24 



data management system has brought about during the past 5 

 years. I would disagree that it has accomplished very little because 

 I think you would be amazed at what we have been able to do with 

 this data system. 



Mr. Manton. I am taking my numbers from our staff memoran- 

 dum. NMFS estimates that in some parts of the country registra- 

 tion and compliance is less than 1 percent. You are saying overall 

 it is about 16 percent? 



Ms. Foster. No. 



Herb, do you have percentages? We don't know what the exact 

 universe of vessels is, but we get estimates from 10 to 30 percent. 



Mr. Manton. Could you submit that for the Committee's perusal 

 what the up-to-date figures are on compliance? 



Ms. Foster. Yes. 



[The information can be found at the end of the hearing.] 



Mr. Manton. The other issue is the requirement of placing ob- 

 servers on ships. You pointed out earlier that you could not man- 

 date complete coverage, that you wanted to have some flexibility in 

 the observer program. I agree with that. 



It seems to me that, right now, the actual observer status is on 1 

 to 10 percent of the vessels, according, again, to our memorandum. 



Some groups have suggested that perhaps fishermen should pay 

 for observers, rather than taxpayers. What do you think about 

 that? 



Ms. Foster. Well, yes, that is an interesting question. There are 

 some instances in some of our fisheries where the fishermen do 

 contribute at least some portion of cost of observers. And that is a 

 possibility, especially if— what we had proposed, I think, is that the 

 fishermen might be asked to contribute a portion of the observer 

 coverage only if carrying an observer was a condition of their being 

 able to continue to fish, not in the general sense. We did not ask 

 that the fishing community pay for observer coverage in general. 



Mr. Manton. So it would be vessel-specific? 



Ms. Foster. Fishery-specific. 



Mr. Manton. Thank you. 



Mr. Studds. Does any member want a second round? 



The gentlewoman from Washington. 



Mrs. Unsoeld. I would add that the seals and sea lions are im- 

 pacting our shellfish industry because their shear population num- 

 bers are causing pollution that is requiring commercial shellfish 

 beds to be closed down or else those shellfish move to another envi- 

 ronment for the required length of time before they can be harvest- 

 ed. 



I have one other question. The recommendations would authorize 

 all citizens to use non-lethal measures to deter marine mammals to 

 protect public or private property, including marinas and docks. 

 But the statement that the use of non-lethal measures by recre- 

 ational fishers deter marine mammals interracting with sports 

 fisheries is unclear. Do any of you want to comment on your views 

 on that? 



Mr. Gilman. I think we overlooked that in our compromise pro- 

 posal. 



The way the discussion played out, I don't recall any specific dis- 

 cussion on whether recreational fishermen should be given the au- 



