41 



through the council system and voluntarily within the fleet. One of 

 our biggest frustrations is that the system penalizes us for doing 

 this. 



To develop these measures we lost both catch and fishing time, 

 and under the Olympic system this put us at a competitive disad- 

 vantage with other fishermen. This is very discouraging for those 

 of us who understand the need for responsible fishing practices. 



People often cite the reduction of bycatch achieved by the foreign 

 fishing fleets and decide that we must be wasteful and irresponsi- 

 ble for not doing the same thing, but they are overlooking a critical 

 difference between the two situations. The foreign fleets were es- 

 sentially operating on individual fishing quotas. 



When each country had used up its share of bycatch, its boats 

 had to stop fishing. The domestic fleet, on the other hand, is treat- 

 ed as one huge entity. Until each fisherman is made accountable 

 for his actions, our efforts to achieve effective conservation of our 

 resources will be stymied and the dirty fishermen can continue to 

 hide behind the rest of the fleet. 



This situation is one of the major reasons the members of our as- 

 sociation are strong proponents of an individual transferable quota 

 system. A carefully constructed ITQ program will stop the race for 

 fish and will reward the clean fishermen while penalizing the dirty 

 ones. 



The most effective action Congress can take to achieve the long- 

 term health of our fishery resources is to direct the councils to es- 

 tablish systems that promote individual accountability. The Act is 

 currently silent on this subject, and that omission has led to the 

 precarious situation we find ourselves in today. 



A good fisherman is flexible and creative, and there is no better 

 stimulus for his innovation than knowing that he is going to be sit- 

 ting on the beach if he doesn't fish responsibly. 



I will be happy to answer questions about my testimony or about 

 our support for the joint industry statement that Congresswoman 

 Cantwell introduced into the record. 



In addition, some of our members participate in the whiting fish- 

 ery, delivering, primarily to at-sea markets, and you may have 

 questions about our views on that subject. 



Thank you for your time. 



[The statement of Ms. Graham may be found at end of hearing.] 



Mr. Manton. Thank you, Ms. Graham, you beat the clock. 



Next witness, Mr. Joe Easley. 



STATEMENT OF JOE EASLEY, ADMINISTRATOR, OREGON TRAWL 



COMMISSION 



Mr. Easley. Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, my name 

 is Joe Easley. I am administrator of the Oregon Trawl Commission, 

 which is a commodity commission which has its members trawl 

 vessels that land their product in Oregon, fishing in the northeast 

 Pacific. 



We don't believe the Magnuson Act needs a great deal of change. 

 We think there is a few things that could be addressed, but we are 

 not one of those that is calling for a lot of changes. 



