draft the Fishery Conser- 

 vation and Management Act in 

 1976 



Council members are nomi- 

 nated by the governors of Alaska 

 and Washington and appointed lo 

 three-year terms by the secretary 

 of commerce. They meet nx times 

 a year, usually m Anchorage. Four 

 council members repreKtit gov- 

 ernment agenoes; seven represent 

 fishing interests 



Donald Sevan, former director 

 of the Uruversiry of Washington 

 School of Fisheries, said the law he 

 helped to draft is nol working 

 because of the personal conflicts oi 

 ftshing-inOustry members. 



"we might do bener with 1 1 

 real-estate salesmen who had no 

 conflias of interest." B«?v»n said, 

 'It just isn't good pubbc policy 

 having people wiih a direct finan- 

 cial interest making decisions on 

 those financial interests We 

 wouldn't stand still for a minute 

 with a ciry council run by contrac- 

 tors making decisions on city con- 

 traas " 



The Amencan Faaory Trawler 

 Association recently approached 

 the Depanment of Justice and Ihe 

 Depanmeni of Commerce inspec- 

 tor general to try to have conllia- 

 ;f interest c!::rges mvescgated 



Th»y orarvn't the first Lee 



AJverson. a Seattle consultant and 

 former lop federal fishery official, 

 tned without success years ago to 

 interest federal agencies in invesli- 

 gating the counaT's acuvtties. 



AJverson and the trawler asso- 

 ciation a Seattle-based group, said 

 m their complaint lo Ihe Com- 

 merce Department thai council 



