191 



THS 1993 ■..'HITI^IG ALLOCATION 



Iniaoine two boats fishin;^. They can't see each other but 

 are in touch by radio. They seem to be catching about the sa.-ne 

 amount. Boat A sets a ton, and Boat 3 says that he's caught a 

 ton too. "ishins drops off for A and he decides to move.^ Boat 

 B shovfs no inclination to move. Is 3 still catching the same, or 

 has he been doing better all along? Boat A goes to the same area 

 that Boat D is in, "Just to keep him honest." 



I've been hearing and reading lots of sea-stories about the 

 1993 v.'hiting allocation. I'm v.'riting this because my side of the 

 issue is unheard. I need to keep these guys honest. 



I'm a fisherman and I've lived in Ne\\-port for 30 years. I've 

 fished for a living for 21 years, both here on the coast, and in 

 Alaskan waters. ?or the past 5 years I've worked on a factory 

 traveler. 



To find the roots of the current range v/ar, you'd have to look 

 into the past. In the 1970 's crabbing and shrimping both boomed 

 and their fleets grew. 7ore\ gn companies had factory trawlers in 

 U.S. waters. Fishing seasons had a starting date and either a 

 "uota or an ending date. 



In the early 19S0's Americans moved into pelagic (mid-water) 

 travrling. In order to use factory trawlers in U.S. v/aters (dir- 

 ect fishing) forct gn companies had to send motherships to buy fish 

 from U.S. catcher boats (the Joint Venture or JV fishery). At 

 the same time a U.S. factory trawl fleet started vrarking in the 

 Bering Sea and IJorth Pacific. 



The U.S. factory fleet at that time was slow to expand. A 

 trip took months and they had to develop their product to fit 

 into the international marketplace. 



In contrast, the JV fishery was booming. The U.S. boats 

 transferred thousands of tons to foreign factory boats without 

 ever having to touch a fish. They were paid for round fish and 

 the forci-gn mothership fleet took care of product quality and 

 marketing. 



The JV fishery was on a time limit through the provisions 

 of the Magnussen Act. Over a 10 year period for gn vessels 

 were to be phased out of U.S. fisheries. During the second half 

 of the SO's the U.S. factory fleet had grown to the point that 

 it displaced fore'^-gn pollock allocations. The Japanese surimi 

 fleet made up for this loss by shifting to the V/est Coast and 

 making surimi from V7hiting. 



