Congressman BONNER, SOUTHEASTERN FISHERIES ASSOCIATION, INC., U.S. House of Representatives, DEAR CONGRESSMAN BONNER: Southeastern Fisheries Association would like for you to know that we support Senate bill 627 (Commercial Research Act). We will appreciate you making every effort to pass this legislation. We understand there will be a hearing pertaining to this bill on March 4 before a subcommittee. Please make our position on this matter known to the members of the committee. Thank you for your continued cooperation. Chairman, House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, DEAR CONGRESSMAN BONNER: I understand that your Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries is precently considering S. 627. This legislation is urgently needed. We own and operate salmon canneries in Oregon, Washington, and Alaska and tuna canneries in Oregon, Hawaii, and Maryland. We are vitally concerned with the fishery resources of all these States, and we see a number of resource problems which require action at the State level. The funds which S. 627 would make available to the various States would be most helpful in improving our knowledge of our fishery resources. This, in turn, will almost surely result in improved resource management and enhancement of our fisheries. If the United States is to maintain even its present position among the fishing nations of the world, and if we are to effectively utilize our fishery resources to help provide for the future protein requirements of our growing population, we need to start now to obtain the answers to our many resource problems. We feel that S. 627 would be most helpful in this respect, and we urge your favorable consideration of this bill. Your very truly, JOHN S. McGowan, President. UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, HERBERT C. BONNER, Chairman, House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, DEAR CONGRESSMAN BONNER: Please accept this letter as an expression of my hope that your committee will act to support S. 627. I am one of New Hampshire's representatives on the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. As such, I am very much interested in the well-being of our commercial fisheries. I feel that this is a segment of our economy that is having trouble trying to catch up with the fishing competition stimulated by governments of other countries whose fleets fish off our coast. If our fishing fleets once could become truly competitive again, I feel that they would be able to hold their own for a long time. S. 627 appears to be a solution to the problems involved. I do not think Federal aid is a panacea, but in this case I feel it would be justified. I urge you therefore to support this bill to aid our commercial fisheries. Sincerely yours, PHILIP J. SAWYER, Chairman HERBERT C. BONNER, GLOUCESTER, MASS., February 14, 1964. House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, DEAR SIR: This letter is to record myself in favor of S. 627. As an individual who once engaged in commercial fishing and who still has a great interest in the commercial fisheries, I feel enactment of S. 627 is vital to the industry. Research and development is the key to the survival of the domestic fishing industry. Unfortunately, the small units that make up our industry cannot afford the sizable expenditures necessary for this research. Therefore, just as with other important fisheries nations, the industry must look to the Federal Government for aid in this area. This is the logical reasoning that resulted in the Saltonstall-Kennedy Act. However, Saltonstall-Kennedy funds today appear to be diverted from their original intended use. Further, the fisheries problems and needs vary from State to State. Therefore, it appears Federal research funds, augmented by State funds, used by the individual States to solve their own problems, would be the ideal way to implement much needed fisheries research work. S. 627 is the vehicle needed to accomplish this. I, therefore, urge favorable committee action on this bill. S. J. FAVAZZA. STATEMENT OF HON. WILLIAM PROXMIRE, A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF WISCONSIN Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I am presenting this statement in order to indicate my strong support for the bill S. 627 which is before your committee. I believe this legislation is vital to the entire fishing industry and especially to that portion of the industry which has been so tragically affected by the recent so-called botulism scare. Fish is, after all, a product which has been consumed with safety and satisfaction for hundreds of years. In view of the fact that a Federal agency has-rightly or wrongly-seriously disrupted the normal markets for fish products, I believe that some responsibility is imposed upon the Federal Government to assist this industry in reestablishing itelf. One feature of S. 627 authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to assist the several States in projects for research and development of the commercial fisheries resources in the Nation. These commercial fisheries resources have always been, and are today, essential to our continued high standard of living in exactly the same way that agricultural products serve this country. Since these resources are significant to our entire Nation, it seems altogether fitting that the Federal Government should assist the States in research and development of these resources. The bill also indicates that the Secretary of the Interior shall give preferences to those States where either a natural disaster has adversely affected the fishing industry, or where a new commercial fishery can be developed. This is a reasonable procedure if the Nation is to maximize the benefits to be obtained from the fishing industry. The apportionment of funds provided by the bill is based upon the value of fish production in the various States. Here, again, the procedure seems generally appropriate since the limited funds to be used by the Federal Government can best be concentrated where the States have been most actively engaged in fishing activities. This is also a measure of the resources available for work under the bill. Unfortunately, however, there is an ironic twist in the bill on this point. The Great Lakes have traditionally been one of the major fish-producing areas of our Nation, but in the 1940's the sea lamprey entered Lakes Huron, Michigan, and Superior, with the eventual destruction of virtually all lake trout, previously one of the most profitable catches in the lakes. Thus, the very States that should normally have been the beneficiaries of a major portion of assistance under the bill-and which also have the greatest needs-will tend to receive only a small portion of the total funds. This relative maldistribution is corrected, in part, by section 4(b) of