13 



We talk about them, and then we do not know what we are talking 

 about. 



Mr. Pollock. I think it is unfortunate that the hearing was sched- 

 uled today, instead of 2 or 3 days from now. But we did our best. The 

 regulations are a very serious business, and have to be done right. 



Mr, Leggett. Can I ask Dr. Fox if you can project what will be 

 fished by the industry overall, over the next 2 months? 



Dr. Fox. No. Fishing conditions vary so greatly that it is impossi- 

 ble to give any kind of accurate projection of what the catch or the 

 species composition might be. 



Mr. Leggett. Well, you testified, I believe a year ago, that were the 

 fishing stopped, it would be a concentration on skipjack, which would 

 cause some incidental catch of nonmature species. 



You indicate in your testimony today that the fishing on skipjack 

 is down from a year ago, and I guess you are just reading the statis- 

 tics that come in. 



Do you have any analysis, or biological analysis of the reason for 

 our current condition ? 



Dr. Fox. We expect that — regardless of the amount of fishing effort 

 put on skipjack, the low skipjack catch this year, is due to the low 

 availability of the skipjack resource. What we did say is, if fishing 

 were prohibited on porpoise then the fishery would tend to move 

 inshore, fishing on skipjack and yellowfin tuna not associated with 

 porpoises, and if indeed that is what the fleet did, then these are the 

 catches they have achieved to date. 



Mr. Leggett. Now, you have the statistics from the Inter- American 

 Tropical Tuna Commission as to the tons of fish taken. What were 

 the numbers of porpoise taken ? 



Dr. Fox. Well, we have not really been able to make any estimate of 

 the number of porpoises taken. However, the observers that went out 

 observed approximately 20 porpoises being killed during the period 

 of time that they were out, catching approximately 120 tons of yel- 

 lowfin tuna. 



Mr, Leggett. That is not much of a microcosm to project. 



Dr. Fox. No ; it is a very small sample. 



Mr. Leggett. And the Inter- American Tropical Tuna Commission, 

 so we understand it, do I understand they do not collect information 

 the number of porpoise taken by their members ? 



Dr. Fox. At this time they do not. 



Mr. Leggett. All right. 



Let me see, Mr. Murphy, do you have questions at this point ? 



Mr. Pollock. Mr. Chairman, may I intervene for a moment to re- 

 spond to Congressman Murphy's comment ? 



I just want to point out that the comment period by the public on the 

 Administrative Law Judge's recommendations ended on January 21, 

 and since then the Director has reviewed 3,500 pages of records, and 

 90 exhibits. 



As I indicated, we are very hopeful that we will have the regula- 

 tions cleared in the Department in the next 2 or 3 days. 



The Chairman. The staff of this committee was notified that you 

 would have these 2 or 3 days before this hearing. Because this hearing 

 is supposed to, as I said in my opening statement, as the chairman of 



