41 



A 1 T he Seattle Times VVeanc s day. June 17 . 1992 



EDiTORIALS 



0>e Seattle Omes 



AN INDEPENDE^^^ NEWSPAPER 



Founded August 10. 1896 



AUenJ BUtben. 1«>6-1915 C B. Bletben, 191519^' 



Elmer £ Todd, 19421949 'W JC Bletben, 1949-1967 



W.J. Pamington,- 19821985 ■ :-,. 



John A. ^lethca, Chalrnian Emeritus 



Frank A. Blcfhco, Publisher and Chief Ezccutlvt Officer 



H. Muon Si2aao(K:ftaiAtrX/fsyi Chlerbpcrittlng Officer 



Michael R. Fanjiicr."^;''^^ , ';» ' "' ""' Mlndy Cameron, 



Enxuuvc Editor aiKSy~^ PrcjUjeni .A . ErfitOfial Page Editor 



Alex MacLeod, '. •-•'ii', " '.?«.. *'l->:' ; pymhi*N. Meagher. 



Managing Edtito .j: ' .• • -r*- Assoclatc.Mahaging Editor ■ 



THE POLLOCK WARS 



Congress, not courts, 

 nnust fix ocean fisheries 



FEDERAL FISH allocators me« again next week in Alaska 

 to take up the volatile issue of how to divvy up $ 1 bilbon 

 or so worth of Pacific pollock and other groundfish. 



But don't expect changes - despite bowls of protest from 

 Seattle fishermen and a variety of federal reports challenging 

 their recent management strategy. 



The federal Commerce Department has rubber-stamped the 

 plan to bypass the free marlcet and award 35 percent of the 

 lucrative fishery to Alaska shore plants, a decision by a North 

 Paafic Fisheries Council dominated by Alaskans and laced with 

 extraordmary confbcts of mterest. 



Factory-trawler owners have gone to court, warning the plan 

 will cost Seattle jobs and millions of dollars. A recent cost- 

 benefit study by the Nabonal Marme-Fishenes Service 

 estimates it will cost that fleet $6J9 million over three yeare. 



But instead of backing off, the federal council piles on, 

 awarding the Alaska pla^ a larger-share in 1993 and 1994. 



AVhile fishermen and their lawyers squabble over who gets 

 how much of the pollock pie, Ihe pae (tseU may \x shrinking. 

 Chmese, Polish and other foreign fleets fish mdiscnmihately in 

 adiacem mtemadonal waters, scooping vp untold millions of 

 fish native to U.S. waters. « »*-''x»^-'v' -■ - 



The scenario rings tragically fajniliar.t)ver the past decade, 

 federal fish managers in New England played political games 

 while fishermen ravaged the North AllanDc. eventually turning 

 those nch fishing grounds mto a wasteland 



It's the same old problem In most of the worid, fish are 

 managed as a "common resourtx." available to anyt>ody with a 

 boat. Inevitably, there are tod tnany fishermen and not enough 

 fish, and the fishermen deplete their own bvelihood. 



Whoever wins in Alaska next week, there is little question 

 that the North Paafic is dangerously dose to going the way of 

 the North Atlantic. Allowing fishermen to manage their own 

 fishenes. with virtually no voice for taxpayers, is a bluepnnl for 

 disaster 



It's time for Congress to face up to the naggmg questions of 

 allocation, effiaency and conservation. Fishenes management, 

 in the absence of sound economics, amounts to a clash l)erween 

 19th century thinking and 20th century technology 



Congress needs to recxamme the North Pacific council and 

 its counterparts anjundthe country, rid them of their absurd 

 conflicts of mteresti provide a real voice for taxpayers and 

 consumers, and take a serious look at a rational, market -driven 

 approach to management 



