49 



If you have small fish, you may want to produce a head and 

 gutted product. If you have larger fishes, it may be optimal to go to 

 fillets. This is important. Given the kind of price volatility that we 

 just talked about, processors must look at producing these in the 

 interest to try to reduce that kind of risk. 



One of the things I have been concerned about is an Olympic- 

 style fishery. I think there is a number of costs associated with an 

 Olympic-style fishery that need to be emphasized. Many of these 

 are related to the product quality issues. 



The primary problem is time. When you are fishing under that 

 compressed amount of time, you cannot slow down to control for 

 product quality. It's not in your interest because you are going to 

 lose production that will go to other fishermen. 



It becomes a critical issue compared to trying to slow down the 

 process and control product quality when you don't have to worry 

 about competing with other fishermen under very narrow time 

 constraints. 



Research has also shown, using bioeconomic models, is that com- 

 pressed Olympic-style fisheries can result in heavy fishing pressure 

 on certain year-classes. Those year-classes of fish are very small 

 fish. That's the primary year-class that you can depend on for 3, 4, 

 or 5 years. You can create some biological instability in the fishery. 

 It can ultimately impact economic benefits over time. 



We also have showed that Olympic-style fisheries can increase 

 inventory costs because if you have to catch all that fish at one 

 moment in time, you can't leave them in the ocean and inventory 

 them in the ocean until you need them. There are costs associated 

 with that. 



We have also looked at the cost associated with an early opening 

 day season — April 15th. There appear to be a number of costs. 

 Some of the processors and fishermen mentioned what those costs 

 may be. 



We did a lot of surveys with buyers, including one of the largest 

 buyers in the world of European whiting products. It's a buyer in 

 Germany. He made the comment that he used to buy whiting prod- 

 ucts from the Poles, primarily blocks, and that their primary prob- 

 lem was fish caught early in the season. Before May 15th, the 

 blocks were poor quality. 



This is because the fish have spawned during the winter and did 

 not recover their weight. Their proximal composition is poor. They 

 have low protein, high moisture, and relatively low fat. I think we 

 have provided some evidence to show how that proximal composi- 

 tion changes over time. 



Finally, let me say two more quick comments. I am very con- 

 cerned about the policy uncertainty that's characterized the whit- 

 ing industry. I think we have heard it over and over again today. 



One of the problems is that this policy process has gone on for 3 

 or 4 years. A lot of investments have been made at the regional 

 level in that policy process. Investments in terms of controlling 

 product quality and in utilizing many of the product forms was 

 made during that time. It had to be made as part of this policy 

 process. 



In fact, we looked at almost $20 million of a direct investment in 

 fishing boats and processing plants, utilizing existing capacity, but 



