228 



Let me tell yon, Manupl Jorge's break even point is somewhere 

 around 13 tons' of fish a day. To do that he has got to stay at sea 

 270 davs a year. 



He made a famous trip. He was out 63 days. He made 47 sets, 45 

 of those on porpoise. 



He caught a little over 1.000 tons of fish. 



Tn other words, he averaged 16 tons per day at sea, Manuel Jorge 

 did better than break even. 



Now, if you take a look at what he did. 522 tons of that fish was 

 caught on mixed sets in association with eastern spinners. If you 

 had" subtracted that out. let us sav the law was in effect this year, 

 Mauel Jorjre would have averaged 7.76 tons per dav. 



He would have cone broke. He could not have nfforded to make 

 that trip. He would not have caught 1.000 tons. Now. you <ro tell 

 Manuel Jorge that 10 percent is not going to hurt him, and he is 

 broke. 



Mr. Feiwnoo. That is whv, T think, we are dealing with numbers 

 like this, with all due respect, Mr. Chairman, I think you have to be 

 very careful. 



Because of the request of the union officials, there are a couple 

 things that I want to bring out with respect to Mr. Butler's state- 

 ment, as to Puerto Rico. 



Mr. Leggett. They are organized down there? 



Mr. Felando. Of course, Mr. Drozak could speak on that more 

 effectively. 



This is the first chance I have had to speak after Mr. Butler and 

 I do not want to abuse this privilege, and I will at a later date 

 answer some of the points that he raises in his statement. 



However, there is one additional point and I think we are ready 

 to conclude, unless you have some questions, and that is we under- 

 stand that Mr. Fensterwald from the Committee on Humane Legis- 

 lation has called a lawsuit today asking for preliminary injunction 

 with respect to enjoining the 1977 regulatory program. 



It seems to me if an injunction was issued, I guess the issuance of 

 a permit will be enjoined, regulations will be enjoined and the in- 

 dustry, of course, will be faced with this continuing problem. 



Therefore, to suggest that everything looks all right, and we really 

 only have a 2 or 3 week problem I think is wrong. 



I would like to state this: In my opinion, the U.S. tuna fleet and 

 the U.S. consumer is facing a disaster after 1977. Less fish, and for 

 sure there is going to be less supply of canned tuna for the U.S. 

 consumer, and unless Congress takes immediate action to amend the 

 Marine Mammal Protection Act, I think the combination of a variety 

 of factors might already have destroyed the continued viability of 

 the U.S. tuna fleet. 



I just do not see how capital formation in this fleet which is 

 really the real characteristic on a tuna fleet, how this capital forma- 

 tion, the desire to develop in this industry, can continue with the 

 uncertainty about the future, the uncertainty about whether you are 

 going to operate next week or next year. 



Mr. Leggett. Mr. Fensterwald has noted in his lawsuit that the 

 regulations on mixed schools are unenforceable. "What is your view 

 on that? 



