44 



I am quoting my old mentor down here on the end of the table. 

 They are a transportation facility. They are a storage facility for 

 the shore plant. They should be compensated because of that. 



Just to summarize it up a little bit — and I will make it quick 

 here— from 1979 to 1990 the Pacific whiting fishery was stable, 

 showing growth each year, and furnishing much needed income to 

 the coastal community. 



With the arrival of the factory trawlers, all that changed. They 

 brought in far more harvesting ability than was needed. The catch- 

 er boats alone in 1983 could harvest this resource. 



We Americanized this resource. My colleagues at the table were 

 right there with me. In 1983, foreign markets went down. In 1989, 

 we did that again. 



The entry of factory trawlers also prompted and increased invest- 

 ment in shoreside processing facilities. There was overcapitaliza- 

 tion in that sector as well. The battle for allocation became one of 

 shoreside processor against factory trawler. The council began allo- 

 cating to the common denominator, and that was the processing. 



Our catch histories fell by the wayside, and the loser basically 

 was the traditional catcher vessel. The boats that delivered to at- 

 sea processors were further losers because they were forced into 

 head-to-head competition with much larger factory trawlers into an 

 Olympic-style fishery. 



Because of this, the catch of whiting by catcher vessels delivering 

 to a floating processor were reduced by 86 percent on catch. We 

 were going from a 5-month fishery in 1991. We had a longer fishery 

 than that prior to that to 3 weeks this year. I believe all the testi- 

 mony here has brought that out. 



I would like to say a word about the long-term players in this 

 fishery. If you look at the history of our coastal fisheries, it is the 

 small businesses like ours that stand it for the long haul. 



We ride the highs and lows because we enjoy what we are doing. 

 We are usually the pioneers in new fisheries and new gear technol- 

 ogy. We are really not asking for anything more than the ability to 

 maintain a place in the fishery that we pioneered. 



If you can, please help us by bringing equity and rationality to 

 this fishery and guiding the managers a little bit to provide equita- 

 bly for all the interests in the fishery. 



Thank you. 



[Mr. Bohannon's statement, with attachments, may be found in 

 the appendix.] 



Chairman Wyden. Thank you. 



Jerry, we welcome you. I am going to put your statement in the 

 record. If you would, would you just talk to us for 5 minutes or so. 

 That would be great because we still have a lot more witnesses. 



TESTIMONY OF JERRY BATES, PRESIDENT, DEPOE BAY FISH CO., 



INC. 



Mr. Bates. Mr. Chairman and Mr. Kopetski, I appreciate that. I 

 don't like reading anyway. I will just summarize a few points that 

 may or may not have been missed. 



But it is important to note that whiting is just one component of 

 a fairly complex groundfish. You can't just discuss whiting without 



