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WRITTEN TESTIMONY FOR THE CONGRESSIONAL SUBCOMMITTEE ON 

 REGULATION, BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES, AND TECHNOLOGY 



Date: June 4, 1993 



Topic of Hearing: Management and Allocation of Pacific Whiting 

 and Impacts on Small Business 



Author: Gilbert Sylvia, Ph.D. 



Marine Resource Economist 

 Coastal Oregon Marine Experiment Station 

 Hatfield Marine Science Center 

 Newport, Oregon 97365 



Focus of Testimony: Economic and Market Issues Related to 

 Management of the Pacific Whiting Fishery 



Introduction 



Over the last four years the state of Oregon, the Oregon seafood 

 industry, and Oregon State University (OSU) have supported 

 extensive research into addressing issues related to management and 

 development of the Pacific whiting fishery. As a marine resource 

 economist with the OSU Coastal Oregon Marine Experiment Station, I 

 have conducted considerable research into the economics of the 

 Pacific whiting fishery with particular emphasis on market issues, 

 public policy, and product quality. Studies have included surveys 

 of national and international seafood buyers, development of 

 biological-based economic policy models, market analysis of product 

 quality, and development of value-added products. 



Much of this work has focused on understanding the relationships 

 between public management of the Pacific whiting fishery, private 

 investment, and market demand. Due to the fisheries regulations 

 and the biological traits which characterize the off-shore stock of 

 Pacific whiting, public management decisions may have significant 

 impacts on private investment at the harvesting, processor, and 

 distribution levels. Given the subcommittee's task, I will focus 

 my remarks on examining the relationships between fisheries 

 management of Pacific whiting, market development, and industry 

 behavior. 



This testimony is divided into six related topics. Every effort 

 has been made to substantiate and document these remarks; however, 

 the fishery is relatively new, data is still scarce, and many 

 economic issues cannot be easily quantified. Even with these 

 problems, I believe that reasonable qualitative assessments can be 

 made and a number of issues clarified in order to help this 

 subcommittee understand some of the relationships of public 

 regulation and industry development. 



