90 



Tesdmony befixc the Small Business Subcoosoittee 



June 4, 1993 

 Pagc4 



Regretfully, this loss of opportunity to continue to fish for whiting was enhanced when, on 

 the opcniag day of the 1993 Pacific whiting season, die U.S. Deparanent of Commerce turned 

 (^side-down the recommendation of a regicHial management council and aUocaied most of the fishery 

 to the at-sea comptmeni under a largely opoi access (aka, Olympic) system. 



Similarly, Commezoe ignored the Council's adopted and federally eqjpioved Groundfish 

 Management Plan which sougjit to "encourage an envii^^unent which allows the industry and 

 dependent communities to make long-term conmntments in existing and underdeveloped fisheries by 

 adopting managctoent strategies which will better utilize the existing capital investment in fi^ vessels 

 and processing fadlides." 



^Tnle the Oregon industry had expected to harvest and process about 80,000 metric tons 

 (mt), that amount was suddenly reduced to approximately 42,000 mt for the total coast. Since 

 California and Washington are expected to take about 7,000 mt, this leaves Oregon with 

 approximately 35,000 mt That amounts to a loss of about 45,000 mt to Oregon firom what the 

 industry luid planned for in 1993. 



For the whole coast, the economic impacts are significant The following table illnstrates 

 that, assucning a harvest of 40,000 mi (30,000 mt initial allocation plus 10,000 mt available from an 

 early-suspended open access fishery) , there will be a loss to fishennen of $4 J millio n dollars, a 

 loss approximately 1 ,250 jobs to coastal communities, and a personal income reduction of $25 

 million. Job equivalents are set at $20,000 c^ annual income. 



There are also fiscal impacts from Oxnmerce's action. The following table provided by 

 Shannon Davis, The Research Group, Corvallis, Oregon deariy illustrates a substantial loss in 

 landing fees, corporate taxes and personal income taxes to die state, as well as property taxes to 

 schools and local government 



