45 



discussing what is the impact on salmon trawlers, on the groundfi- 

 shermen, shrimpers, and fixed gear like black cod fishermen. It's a 

 very complex group of fisheries. We need to focus on the fact that 

 it is a group. 



As far as on price to vessels, I'm always sensitive to that. I 

 always hear minimum wage. I want to remind everybody, we weigh 

 all our fish. We weigh all the fish that is used. I owned a vessel 

 that sold a lot of cod ends to processors that seem to vary from day- 

 to-day on how big they were. So, there's a lot of difference in how 

 you use the numbers. 



I think we really need to focus on the fact that an annual plan 

 allows no business planning for either sector or any sectors. We are 

 constantly waiting until the opening day, deciding whether to hire 

 people, buy supplies, or where we are going to market. 



The Olympic style fishery is really forcing a heavy buy-catch be- 

 cause it is a derby-style fishery. It causes a lot of waste of product. 

 This year it was prosecuted early when the fish really weren't 

 ready. There was a lot of poor-grade product and poor-yield. 



The shore-side plants cannot come and go as desired. If there is a 

 lot of pollock, like previous to 1990, we may not see the at-sea 

 group here. They may prefer to do pollock. We're going to be here 

 all the time as long as we're allowed a chance to operate. 



To compare a derby, out here there is economics. When you have 

 a several day fishery over several months, it's really hard for me to 

 see how the social and economic benefits are being fairly weighed. 

 This year it was 22 days. We had hoped for 7 months. 



We pay quite a bit of property taxes to the State. Our payroll for 

 our own particular plant has over 100 people. It's nearly $200,000 a 

 month. They are not minimum wage jobs. They are $6.00 to $14.00 

 an hour. Salaries run $2,500 up to $5,000. 



With regard to the final decision, it seems the overturning of the 

 PFMC allocation and the published proposed allocation smacks a 

 lot of smoke in mirrors to me. It showed little response to all the 

 information, to all the hours of testimony that many of us have 

 traveled up and down the coast to meetings, and a lot of staff work 

 which has been presented. 



I think the entire Commerce Department Operational Guidelines 

 need to be looked at, in least some format that allows for an order- 

 ly decision through a legitimate process that can be followed. This 

 is as if we get handed a card, "Here's the way to go on your busi- 

 ness." 



Last, I think that the importance of the severe cutbacks in our 

 other fisheries need to be explored, particularly with any kind of a 

 social or economic analysis. We have seen salmon go to virtually 

 none. 



From what I used to buy myself, groundfish has been cut by 

 more than half of our traditional fish. The whiting is our last large 

 volume fishery that our shoreside industry has. I refer to it as an 

 industry, not just processors. We've got shoreside small businesses 

 that supply gear, marinas, hardware, repair shops, as well as the 

 fishermen. So, it's an industry and not just a processor group. 



[Mr. Bates' statement may be found in the appendix.] 



