April 12, 1963
THE FISHERMAN
Page 5
STATEMENT OF POLICY
Hands Off Pacific Halibut, Says US Deep Sea Union
The following statement opposing N o r p a c Commission giveaways of herring and halibut to Japan was read before the US Senate House marine and fisheries comittee hearings in Seattle last month by Clarence Nordahl, secretary treasurer of the Deep Sea Fishermen's Union of Seattle.
TALK OF LOBBY
US Signing May Unite Fishermen
By ratifying North Pacific fisheries treaty amendments opening the eastern Bering Sea to Japanese halibut vessels, President Kennedy may have helped to bring into being a fishermen's lobby to harass his administration.
In Seattle last month, Vancouver WA delegate Julia Rigby reports, the Association of Wives of Commercial Fishermen took the initiative in proposing formation of what it hopes will become a national organisation of fishermen.
Major aims of the proposed organisation will be appointment of a federal secretary of fisheries and passage of legislation to protect US fisheries and markets.
At a meeting in Ballard, Washington, sponsored by the Association, representatives of several segments of the industry endorsed the proposal made by Mrs. Myrth Sar-vela, Association president, who said:
"It is necessary for us to unite if we are to protect our way of life. Unless the people know and understand our problems, we are never going to get adequate support for fisheries from Washington."
Mrs. Sarvela's proposal was supported by Mrs. G. Molvik, president of the Halibut Fishermen's Wives' Asociation, and Mrs. Kath-erine Mosness, president of Puget Sound Gillnetters' Association Auxiliary. ,
Among those who addressed the meeting in support of the planned organisation were Kristian Kyvik, president, and Fred Bullock, manager of the Fishermen's Cooperative Association; and Harold Cha-ney, president, and Walter Johnson, manager of the Halibut Producers' Association.
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THE Deep Sea Fishermen's Union is opposed to the action of the International North Pacific Fisheries Commission in opening the door to the Japanese to fish halibut in the eastern Bering Sea and herring off the west coast of the Queen Charlotte Islands.
Once the door is.open in these areas, will the Japanese be satisfied? We think not. They will want to move eastward and southward until they have exploited the entire area.
In our view this action by the Committee was not only unwarranted but was a shocking insult to the work of the International Pacific Halibut Commission and to those within the industry who have devoted the major part of their lives to the preservation of this fishery.
At the very least, the US Commission members could and should have had adequate consultation with the producers of the industry (fishermen and vessel owners), and with the appropriate members of Congress from the Pacific Northwest before this action was taken. This is in no way a reflection on Harold Lokken and George Johan-sen, who have represented us most ably as advisers.
The statement by the chairman of the American section, Clarence F. Pautzke, that 90 percent of the halibut grounds will still be protected is like saying that instead of chopping off our heads, they will take only an arm.
We are curious about his disclosure that all but two or three of the advisory committee members were in agreement with this action. We wonder — was a vote taken? If so, how did the advisory committee vote? Was adequate consideration given to the opinions of the one adviser who represented the US halibut fleet?
As the lone representative of the halibut industry, his vote should have been equal to at least one half of the entire advisory committee.
Did anyone give any thought to working out some sort of a conservation program beforehand? Surely such important representatives of our government as these commissioners, who have the power to make decisions vitally affecting the lives of so many of our people, must be answerable to somebody. And who has a greater right to know than the citizens involved?
THE  FISHERMEN OF BOTH
the United States and Canada feel that over the past 38 years they have undergone great sacrifice to rehabilitate and maintain the halibut fishery. We believe that under the conservation and management program of the International Pacific Halibut Commission we have been putting halibut "in the bank", so to speak, and that the fishermen of the US and Canada have a preferred and special right to draw out the interest.
If the Canadian and American fishermen had not been conserving halibut these many years, in all likelihood there would n,ot be a commercial halibut fishery in the North Pacific today.
The Halibut Commission has demonstrated to our satisfaction that there is reasonable proof that the halibut fishery is being fished to the maximum sustained yield. Their tagging experiments show that eastern Bering Sea halibut move into the Gulf of Alaska, southeastern Alaska and even British Columbia and Washington coastal waters, and are available to US and Canadian vessels in those areas. Further exploitation of eastern Bering Sea halibut by the Japanese can only lead to a decline in US and Canadian catches.
If the Japanese are allowed to fish halibut with any type of gear, such as otter trawls, it will start a chain reaction with the immediate result that US and Canadian trawlers would demand and receive the same right.
This would lead to an unregulated fishery and the North Pacific halibut industry would soon go the way of the North Atlantic halibut fishery, which was completely wiped out after years of unrestricted fishing.
