49 



THE SEATTLE TIMES SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 22; 1992.1 



U.S. urged to reject 

 proposal to split 

 Alaska 



by David Schaefer 



Times Washington bureau 



WASHINGTON - The top in- 

 vestigator at the U.S. Commerce 

 Department is recommending that 

 the department reject a proposed 

 division of the lucrative Alaska 

 pollock industry that would give 

 Alaska canneries the rights to fish 

 previously processed by Seattle- 

 based factoiy ships. 



Inspector General Frank De- 

 George yesterday recommended 

 rejecting the plan approved last 

 summer by the North Pacific Fish- 

 ery Management Council, which 

 said that 45 percent of the bottom 

 fish caught off Alaska's coast 

 should be reserved for land-based 

 fish processors in Alaska. 



DeGeorge briefed some House 

 and Senate members yesterday on 

 his report. 



Last year, factory trawlers 

 based in Washington state "caught 

 .^d processed about 70 percent of 

 Alaska pollock and cod, a $1 bO- 

 lion-a-year industry. 



The local companies said as 

 many as 1 ,000 jobs for Washington 

 state residents could be at stake. 

 : The General Accounting Office 

 found that ownership of the Wash- 

 ington factory trawlers is about 70 

 percent American, while four of 

 the five Alaska plants are owned 

 by Japanese interests. 



The dispute involves the richest 

 fishery in U.S. waters and how the 

 resource is managed under the 

 1976 Magnuson Act. 



Until then, mostly foreign boats 

 fished off Alaska. Former Sen. 

 Warren Magnuson sought to cre- 



ate an Ajneilran industry, arid the 

 act named for him 'established 200- 

 mile fishing Unfits and set up 

 councils to manage the resource. 



As a result, a valuable fish 

 harvest, dominated by factory 

 trawlers from Seattle, developed. 

 In the past .five .years, however, 

 land-based fish processors have 

 sprung up to compete for the fish. 



Fumlly, the inspector general 

 found that the council did not do 

 an adequate economic analysis of 

 its allocation proposal and, accord- 

 ing to a Senate staff member who 

 heard the briefing, said "the pro- 

 cess was so flawed that doing an 

 economic analysis now would not 

 solve the problem." - 



DeGeoi^e also reportedly said 

 a criminal probe is taking place. 



A decision by the Commerce 

 Department on the Alaska plan is 

 due March 5. 



Reed Boatwright, a Commerce 

 Department, spokesman, had no 

 ooimnenfozLthexlraft report or on 

 a Justice Department recommen- 

 dation that llie fish-coundl deci- 

 sion be rejected. 



Jim Gilmore, lobbyist for the 

 American Factory Trawlers Associ- 

 ation, said he hadn't seen the 

 report. "But,", said Gilmore, 

 "based on what we've seen . . . 

 we'd be surprised if the inspector 

 general didn't see the same flaws." 



Stuart Looney, president of 

 Royal Seafoods, a Seattle company 

 that operates factory trawlers, has 

 criticized the plan, saying it does 

 nothing to stop the burgeoning 

 number of boats and processors 

 vying for a finite supply of fish. 



