13 



ment to rural communities. One of the best commitments that 



could be made is for it to support decisions of its regional councils. 

 With that, thanks again for your willingness to come and talk 



with us and hear us. 



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

 Chairman Wyden. Thank you. Very helpful, and we'll have some 



questions in a moment. Mr. Easley. 



TESTIMONY OF JOE EASLEY, ADMINISTRATOR, OREGON TRAWL 



COMMISSION 



Mr. Easley. Mr. Chairman, Representative Kopetski, thank you 

 for coming down. Like many others, I'm most appreciative of you 

 coming to the Oregon coast instead of us having to go to Washing- 

 ton, DC. I find this environment much more pleasant, even with 

 the problems we're having on the coast. 



The Oregon Trawl Commission is a commodity commission under 

 the Department of Agriculture in the State. It's solely supported by 

 the trawlers that land their product in Oregon. That includes 

 shrimpers, bottom fish, and whiting, which we consider part of the 

 ground fish complex. We always have. We've invested money in 

 this whiting since the late 1960's in technological research with the 

 Oregon State Seafood Lab. We still have some ongoing research 

 going on there to see if we can't improve products even more. 

 We've always looked at it as a very integral part of what the 

 ground fishery was, and that one day it would be a part of the port- 

 folio, if you will, of the total fisheries. 



The problem that we find ourselves in along the coast, and not 

 just in Oregon, but the problems that are going on with salmon, 

 we're getting pushed from one end with boats trying to get into 

 that middle group. With the problems that we have now with the 

 whiting, we've got boats from the other end trying to get into that 

 middle group, and we don't have enough room for all of those 

 boats, frankly. That's not a problem, it's just germane to the Pacif- 

 ic Council. It's also a problem in Alaska. The factory trawlers 

 themselves, I think, would agree that they're overbuilt for the 

 amount of resources available for them, both here and in Alaska. It 

 just isn't there. If they had all of it, it isn't there. 



It's something that in the long term, this little dab of fish down 

 here is not going to save the factory trawler fleet, but it can make 

 a tremendous difference for the coastal communities along this 

 coast. In the short term, this is going to be a year of trying to hang 

 on to see if you can make it, particularly for some of the support 

 industries that I've talked to. They've really tightened their belts. 

 They aren't buying supplies and stuff. Sometimes you have to wait 

 for them to order it. They're just taking a much more cautious 

 route, and I must say that there's a lot of disappointment in that 

 we haven't got a long-term process on allocation in place. 



We've been fighting this battle for a number of years now over 

 and over, and it's been a very costly thing for all the people who 

 have had to show up, and the information we've had to provide and 

 gather. In fact, my organization has spent a lot of money on that 

 very thing, offering grants because the Commerce Department will 

 not fund the councils adequately so that they can do that thing, 



