39 



.\ovemDer 10. 1991 A 19 



interests 



for Hegge," Brown said 



Hegge denied Ihal, saying he 

 did noi benefit from the amend- 

 meni and would not have been 

 hun by being classified with the 

 offshore fleet He said he was 

 voting to prevent the huge and 

 mobile offshore trawl neei from 

 scooping up too many fish at the 

 expense of the shore-based indus- 

 try 



Some council insiders also said 

 Heg£e stands to gain from a plan 

 for fishing quotas that the council 

 IS crafting The quotas on black 

 cod would replace a limited season 

 on the cod. and they would give 

 some fishermen a guaranteed fu- 

 ture harvest nghi. a nght that 

 could be sold to other operators. 



"Someone like Ron Hegge 

 stands to do real well," said former 

 council deputy director Davis. 



But Hegge said this. too. is an 

 incorrect assumption He said he 

 has cut back his black<od fishing 

 in recent years so he would receive 

 a smaller quota than most other 

 black ccxWithermen. 



"I would be bener off personal- 

 ly if we never went to it." Heege 

 said 

 1 Hegge said he makes his coun- 

 cil decisions based on testimony 

 and the national-interest standards 

 of federal law. 

 I Tm going to vote for the best 



I interests of the resouire. not the 

 I besi interests of Ron Hegge." he 

 said "I think of my own situation 

 in this sense I think if it is good 

 : for me as a fisherman. 1 guess it 

 ; would be good lor the fisheries " 



Three other council members 

 are accused of conflias of interest 

 because they are paid to represent 

 a certain vnewpomt 



Richard Lauber council chair- 

 man, IS a full-time lobbyist for the 

 Panfic Seafood Processors Associ- 

 ation, which represents shore 

 pijnts. the big winners in the 

 bilhondollar onshore-offshore bat- 

 tle 



Henry .Mitchell works for west- 

 ern Alaska interests as director of 

 the Benng Sea Fisherman's Asso- 

 ciation Bob AJverson manages the 

 Fishing Vessel Owners' Associ- 

 ation in Seanle 



They say they vote indepen- 

 dently of their associations 



"As soon as council week 

 comes along. I don t feel that I 

 represent anybody but the re- 

 source." AJverson said 



Some former council staff 

 members are also being accused of 

 conflias 



Richard Tremaine. an econo- 

 mist, and Daws, a biologist, were 

 hired this year by LGL Associates 

 a consulting firm. LGL was paid 



Tm going to vote 



for the best 



interests of the 



resource, not the 



best interests of 



Ron Hegge.' 



RiDn Hegge 

 counal mefnber 



about J15.0O0 by the shore proces- 

 sors' group to analyze the council 

 proposals on onshore processing 

 preference. 



Tremaine worked on the analy- 

 sis but said he did not use any 

 inside information. Tremaine de- 

 nied a charge by Brown that he 

 was asked by council staff mem- 

 bers to comment on council sub- 

 mittals before they were made 

 public 



Davis, who was in charge of 

 council staff on the onshore prefer- 

 ence issue, said he had no conflict 

 because he did not join LGL until 

 after the council made its decision. 

 Davis did not work on the LGL 

 report financed by the shore pro- 

 cessors 



Divis accepted the LGL job in 

 Apnl but stayed at the council 

 three more months to finish work 

 on the onshore preference plan. 

 Davis passed out nis new business 

 cards it the June council meeting 

 where the onshore deosion was 

 being made He left federal em- 

 ployment July 10 and has recently 

 been seeking industry clients. 



Divis has now staned spealdng : 

 out about how the council decision . 

 on onshore preference was made 

 by polincs. not ment. He had to 

 lunk I S2S.0OO computer model 

 because of lack of time lo do a 

 I proper analysis Davis said that is 

 one big reason why. after 1 1 years. 

 I he quit 



I "As analysts, we were kind of 



I being squeezed down a cenam 

 I path ' Davis said 'We felt if we d 

 had more time we would have 

 come out stronger against " the 

 I onshore preference plan. 

 I 



Economist Brown said he 

 I has worked with some of the seven 

 similar councils in other parts of 

 the countr) but nowhere are the 

 dollars so big or the conflias so 

 blatant 



More than half of all edible fish 

 in the US is caught ofl Alaska 

 The annual value to fishermen is 

 nearly SI billion per year, but 

 because the council is allocating 

 the fish in future years, too. the 

 amount that is really at stake is $5 

 billion to JIO billion. Brown said 



"The stakes have gonen so high 

 that I don't see how any process 

 here can continue to work. Brown 

 said "There's never been a situa- 

 tion where you put billions of - 

 dollars in front of the industry and '. 

 ask them to police themselves" 



Times suff nponer Ross An- J 

 derson contributed to Ibis report. ' 



