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The Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations 

 (PCFFA) welcomes this opportunity to provide written testimony on 

 H.R. 1906 by Mr. Doolittle and other members from California's 

 Central Valley. While PCFFA believes testimony delivered by one 

 of its officers or staff personally to the Subcommittee would have 

 had greater value in the deliberations on H.R. 1906, PCFFA does, 

 however, appreciate Congressman Riggs' submittal of this written 

 material on PCFFA 's behalf. 



WHAT IS PCFFA? 



PCPFA is a non-profit trade organization, incorporated in 

 California. Its main office is located in Sausalito. PCFFA is an 

 openly-run organization and its records are open to reasonable 

 public review. Its membership includes 13 of the 15 marketing 

 associations in California that represent commercial salmon 

 fishermen, among others. PCFFA 's lO associate members also include 

 salmon fishermen from California, including small boat operators 

 and charter boat owners, as well as members from Oregon, Washington 

 and Alaska. The marketing associations, which are the voting 

 members on PCFFA 's board, are democratically-run organizations 

 which elect a representative and alternate to represent them on 

 PCFFA 's board. Those representatives annually elect the PCFFA 

 officers and are responsible for the selection of executive staff. 

 Although many outside of the fishing industry may not share PCFFA' s 

 views on one or more issues and may, indeed, wish to stifle those 

 opinions they find provocative or offensive, PCFFA nevertheless 

 represents the collective view of the majority of California's 

 organized commercial salmon fleet. 



Although PCFFA represents a number of different types of 

 fishing men and women through its member organizations, it is its 

 representation of the salmon fishery that has led to its 

 involvement in efforts to protect habitat and flows critical to the 

 survival of these fish, including the reform the Central Valley 

 Project (CVP) . 



CALIFORNIA AND SAUION 



At the outset, let us remind non-coastal members, that salmon 

 are not simply a fish found in Alaska or in net pens in Norway or 

 Chile. The salmon fishery followed California's history since 

 statehood. The fishery initially was developed by early settlers 

 to feed the gold miners, although it earlier played an important 

 role in the subsistence and commerce of coastal Indians from 

 central California north. The fishery is one of the state's 

 earliest industries; in fact, the first salmon cannery on the west 

 coast was located near Sacramento. 



