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Statement of the Honorable Mike Kopecski 

 Before the House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries 

 Portland, Oregon 

 August 10, 1993 



Mr. Chairman, earlier last spring, the Secretary of Commerce overrode the 

 recommendation of the Pacific Fisheries Management Council and Commerce's own 

 previously published Proposed Rule relating to an allocation of Pacific whiting. This 

 action established a wide open fishery that strongly favored the large factory trawlers that 

 process Pacific whiting off-shore, and a small reserve for the vessels that flsh for the on- 

 shore processors. Commerce defended its action by stating that the Final Rule was fair 

 and equitable to all parties fishing fur Pacific whiting. 



Mr. Chairman, the coastal fishing communities of Oregon were devastated by this 

 decision. These communities have spent years planning for and investing In a Shore- 

 based fishery as a way to stabilize revenues and plan for the future. With this decision, 

 all of this was endangered. 



Although Commerce's decision assumed that the shore-side sector would take 

 some portion of the initial fishery, in reality, die on-shore fishermen never had a chance 

 under this plan. After only one week, of the 112,000 tons of Pacific whiting allocated to 

 the Olympic fisher)', the factory trawlers had harvested nearly 25,000 tons while the on- 

 shore fishermen had harvested only 214 tans. Commerce's ill-founded assumption that 

 the on-shore sector would harvest 12,000 tons in the initial fishery began to look 

 ridiculous. When it became painfully obvious that the factory trawlers were going to suck 

 up the entire Initial allocation, Commerce was forced to issue an emergency rule, 

 stopping the Olympic fishery earlier than expected in order to save some of the fish for 

 the on-shore vessels. 



Mr. Chairman, initial reports also indicate that the Pacific whiring caught by the 

 off-shore sector was of inferior quality because the fish had just completed spawning and 

 were depleted. Some processors estimated that recovery of product from whole fish was 

 6 to 10 percent below nurmal. Other indicators, such as the production of fish oil, also 

 confirmed the poor quality of the Pacific whiting caught by the off-shore sector this year. 

 Additionally, and contrary to custom, the Department of Commerce did not release any 

 preliminary Incidental take of non-target species (by-catch) data for either sector in the 

 Pacific whiting fishery. However, data from the 1992 season does not bode well for this 

 year. In 1992, as by-catch, factory trawleTS caught 14%. of the total allowable catch far 

 yellowtail rockfish, 5% of the total allowable catch for widow rockfish and 22% of the 

 incidental catch of Pacific Ocean perch allowed for the entire coastal fleet. 



