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processors. In 1991, value added processing by the U.S. -flag at- 

 sea processors almost quadrupled the value of the fishery to the 

 U,S, economy. In 1990, the fishery generated $18.0 million in 

 economic benefits to the Nation, when U.S. -flag factory trawlers 

 and motherships displaced the foreign vessels from the fishery the 

 value of the fishery increased to $64.0 million. 



Regulatory Regime for Allocating Pacific Whiting. 



The first whiting allocation scheme focused on the different 

 har^'^ooting oapabilltirOO omong <iohlng i.ioaaolo. Oho CDunoil dlMldad 

 the 1991 Paclf lo whiting allocation between vessels that both catch 

 and process and those that catch. Catcher vessels were free to 

 sell their catch to either onshore or at-sea processors. The only 

 restriction dictating where fishermen must land their oatch was a 

 provision reserving 30,000 metric tons (m.t.), 14 percent of the 

 overall quota, for shoreslde processors. The principal 

 beneficiaries of this set aside were not even the shoreslde 

 processors that historically used less than 8,000 m.t. annually. 

 Instead, the beneficiaries were shoreslde operators building new 

 surimi plants that were not even operational in 1990. 



In 1992, the Council proposed increasing the shoreslde 

 guarantee to 110,000 m.t. Over fifty (50) percent of the harvest 

 was allocated to processors that had only managed to process 20,500 

 m.t. in 1991, roughly two-thirds of the shoreslde allocation. 



During review of this proposed rule, the National Marine 

 Fisheries Service (NMFS) unambiguously stated its opposition to 



