41 



At that point, several of us made some very significant invest- 

 ments. In the case of Point Adams Packing Co., that was to retool 

 the plant, retool an existing physical facility, to the tune of about 

 $3 million to process whiting surimi. 



Then in the 1992-93 decisions, the same situation occurred — 

 delays by the Department of Commerce and some uncertainties. By 

 this time, as Barry said, there was knowledge a week or so prior to 

 the announcement that shoreside allocation was probably in very 

 serious trouble. 



The ultimate final decision provides shoreside with less than 50 

 percent of the recommended allocation by the council. So, with 

 that, many of the people working for Point Adams Packing Co. are 

 no longer going to have a job. 



In 22 days, 100,000 metric tons were taken by the factory trawl- 

 ers. That 100,000 metric tons would have lasted the entire shore- 

 side for Northern California through the Central Washington coast 

 somewhere in the range of 7 months. 



The council's recommendation was based on a sliding scale pro- 

 gram. The proposed framework plan, if applied to the last 17 years' 

 total allowable catch of whiting — if that framework plan were ap- 

 plied, would split right down the middle what the factory trawlers 

 received and what the shoreside would receive. 



That confirms the validity of that framework plan. It confirms 

 the validity of the proposal that the council made. It is something 

 that was totally ignored. 



As you have been told earlier, natural resource economists have 

 projected that somewhere in the range of 1,200 to 1,500 jobs have 

 been lost as a result of this — this year, shoreside, approximately 

 $25 million. 



For Point Adams Packing Co., that amounts to 60 employees, 5 

 months of work, $750,000 of direct income, and somewhere between 

 $1 to $1.5 million to the vessels that deliver to us, however many 

 times that economic multiplier goes through the local economies. 



In addition to that, the loss of the potential profit on that prod- 

 uct, had we had the opportunity to take it — approximately 15,000 

 metric tons of product that Point Adams Packing Co. will not have 

 access to — simply because it is not in the allocation. 



The continuation of the Department of Commerce's contraven- 

 tion of regional council recommendations will ultimately, if this 

 continues, result in the closure of some facilities that have been de- 

 veloped to handle Pacific whiting shoreside simply because of the 

 costs involved and the fact that there is not enough volume and 

 not enough time to cover the fixed costs that are associated with it. 

 There are some very basic business decisions that have to be made. 



Chairman Wyden. Mr. Libby, I hate to do this, but we're over 

 the time. If you could hit a couple of extra home runs, that would 

 be great. Then we will move on. 



Mr. Libby. I have one more comment that I would like to make. 



Of the total allowable catch, 70 percent was taken this year by 

 the factory trawlers. Because of the time of year and the fact that 

 they were dealing with postspawn fish — and I know this from per- 

 sonal experience of processing some of this fish myself, plus some 

 anecdotal information from factory trawlers — the recoveries of this 

 product were down from 15 to 12 percent. 



