20 



of the NMFS would go a long way toward achieving this goal. 

 Thank you. 



[The prepared statement of Mr. Read may be found at the end of 

 the hearing.] 



Mr. HocHBRUECKNER. [presiding] Thank you, Dr. Read. Next we 

 have Mr. Alvin Osterback, Jr., Assembly Member from the Aleu- 

 tians East Borough, Anchorage, Alaska. Mr. Osterback. 



STATEMENT OF ALVIN OSTERBACK, JR., ASSEMBLY MEMBER, 

 ALEUTIANS EAST BOROUGH, ANCHORAGE, ALASKA 



Mr. Osterback. Mr. Chairman, my name is Alvin D. Osterback. I 

 am here today representing the Aleutians East Borough, the Gulf 

 Coast Coalition, its communities, and the fishermen of our region. 



For those of you who don't know where we are, the Aleutians 

 East is located in the far west portion of the Alaska Peninsula and 

 the eastern most islands of the Aleutians. The residents are pri- 

 marily of Aleut descent who have lived in the Aleutians East 

 region for thousands of years. We have made the difficult transi- 

 tion from a subsistence to a commercial lifestyle. Our fishermen 

 operate a small boat fleet to fish for salmon, cod, halibut, herring, 

 crab, and rockfish. Our communities are solely dependent on fish- 

 ing for employment, and fishing provides our tax base. Without the 

 ability to continue our commercial fisheries, we would be forced 

 back to a subsistence culture with no opportunity for other employ- 

 ment. Some of my communities would not survive and would join 

 the list of ghost towns that already dot the southwest Alaskan 

 coast. 



Our economic survival has required the Aleutians East and its 

 fishermen to become active participants in discussions over the 

 MMPA; specifically, authorization for the incidental take of marine 

 mammals in commercial fisheries. We are at risk because we are 

 located near threatened Steller sea lion rookeries. Additionally, sci- 

 entists have become concerned about the status of declining harbor 

 seal populations in southwest and western Alaska. 



The Aleutians East Borough and its Alaska native fishermen 

 want to be active participants in all future efforts to mitigate im- 

 pacts on marine mammal stocks in serious trouble. All too often we 

 have been blindsided by regulatory initiatives aimed at us because 

 we are the most visible human presence in the region. For exam- 

 ple, the Alaska Peninsula drift gill net and seine fleets were classi- 

 fied as category I fisheries in 1988 based on highly speculative in- 

 formation that there was a high level of marine mammal takes by 

 our fleets. What we found, however, when we invited observers on 

 our boats was that there are virtually no lethal takes of marine 

 mammals in our fisheries. Our fleets were then removed from the 

 category I list and placed on a category II list. 



If there is a problem with marine mammals in our region, we 

 want to be part of the solution. We accept the need for reasonable 

 regulation of commercial fisheries in so-called hot spot situations, 

 meaning fishery/ mammal interactions at significant levels when 

 the species is in decline or for which its status is unknown. Unfor- 

 tunately, I cannot give you any specific legislative recommenda- 

 tions at this time. I am part of the negotiating team comprising the 



