10 



I will try to leave the duplicative testimony here from Mr. 

 Colson and Mr. Matlock and get to the few points I would like to 

 stress in support of that. 



Obviously, as you probably have surmised, we very strongly sup- 

 port Congressman Young's sponsored H.Con.Res. 135. I would like 

 to point out that the Northern Pacific Fisheries Management 

 Council yesterday passed a resolution in strong support of 

 H.Con.Res. 135. 



I would also like to say right up front that — in support of this 

 resolution — we are not being critical of the State Department and 

 other agencies' efforts to conclude an agreement in the Donut 

 Hole. We feel they are doing an admirable job, and we are very 

 supportive of their efforts. 



I think it is important to put a little bit of this into perspective, 

 Mr. Chairman. One is, from our standpoint, Alaska's resources 

 belong to a lot of people. They are very important, rich resources, 

 and the fisheries are important to a large number of fishermen, 

 both inside and outside Alaska. 



The area of the Central Bering Sea Donut Hole is a small en- 

 clave. Less than 10 percent of the total area of the Bering Sea or 

 about 15 percent of that portion of the Bering Sea are at depths 

 that exceed 200 meters. This deepwater area is referred to as the 

 Aleutian Basin, and encompasses waters inside both the Russian 

 and U.S. 200-mile zones as well as the Donut Hole enclave. 



Within the Aleutian Basin there is a stock of pollock which we 

 refer to as the Aleutian Basin pollock stock. This stock of pollock 

 inhabits the deepwater area of the Bering Sea and straddles the 

 boundaries between the U.S. zone, the Russian zone, and the Donut 

 Hole area. Spawning occurs almost exclusively inside the 200-mile 

 zones. 



A major component of the Aleutian Basin stock is what we refer 

 to as the Bogoslof pollock stock, which appears to move from 

 spawning grounds around Bogoslof Island in the Aleutians into the 

 Donut Hole and back. Estimates indicate that 60 percent to 80 per- 

 cent of the Aleutian Basin stock may be originating in the U.S. 

 zone near Bogoslof Island. 



The best information which is available to us strongly suggests 

 that the Aleutian Basin stock has been severely overfished. There 

 appears to be a strong correlation between the dramatic decline of 

 the Donut Hole fishery and the precipitous collapse of the Bogoslof 

 stock. Biomass estimates for the Bogoslof pollock stock show a dra- 

 matic decrease from 2.1 million metric tons in 1989 to a low of 

 600,000 tons estimated for 1991. The preliminary 1993 estimate for 

 Bogoslof, as reported by NMFS in June of this year, was in the 

 600,000 to 900,000 metric ton range. 



This decline corresponds closely to the dramatic decline in for- 

 eign catches reported for the donut hole. The first reported catches 

 for the foreign fleets totaled about 360,000 metric tons in 1985. This 

 had grown to a reported catch of 1.447 million metric tons in 1989. 

 By 1991, the reported catch had dropped to around 290,000 metric 

 tons. By 1992, the fishery had collapsed to the point that a little 

 over 10,000 metric tons was reported harvested. 



The collapse of the Aleutian Basin stock has had a significant 

 impact on U.S. Fishermen. In 1991, the Aleutian Basin pollock roe 