the bill in its present form, but your committee might wish to consider a further revision of section 4(a). In addition, the Great Lakes fishing industry has now been hit by the FDA warning against botulism in smoked Great Lakes fish. This blow has hurt sales of all Great Lakes fish, even though only smoked fish is affected. The effect on the Great Lakes industry has been nothing short of disastrous. The industry is essentially composed of small businesses which cannot withstand an almost complete dropoff of income. The effects are unemployment and bankruptcy, with fishermen being unable to sell their inventories, their nets, or even their boats. I have been advised that, with minor modifications, S. 627 could provide the Great Lakes fishing industry with some immediate and direct aid. This aid would be in the form of temporary compensation to fishermen and small fish producers. The Great Lakes fish industry has incurred losses due to the Federal Government's botching of the botulism crisis last fall, and the Federal Government should bear some responsibility for these losses. The modifications would permit the Secretary of the Interior to move fish out of storage at previously established market prices and to assure some future market for fish at reasonable prices. I believe this assistance is essential if the industry is to survive and to contribute to our Nation's well-being in the future. I hope the committee will give early and serious consideration to this bill and the modifications I have discussed here. (Whereupon, at 10:50 a.m., the subcommittee adjourned.) MISCELLANEOUS FISHERIES LEGISLATION ALASKA FISHERY PROBLEMS THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 1964 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON FISHERIES AND WILDLIFE CONSERVATION Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met at 10:15 a.m., pursuant to notice, in room 219, Cannon House Office Building, Hon. T. A. Thompson (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Mr. THOMPSON. The subcommittee will come to order. This morning the Subcommittee on Fisheries and Wildlife Conservation is holding open hearings on a subject of major interest to this committee and to the entire Congress. We want to find out what the effects of the recent earthquakes and so-called tidal waves had on the Alaskan fisheries. Rather than consider any particular legislation that may be pending before the committee at this time, the Chair is of the opinion that we should receive firsthand information from those who are in a position to know and those who have had a chance to observe and know what the results of this crippling tragedy has had on the commerce, especially fisheries, of Alaska. During the course of these hearings we hope to get valuable suggestions and advice which will be of great benefit to the committee when this matter is considered. We are very happy to have with us the Governor of Alaska, our good friend Congressman Rivers, and I understand that Senator Gruening will be here shortly or submit a statement. I will want to hear anyone who has constructive ideas as to how we can best help our fellow Americans in this area who were so badly crippled. In order to expedite the hearings, I think, Congressman Rivers, if you would first, representing the State of Alaska, give us your views in order that they may be made a matter of record here. I would then, of course, like to hear from the Governor; Mr. McKernan, from the Department of the Interior; and the Under Secretary of the Department of the Interior, Mr. Carr. We will hear them in that sequence. Congressman, please proceed with your statement. Mr. BONNER. Mr. Chairman, before this witness begins to testify, I have had several calls as chairman of the full committee about the necessity of expediting S. 627 in order to bring about some immediate relief for the people in Alaska, particularly the fishermen. Mr. THOMPSON. Mr. Chairman, I would like to acknowledge that Senator Gruening has just arrived and we are very happy to have you with us, Senator. Mr. BONNER. Sit down right here, Senator, if you will. There will be a proposal to amend S. 627 so as to make it possible for the fishing fleet in Alaska to operate for this season's catch. I have a letter from Senator Anderson, who is Chairman of the Federal Reconstruction and Development Planning Commission for Alaska, urging this action; so, therefore, I requested Mr. Tollefson and myself to be at this meeting this morning and with the permission of the chairman of the subcommittee we would ask that you change the schedule just a bit so we can expedite this matter. I do not mean that I propose to ask witnesses to curtail their statements, but we only have a certain length of time and I would like to get the witnesses for the Interior Department to testify and the Governor of Alaska with respect to the change in this bill that has been recommended. Mr. THOMPSON. Well, Mr. Chairman, I am delighed that both you and Mr. Tollefson were able to join us in this subcommittee hearing. I think that your remarks are well taken. We are trying to expedite every action that will accommodate Congressmen, Senators, Governors, and all of our friends in Alaska, fisherman especially. Mr. PELLY. Mr. Chairman, I think this idea has a great deal of merit. As I recall, our subcommittee has already had a hearing on S. 627, and I believe that by a simple amendment to that bill to cover a disaster of this kind that we could expedite this whole matter greatly and also S. 627 has passed the Senate, and therefore, it might be possible to get this legislation through in time to alleviate the situation because the fishing season starts May 1. Either the Congress acts now or we will not be able to take advantage of these runs. Mr. THOMPSON. That is planned, Mr. Pelly. Mr. BONNER. I would like the record to show that this is along the line with Mr. Pelly's and Mr. Tollefson's bill for expediting the catch of this season. Mr. PELLY. I think if the provisions that were in our bill were attached to this other bill it would be able to move more smoothly. Mr. THOMPSON. Congressman, if you would present your statement and direct it toward this bill, S. 627, I am sure the Governor is familiar with the things Congressman Pelly and Chairman Bonner have indicated. STATEMENT OF HON. RALPH J. RIVERS, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF ALASKA Mr. RIVERS. I would like to say Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I am appearing here today upon notice from the committee and appreciate this timely hearing to determine the effects of the recent earthquake upon Alaska's fisheries. I have prepared a three and a half page statement referring to the problem in Alaska, and in general the scope of the damage. The notice I received from the committee was to the effect that the com |