selves may be endangered, thereby raising several kinds of interest- 

 ing questions to say nothing of the gentleman from Alaska who 

 passing by might be attacked either by the sea lions or by the 

 salmon, I assume. We can all think about that for a moment. The 

 gentleman from Delaware. 



Mr. Castle. How much would the proposal cost in Fiscal Year 

 1994? 



Dr. Foster. How much would the proposal cost in Fiscal Year 

 '94? 



Mr. Castle. Yes. 



Dr. Foster. In 1994, what we are proposing is a phase-in imple- 

 mentation strategy where for the first couple of years we would be 

 getting the system in place. We would expect to immediately begin 

 some of the observations on the category I fisheries, and we do 

 have about $10 million in our budget already that we spend on ob- 

 server coverage and stock assessment. 



Mr. Castle. And you say it is phased in. 



Dr. Foster. Phased in. 



Mr. Castle. Can you carry me through a few fiscal years on that 

 please? 



Dr. Foster. Well, the assumption is that for some of the fisher- 

 ies — let us say that you have a fishery where the take is exceeding 

 the PBR. Rather than have an immediate implementation of that 

 allocation or that quota which could cause severe economic impact 

 to the fishery, we are proposing to phase it in and give them about 

 five years to reach the PBR so that you would focus attention on 

 getting the system in place. Then you would focus your attention 

 on the problem fisheries, and you would begin slowly to ratchet 

 down their take to the PBR. 



Mr. Castle. And in terms of our costs in funding all of this, can 

 you estimate the cost in each of those five years? 



Dr. Foster. In each of the five years? 



Mr. Castle. More or less. If you don't know exactly 



Dr. Foster. We could do that for you if you would like. 



Mr. Castle. You don't have it presently at hand then? 



Dr. Foster. We have taken a preliminary look at what we think 

 full implementation of the proposal would cost. Right now we are 

 spending about, as I said, $10 million implementing the interim ex- 

 emption, and that is not complete implementation. You know, it is 

 like everything else. You do the best you can with what you have. 

 We estimate that if we completely implemented this proposal, at 

 full implementation, it would cost about on the order of $19 rnil- 

 lion. Some of that money could be recouped through registration 

 fees. 



Mr. Castle. OK. Thank you. I have no further questions, Mr. 

 Chairman. 



Mr. Studds. The gentleman from New York. 



Mr. HOCHBRUECKNER. No. 



Mr. Studds. The gentleman from California. 

 Mr. Hamburg. No questions. 



Mr. Studds. The distinguished gentleman from Alaska. 

 Mr. Young. Mr. Chairman, I am glad there is no sea lions 

 present, but that is all right. 

 Mr. Studds. You be very careful. 



