59 



Comments of Brad Gilman 



On Behalf of the Gulf of Alaska Coalition 



before the House Environment and Natural Resources 



Subcommittee on the Reauthorization of the 



Marine Mam mal Pr otection Act 



Mr. Chairman, the following are the specific comments of the 

 Gulf of Alaska Coalition on the proposed MMPA Amendments of 1993. 

 The Coalition is comprised of coastal communities, fishermen, and 

 seafood processors located and operating in the Southwest region of 

 Alaska. We include the Aleutians East Borough, the Kodiak Island 

 Borough, the Peninsula Marketing Association, and the Alaska 

 Groundfish Data Bank. 



While I do not represent otner participants in the Industry- 

 Environmental Negotiating Group, I have done my best to consult 

 with these individuals in preparing for this hearing. I believe 

 that my comments are generally reflective of the West Coast 

 participants not in attendance at this hearing. 



The legislation introduced last week has assured me that this 

 Committee, under your leadership, intends to resolve the incidental 

 take issue this year in a manner that provides for effective marine 

 mammal conservation while treating fairly the various citizens of 

 the United States who interact with these animals. We agree with 

 the fundamental goal of your bill, however, we disagree with the 

 way in which the bill is currently drafted. 



From the comments of the sponsors of the bill when it was 

 introduced, it is clear that the Committee has sought to 

 incorporate the Negotiating Group's proposal into the MMPA. Last 

 week I began a comparative analysis in preparation for this 

 hearing. It became quickly apparent that you and your staff were 

 not afforded with sufficient information from us on many of the 

 issues underlying the Negotiating Group's compromise. Our concept 

 paper was poorly articulated on many important issues, and many of 

 the most important assumptions underlying the compromise were 

 implicit and not readily discernable. 



The members of the Negotiating Group struggled for five months 

 to find a balanced solution to the problems now facing the 

 Committee on this issue. Over this five month period we began to 

 understand the concerns and priorities of the fishing and 

 conservation constituencies. Our task is now to share this 

 understanding with you. 



We did reach one fundamental agreement at the outset — any 

 long-term conservation program must be capable of surviving the 

 vagaries of Federal funding in the era of deficit reduction. 

 Instead of creating an ideal program and then trying to figure out 

 how to fund it, we came up with a proposed program which will give 

 the Secretary the tools to develop an effective mammal conservation 



