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NORTHWEST 



SPORTFISHING rg pcffa 



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JOINT LETTER BY THE NORTHWEST SPORTFISHING 



INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION 



and the 



PACIFIC COAST FEDERATION OF FISHERMEN'S 



ASSOCIATIONS 



Members of the Senate March 27, 199S 



Capitol Hill 

 Washington, DC 20515 



RE: Fishing industry groups oppose 'su£5ciency language* and mandated timber harvests 



Dear Senator 



The Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations (PCFFA) is the largest organization of 

 commercial fishermen on the west coast, with member organizations from San Diego to Alaska. We 

 represent working men and women of the Pacific fishing fleet who generate tens of thousands of jobs 

 and are the economic mainstay of many coastal communities throughout the Pacific coast region. We 

 are joined in this letter by the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association (NSIA), which represents 

 the many sportfishing businesses in the Northwest. There are more than 5,000 such businesses in this 

 region, with several thousand more in Alaska. Between our two organizations we represent several 

 billion dollars annually in economic productivity, and more than 100,000 jobs along the Pacific coast 

 as well as far inland. 



We oppose the current Congressional efifort to approve "sufiBciency language" or to mandate 

 mininium timber harvest levds in the Northwest. However well meaning, these are neverthdess bad 

 ideas. Su£5ciency language would simply override all current protections for salmon and other 

 aquatic species Mandatory timber harvest levels would essentially do the same, since many levels 

 could not be reached without severe damage to other resources. The result would only be 

 additional degradation of already severely damaged salmon spawning habitat, more economic 

 dislocation within fishing communities, and more lost jobs in our industry. Salmon throughout 

 the region have already been severdy depressed because of past timber harvests done without regard 

 to their environmental consequences. This region cannot afiford to go down that road once agaiit 



