47 



During this time the State of Alaska has worked clogeiy with the 

 State of Washington, our industry advisors, three successive 

 federal administrations, and the Congress to secure an acceptable 

 long-term solution. Despite years of work and seven rounds ot 

 talks, such a solution remains elusive. 



During the period from February, 1991 to August, 1992 five 

 international Conferences were held to discuss the conservation 

 and management of the living resources of the Central Bering Sea. 

 Minimal progress was made until the fifth Conference, which was 

 held in Moscow in August of last year. Up until that time the 

 distant water fishing nations had generally resisted efforts by 

 the U.S. and Russia to restrict fishing in the donut hole, and the 

 fishery had collapsed. At the fifth conference, all nations 

 finally agreed to a two year moratorium on fishing beginning in 

 1993 and running through 1994. At that time, all parties to the 

 talks reaffirmed their intent to negotiate over the interim a 

 long-term agreement which would govern fisheries in the area once 

 the moratorium expired. 



Since that time, there have been two additional rounds of talks on 

 the long-term agreement. Major issues remain to be resolved. At 

 the latest round of talks, held this June in Tokyo, little if any 

 progress was made. In fact, it appeared to us that several of the 

 distant water fishing nations were retreating from progress which 

 had been achieved previously. This has caused great concern among 

 the U.S. participants, and leads us to question whether or not the 



