302 



Of course, that is perhaps a little pie in the sky. But it is inter- 

 esting to note the production figures each year in Southeastern 

 Alaska; we have seen a gradual increase, I think United Fishermen 

 would agree, this last year in Southeastern over the previous year. 



Then we took a dump two years ago, and some of us would like 

 to think and some of the fishermen have indicated to me specifical- 

 ly their concern that this is as a consequence of the driftnet fishery 

 on the high seas. And you know, we have all been working hard to 

 try and corral the Taiwanese and the Koreans and the Japanese. 



I think we have made some progress in that regard. But the diffi- 

 culty you run into is, if we are expending our energies on each 

 other, oftentimes we lose sight of the goal and the objective. 



I am looking at figures here that indicate from 1979 to 1988 the 

 millions of pounds of salmon in Southeastern Alaska, and they 

 have gone from 72 in 1979 up to 93, 110, 123, 155, 154, 231, 215, 

 then down to 73 and up to 90. 



However, the good news is that the value of that fishery has 

 gone up, from $84 million in 1979 to $82 million in 1984, to $108 

 million in 1988. So I would like the record at least to reflect that, 

 in spite of a period of nine years of timber harvest, that while our 

 fisheries have not been perhaps what we would like them to be, 

 they have increased substantially in dollar value to our fishermen 

 and to the fishermen of the State of Washington and Oregon as 

 well. 



So maybe we have not done too bad a job in having a resource 

 industry, a timber industry, which has made a lot of mistakes and 

 a Forest Service that perhaps could have done a lot better job, and 

 a Native community and private timber holders that maybe could 

 have had better forest management practices. 



But the difficulty we have in formulating legislation, ladies and 

 gentlemen, is when we have such diversity from constituents that 

 it is very, very easy to have my colleagues say: Well, clearly there 

 is no uniformity in what Alaskans want; therefore we are going to 

 give them what they get. 



I know that is not what you have me here for, but nevertheless I 

 think in fairness that I should explain the difficulty. And I would 

 clearly like to see us be able to work from an accord, but obviously 

 sometimes that is a bit impossible. 



I would like to clear up one mystery here that I have, and that is 

 who is biggest. Because Kate, you have indicated some figures rela- 

 tive to the contribution cf the fishing industry, and I am well 

 aware of that. And there is another series of figures relative to the 

 contribution of the timber industry. 



I think for the sake of the accuracy of this hearing record, it is 

 probably appropriate that we at least address it for a few minutes. 



What happens up here is you get so darn much paper you cannot 

 find it, but I found it now, somewhere here. I have got my troops 

 here surrounding me. 



According to the Alaska Department of Labor, they say that the 

 forest products industry is 31 percent of the economy of Southeast- 

 ern and contributes 4,500 jobs; and the seafood industry is 27 per- 

 cent of the economy and contributes 3,990 jobs. 



Then the McDowell report, which I have in front of me, says that 

 the seafood industry is 27 percent and 3,990 jobs, and the Tongass 



