[Prepared statement of Senator Akaka appears in appendix.] 

 Senator Inouye. I thank you very much, Senator Akaka. 

 Now, if I may, I will call on Chairman Ebisui. 



STATEMENT OF EDWIN A. EBISUI, Jil, CHAIRMAN, WESTERN 

 PACIFIC FISHERY MANAGEMENT COUNCIL, HONOLULU, HI 



Mr. Ebisui. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good morning to you and 

 to Senator Akaka. On behalf of the Western Pacific Regional Fish- 

 ery Management Council, I thank you for the opportunity to testify 

 today in mvor of the proposed amendments to the Magnuson Fish- 

 ery Conservation and Management Act, which would authorize the 

 community-based fishery demonstration projects and authorize 

 community development quota programs in the Western Pacific. 



We believe that these proposed amendments are especially ap- 

 propriate and suited for the Western Pacific region, where cultural 

 and historic diversity abound. Despite such diversity, however, cer- 

 tain commonalities exist throughout the region. The ocean has al- 

 ways been a dominant part of the region's indigenous people's his- 

 torical, cultural, religious, and economic lives. Further, the region's 

 indigenous people have traditionally practiced conservation of the 

 marine resources through various means. 



Today's commercial fleets are technological wonders, with on- 

 board computers, sonar devices, fish-finding devices, radars, sat- 

 ellite navigation and communications systems, fax systems, hi-tech 

 fishing gear, high-powered gear deployment and retrieval systems, 

 and refrigeration systems. Consequently, fishing pressure in the 

 Pacific Ocean is escalating. Limited access programs for more Pa- 

 cific fisheries are becoming more and more likely. Both the commu- 

 nity-based fishery demonstration projects and the community de- 

 velopment quota program can provide effective means and avenues 

 for participation in the fisheries and fishery management by the 

 native people of the region. 



The community-based fishery demonstration projects, properly 

 implemented, can result in many desirable attributes, such as per- 

 petuation of traditional knowledge, practice, and culture; promotion 

 within the community of a sense of being part of the decisionmak- 

 ing process; promotion of a sense of partnership in common goals 

 between the communities and State and Federal agencies; pro- 

 motion of a sense of resource stewardship and planning for tomor- 

 row, as well as integration of local knowledge with more academic 

 information. 



Similarly, the community development quota program can 

 produce many significant and desirable results. It would provide 

 assurances for the participation in the fisheries by indigenous peo- 

 ple of the region. The program could level the economic playing 

 field, thus allowing native people to participate in fisheries that 

 currently require substantial capital investments which oftentimes 

 are beyond their means and prohibit their participation in the fish- 

 ery. And the program can provide the communities with significant 

 economic opportunities in the fisheries and related shoreside enter- 

 prises. 



One of the strongest points of the councils' system is regionalism. 

 The councils have the ability to craft regulations specifically suited 

 to the uniqueness of their respective regions and fisheries. The 



