has been instrumental in the pioneering and development of the 

 whiting fishery. That pioneering work included the development 

 activities that stretched back to the late 1970's and early 1980's. It 

 included contacts with the Russian, Polish, and other foreign part- 

 ners. It included about $10 million of investment in fishing vessels 

 and another $15 million in equipment for processing plants. The 

 whiting industry in Newport even transported an entire fish meal 

 processing plant down from Alaska in order to better use both the 

 whiting resource and to turn what were once leftovers into value- 

 added products. Four whiting processing plants are now located 

 here which, together with the local trawler fleet, employ approxi- 

 mately 1,700 workers and bring more than $35 million into the 

 local economy during a normal season. 



But this is not a normal season, as we all are well aware. When 

 the Commerce Department decided, contrary to the recommenda- 

 tions of the Pacific Fishery Management Council, and 16 hours 

 after the whiting season was scheduled to open in April, to allocate 

 the bulk of the whiting harvest to factory trawler ships based on 

 Puget Sound, it did some serious damage to this pioneering indus- 

 try. Rather than the $35 million in expected receipts in Newport, 

 the area will be lucky to see $15 million this year. Rather than 

 1,700 jobs in harvesting and processing, we could be facing fewer 

 than half that amount. 



The new processing capability added this year, that would have 

 allowed local industry to take advantage of the fruits of their labor, 

 will go to waste because of the bulk of the whiting harvest and will 

 go to a fleet and an industry that has had no hand in the painstak- 

 ing development effort that brought the whiting fishery to econom- 

 ic liability. 



Worse yet, the decrease in the expected harvest in whiting will 

 mean an increases in pressure on other fisheries in the area, such 

 as crab and shrimp, which can ill afford the added competition. 

 That may drive off the smaller boats headquartered in the area 

 that have depended on the fisheries to make their own living. 



The worst part about this decision was not that most of the har- 

 vest went to the factory fleet or that local fishing families will see 

 less money in their pocketbooks this season. The worst part is the 

 feeling of betrayal local folks feel. They went before the Pacific 

 Fishery Management Council last year and presented their case. 

 They heard the testimony of the biologists and the ecologists who 

 told them how much fishing pressure the resource could bear. They 

 listened to economists who described how important the whiting 

 harvest is to a fishing industry that puts almost 90 percent of the 

 $80 to $100 million per year the fishing industry generates into the 

 hands of their friends and relatives who aren't directly employed 

 in fishing. After all of that, they heard the recommendations of the 

 PFMC, which decided that the onshore whiting industry deserved a 

 chance to grow and prosper. 



But the Commerce Department didn't think so. Without consult- 

 ing the PFMC, it overturned its recommendation and opened the 

 fishery to a short, intense, high-pressure fishing season that gave 

 quick profits for a minimal investment to the large factory fleet. 

 They ignored the effects on local communities, and it ignored the 

 intent of the Magnuson Act, which specifies that local agencies in 



