48e 



Our fourth panel, Mr. Harold Thompson, the president of Sitka 

 Sound Seafoods; Mr. Gordon Williams, from the Alaska Trollers; 

 Mr. Sig Mathisen, the president of Petersburg Vessel Owners; Mr. 

 Peter Esquiro, NSE Aquaculture Association; and Mr. Phil 

 Wyman, the chairman of Sitka Fish & Game Advisory Committee. 



The next panel might be prepared to be on deck: Mr. Tonkin, Mr. 

 Ward, Mr. Cronk, and Mr. Leghorn. 



Thank you very much for being here. You know the rules of the 

 committee. We will include your statements in full in the record, 

 and each of you is aware of the time constraints under which we 

 are operating. 



Mr. Thompson, why do not we start with you and just run right 

 down the line. 



Thank you very much. 



STATEMENT OF HAROLD K. THOMPSON, PRESIDENT, SITKA 



SOUND SEAFOODS, INC. 



Mr. Thompson. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Senators Murkowski 

 and Burns. 



My name is Harold Thompson, the president of Sitka Sound Sea- 

 foods, a fresh and frozen fish processor and marketer. We are one 

 of the major employers in Sitka and Yakutat, employing a peak of 

 about 300 persons and an average of about 100 on a year-around 

 basis. I am a third generation fish processor, having been raised in 

 the timber /fishing town of Petersburg, where my father and my 

 grandfather bought and sold fish and where my father also had an 

 interest in a local sawmill. With that background, I feel that I can 

 comment fairly objectively on the proposed legislation. 



As a businessman and member of the Sitka community, I can ap- 

 preciate the impact that Tongass reform legislation could have on 

 our community, affecting the jobs and security of many friends and 

 neighbors. I want to see responsible timber harvest continue in 

 order to support one of our most important basic industries. Oper- 

 ating a fish processing facility Sitka would be made significantly 

 more difficult without the support of our economy by the mill, 

 mainly as the consequence of higher electrical rates and loss of 

 combination timber/fishing related support businesses. 



Having said that, I do not support business as usual any more 

 than I can support legislation that would cripple the timber indus- 

 try. I urge you to reach a middle ground that protects the interests 

 of all the users of the Tongass, such as the position expressed by 

 the Southeast Conference. 



My particular concern is that fish and wildlife habitat are pro- 

 tected as best possible. Major untouched habitat areas, as identified 

 in the Southeast Conference proposal, such as the Yakutat Fore- 

 lands, Lisianski Valley, Upper Hoonah Sound, Kadashan and 

 Berners Bay, should be set aside for complete protection. 



Our extremely poor fish returns of the last couple of years and 

 the wildly fluctuating returns during the last 30 years can be 

 blamed on a multitude of factors including high seas interception, 

 over-fishing, poor climactic conditions and adverse oceanographic 

 conditions, to name some. Logging cannot be blamed for all of our 

 problems, but it is increasingly clear that there have been some im- 



