35 



So, I went back to Anchorage and I talked to the FAA and said, 

 'What is wrong?" They said, "Well, you know, he never mailed anv 

 of those to us. So, I got him on the phone and said, "Why don t 

 you mail them?" He said, "My God, you know, I am flying 20 hours 

 a day. They just keep sending me forms to fill out." 



Now, my point is, is the result of what we are doing here going 

 to increase the forms that fishermen, four or five people on a 45- 

 or 50-foot boat have to fill out? Are we going to have to have more 

 descriptions of the time and place of incidental takes and the spe- 

 cies and the scientific information that even Dr. Hofinan says he 

 may not have himself? Are we going to have forms that, if they do 

 not get them in on time, you are going to say they are going to lose 

 their permit to fish? 



What are these forms going to add up to under this new system? 



Dr. Foster. Well, in our proposal, I think any additional forms 

 that need to be filled out would be minimal. I mean, we are carry- 

 ing on with registration. We will propose to register more fisher- 

 men than are now registered. But, in terms of tne actual observer 

 coverage and things like that, it would be less. 



Senator Stevens. And who is going to pay for that? 



I told the chairman why you had not done the research that was 

 necessary to get him the data he needs, that we all need, because 

 there was money in 1989 and 1990, but you did not spend it. I ear- 

 marked it in 1990 for the year 1991, and you had to spend it. 



If you want to look that up in the record, it is true. I earmarked 

 it. You had to do the marine mammal studies, and now we have 

 that information. But, under these proposals, where are you going 

 to get the money to do all of the work that is required? 



Dr. Foster. Well, that is a good question. We have done a lot 

 of 



Senator Stevens. Do you have estimates of cost? What will it 

 cost? 



Dr. Foster. Well, I cannot tell you exactly. But I can tell you 

 that we already have in our budget, as you know, around $10 mil- 

 lion that we spend now on observer coverage and marine mammal 

 assessments. So that would continue to be used. 



Senator Stevens. What if we need to use that money for other 

 purposes? 



Dr. Foster. The marine mammal money? 



Senator Kerry. It is my understanding it is going to cost $19 

 million, almost $20 million. 



Dr. Foster. The numbers that you have resulted from a real 

 quick staff-level proposal. These are not very definitive numbers. 

 But that was the best guess back then for an off-the-cuflF estimate 

 of cost. We have been doing a lot of talking about it in past weeks, 

 and I think that we can get more refined numbers and we will 

 probably be lower than that. 



Senator Stevens. Is it all going to be taxpayer financed? 



Dr. Foster. No. We are suggesting that — well, we are looking at 

 various alternatives. For one thing, we are allowed to charge for 

 the cost of issuing a certificate or a registration form to the fisher- 

 men. 



Senator Kerry. So, the fishing vessel registration would be a fee- 

 based thing? 



