sure things are different in 1994. If you could ask for one thing for 

 the next round to try to make sure that the State and small coastal 

 and rural communities got a fair shake, what would it be? 



Mr. Andrews. Well, I think the Department of Commerce needs 

 to do a gut check and find out and determine themselves what 

 their decisionmaking points are going to be and articulate those de- 

 cisionmaking points to those people who are interested. If, in fact, 

 they don't want to use the Pacific Fisheries Management Council, 

 let's hear it, but tell us what the decisionmaking process will be, 

 and then we will plug into it wherever it's going to be. The point of 

 the matter is that they have to, themselves, lay out that process by 

 which we can gain access. 



Chairman Wyden. It's pretty hard to get the target if you don't 

 know really where it is and it keeps moving. 



Mr. Andrews. Pretty difficult. 



Chairman Wyden. All right, thank you. We'll excuse you and 

 look forward to working with you. 



Our next panel, Frank Warrens, Pacific Fisheries Management 

 Council; Jay Rasmussen, Oregon Coastal Zone Management Asso- 

 ciation; Joe Blum, American Factory Trawler Association; and Joe 

 Easley, Oregon Trawler Commission. If you all will come forward. 

 Gentlemen, it is the practice of this subcommittee to swear all wit- 

 ness. Do any of you have any objection to being sworn? Please raise 

 your right hand. 



[Witnesses sworn.] 



We welcome all of you, and thank you for the cooperation you've 

 shown. All of you have been very cooperative, and we'll make your 

 prepared statements a part of the record. I'd like to ask you to 

 keep to 5 minutes in the interest of time. Why don't we begin with 

 you, Mr. Warrens? 



TESTIMONY OF FRANK WARRENS, PACIFIC FISHERIES 

 MANAGEMENT COUNCIL 



Mr. Warrens. Good morning, Chairman Wyden and Congress- 

 man Kopetski. I want to thank you for this opportunity to testify 

 before you today. The Pacific Fisheries Management Council has 

 provided you with written comments on this issue responding to 

 your May 20 letter to Mr. Larry Six, our executive director. I will 

 not reiterate that testimony but would rather expand on the coun- 

 cil's concern about the regional fishery management process and 

 the impacts of the recent Commerce Department action on that 

 process. 



Since 1991, when the U.S. seafood industry harvested and proc- 

 essed the entire Pacific whiting allowable harvest for the first time, 

 conflict has escalated rapidly between U.S. at-sea processors, shore- 

 based processors, and vessel owners and operators who had previ- 

 ously participated in the joint venture fishery. The council recom- 

 mended annual allocation plans for 1991 and 1992 and then recom- 

 mended a multiyear allocation for 1993 and beyond. The council de- 

 veloped this most recent whiting allocation recommendation over a 

 9-month period, including four meetings and one of the most exten- 

 sive analyses ever prepared for a west coast fishery issue. 