IN ADDITION TO THE HALI-
but Commission's conservation and management program, the halibut fishermen's unions and vessel owner associations of British Colunbia, Alaska, and Seattle have introduced their own programs which have added greatly to the entire conservation effort over the years. Beginning in the 1930s we had what we called a curtailment program which continued up to World War Two.
Then in 1956, a program for laying up between trips was instituted which provided for more orderly landings, dispersed the fleets so that there would be less concentration on the fishing grounds and allowed the crew members to rest from their strenuous labor and spend a little time with their families during the summer months.
The Halibut Commission has taken our program into account when drawing up regulations for the halibut seasons and has eliminated the second seasons in Area 2 and 3A because the layup program has extended the regular season later into the summer and fall, which the second seasons were designed to do. We will lay ud eight days between trips in 1963. If we are fishing side by side with the Japanese who are not bound by our rules, do you expect that we will be able to keep our layup program going?
We are not only concerned with the amount of halibut that the Japanese will catch in the eastern Bering Sea but also where this fish will be sold. In other words, we are not only faced with competition in the fishing effort itself which will reduce the amount of halibut avail-
able to us, but also in the halibut market because it is very likely that the Japanese catch will be sold in competition with the US and Canadian catch.
The 1962 halibut prices and catch were the highest on record. In spite of this we know of no new boats being built to enter the halibut fishery. Our US halibut fleet has been declining steadily over the years as the Halibut Commission's records show:
1952 — 429 boats, 2,123 men (Seattle fleet—190 boats, 1,181 nien i;
'1962 — 351 boats, 1,516 men (Seattle fleet—114 boats, 677 men).
*      * ★
THE   US   PERCENTAGE OF
the total halibut catch in 1952 was 61 percent. In 1962, it was 53 percent. This demonstrates that the US fleet has more than enough competition from the Canadian fleet and the entry of Japan into this fishery will deplete the US fleet (especially Seattle) still further. This, in turn, means that jobs will not be available for our present membership and new men will find it extremely difficult to enter the halibut fishery.
No newly built boats have been added to the Seattle halibut fleet in the last 10 years. A sample survey of 50 representative boats of the Seattle fleet shows the average vessel age to be about 35 years.
In most instances, the vessel owner of tomorrow will come from the ranks of today's fishermen and with the uncertainty of the future of the halibut fishery, we cannot conceive of any fisherman willing to risk going into debt to buy or build a boat at the present time.  This could mean
CLARENCE NORDAHL
. . . fraternal delegate from Deep Sea Fishermen's Union of Seattle to nineteenth annual UFAWU convention in Vancouver last month. His Union which represents Washington state halibut crewmen, was organised on November 1, 1912. It faces biggest crisis of its 50 year life.
Sfevesfon WA Hears Reports
By KAY COULSON
The Steveson Women's Auxiliary meeting of April 2. chaired by Carol Sopel, was both interesting and well attended.
We have been asked to canvass for the Richmond campaign to help retarded children, a worthy cause to which our Auxiliary intends to make a financial contribution as well.
Bette Muren and Liz Foster gave Wfel) prepared reports on the thirteenth annual WA convention.
Secretary Edna McKay will now take action on the resolutions submitted by our Auxiliary and send them to the appropriate government agencies.
Our delegate to the Victoria lobby, Pat Piatocka, gave a very interesting report on her trip.
Plans to hold a whist drive to raise funds for the children's Christmas party were discussed.
Lunch was served by Karen Gut-jahr and Bette Muren and the door prize was won by Liz Foster.
Next meeting will be held on May 7.
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that the halibut fishery, as we know it, could very well be out of existence before long.
According to the Market News Report of the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries dated February 6, 1963, the Japanese Bering Sea catch of halibut in 1962 was 22 million pounds. With their total production of bottomfish (including shrimp) amounting to over one billion pounds, the Japanese have little to complain about and should not be allowed to enter the well managed and conserved halibut fishery.
ANY  IDEA OF COMPETING
with either the Japanese or Rus-sions in halibut is not the answer to our problem. The huge Japanese and Russian mothership flotilla could outfish the US and Canadian fleets combined.
Already, these mothership operations have caused considerable gear conflict in the areas where they have fished near our fleet. Last season, several of our
boats lost gear because of foreign trawlers and we can expect these incidents to increase with the entry of Japan into the halibut fishing grounds.
We are not asking for nor do we want a US mothership fleet since we are convinced that this would start a pointless race which would result in completely wiping out the halibut stocks from the Bering Sea and the North Pacific.
We are concerned with the boats we have in the industry today and the fishermen who man them who are being faced with the realisation that they have worked and sacrificed for over 30 years for nothing.
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