SUMMARY OF INCREASES AND DECREASES, 1964

Salaries and expenses: To provide for increased pay costs for fiscal year 1963 positions (net increase, 1964) -

Budget estimate, 1964_.

11,000

386,000

The estimate for 1964 is $386,000, an increase of $11,000 over 1963. This increase is for pay costs.

Plan of work.-The Office of the Commissioner will continue to provide general supervision of the programs of the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife and the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries to insure the carrying out of the objectives of the Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956. The estimate will provide funds for the following organization units, and to cover cost of general administrative services rendered by the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries on a reimbursable basis.

PREPARED STATEMENT

Senator BYRD. The committee will be glad to receive your statement, Mr. Pautzke, either by highlighting your activities and plans, or by reading your written statement into the record.

Mr. PAUTZKE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

With your permission, I would just as soon have my written statement, which you have, placed in the record. And furthermore, with your permission, I would like to have the privilege of making a few oral remarks relative to the Commissioner's Office.

Senator BYRD. Very well.

(The statement referred to follows:)

GENERAL STATEMENT OF THE COMMISSIONER

Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, the estimate for "Salaries and expenses, Office of the Commissioner," for the fiscal year 1964 is $386,000, an increase of $11,000 over 1963.

The Office of the Commissioner continues to provide general supervision of the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife and the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries to insure the carrying out of the objectives of the Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956. Organizationally, in addition to the Commissioner's immediate Office, there is an Office of International Relations, an Office of Information, and an Office of Program Review.

The Office of the Commissioner is actively involved in the formulation and implementation of policy with regard to international fishery and wildlife relations. International cooperation in the conservation of marine fishery resources, international competition for these resources, the rights of American fishermen on the high seas, and the competition in domestic and foreign markets offered by foreign fishery products are matters which affect virtually all of our important fisheries. The increased importance of fish and wildlife and their involvement in the world economic and strategic tensions has resulted in an ever-growing volume of work.

The astounding growth of foreign fisheries and their exploitation of waters traditionally fished by American fishermen raise new conservation problems as well as pose difficult economic problems for American fishermen. Expanding Soviet fisheries in the Northwest Atlantic, and expanding Soviet and Japanese fisheries in the North Pacific are causes for concern on both counts. The problems associated with territorial waters and special rights of nations, their involvement in economic affairs on a worldwide level, and the effects of these upon our resources have created a situation where increased research, the drafting of position papers and agreements for international conferences and meetings, and implementing legislation has increased more rapidly than was anticipated. The Commissioner is a member of the International North Pacific Fisheries Commission, the tripartite (United States-Canada-Japan) organization responsible for the conservation of fishery resources in this area, and is intimately involved in the activities of this Government related to problems in the area. The Commissioner's office also advises the Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife, who is a member of the International Commission for the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries, on resource problems in the Northwest Atlantic. The Commissioner is also a member of the International Pacific Salmon Fisheries Commission, the United States-Canadian organization responsible for the management of the sockeye and pink salmon of the Fraser River system.

During the past year, the need for regulation of the tuna fisheries of the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean has presented new management problems, and the Commissioner has continued to be concerned with threats to American fisheries posed by claims by a number of foreign governments to exclusive jurisdiction over waters off their coasts long fished by American fishermen, and the accompanying threat of continuous harassment of our fishermen on the high seas by foreign nationals.

The growing need for a continentwide approach to the conservation of migratory waterfowl raises problems of bringing about more effective cooperation between the United States, Mexico, and Canada. The Commissioner's office has

provided advice to the Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife on the conduct of informal discussions with representatives of Mexico and Canada aimed at exploring the possibilities of closer coordination of the activities of the three governments in this field.

The Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission report has pointed up the need and demand for recreational resources and the importance of land and water to this program, and that 90 percent of all Americans participated in this activity in 1960. The 1960 survey of hunting and fishing was specifically directed to the use and importance of those resources.

The problems of the States and those on Federal lands have specifically pointed up the need for public education. The increasing intensity of use, the limitations of land and water areas, the need to change philosophy in the management of waterfowl, other recreations competing with fishing on the same area, the litterbug and despoiler problem, the rising importance of private land for the production of game, the necessity for providing runoff for streams and lakes, the changes in habitat creating problems of dwindling species, private development of land that was formerly thought suitable only for fish and wildlife, the changes in agricultural practices which encourage depredations-all these are factors creating problems in managing lands and the public.

Preservation of these resources can only be accomplished with the cooperation of an enlightened public. The sheer pressure of numbers of people is a problem in itself. Sympathy and concern for the resources and the land, and a knowledge of why regulations are imposed or restrictions promulgated are the only means of carrying out our responsibilities adequately.

Public support and action, with respect to the basic Fish and Wildlife Service program of conservation of important food and recreational resources, are available only to the degree that the public understands the program and what each individual must do to make it succeed. Within the lifetime of persons now being born, the population of this country will pass the 300 million mark, offering a constantly growing challenge to our basic resources. Thus, information and education are vital to our basic task of assuring adequate resources for the future.

Our present activities in this area are limited, but this does not diminish the importance of what is being done. With a small staff, we are making every possible effort to bring information on Federal fish and wildlife programs to as many persons as possible. We are also striving to contribute to the education of our young people in conservation, working in cooperation with personnel of other Federal departments and of State and private agencies and through the various youth groups.

The coordination and review of Service programs is also a responsibility of the Commissioner's office. Bureau programs are reviewed primarly from the standpoint of policy direction and management improvement. A specific example is the servicewide safety, health, and fire prevention program directed at the reduction of personnel injuries, property damage loss through accidents, tort claims, and inefficiencies arising from unsafe conditions and unsafe acts.

GENERAL STATEMENT

Senator BYRD. You will please proceed.

Mr. PAUTZKE. As you will note in the statement, the Commissioner's office continues to provide general supervision to the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife and the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries.

My office is actively involved in the formulation and implementation of policies concerning especially our international fishery relations and fishing activities and also our wildlife relations with other countries.

It seems, gentlemen, that each day brings in a new and additional complex problem concerning the competition of foreign fishermen with our own fishermen, and these problems entail a tremendous amount of activity in trying to arrive at solutions.

CONSERVATION PROGRAMS

Not only are we concerned, especially so, with those species that are under active exploitation by our fishermen and foreign fishermen, but we are also concerned that there may be a day in the very near future when we will need some other species that are not being exploited by our own fishermen. Thereby, we are pushing very strenuously for conservation programs with relation to those fish.

Now, I know that you will receive a great deal more information when Bureau of Commercial Fisheries Director McKernan speaks in detail on these subjects, so I will not dwell on them here.

DEMANDS UPON RECREATIONAL RESOURCES

Getting to our great hinterland, there have been a number of very detailed reports concerning the tremendous demand being placed upon our recreational resources by the general public, and we see no lessening of this demand.

Hunting and fishing, in the general public concept of recreation, play a very important part here. Later, I think tomorrow, you will have Mr. Janzen, Director of the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife discuss with you what that Bureau is trying to do to meet this tremendous demand on the resources of hunting and fishing.

REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION

In conclusion, the Commissioner's office, I feel, plays a very important part in trying through its publications and information, to quench this tremendous thirst that the American children and adults have for information relative to what we are doing in the conservation of our natural resources that are concerned with our fish and our wildlife. And this, we feel, is a means of keeping these people and the children of our country abreast of our programs and what the status is of these different resources.

With these few introductory words, gentlemen, I appreciate having the opportunity to appear before you.

EXPANSION OF SOVIET FISHERIES

Senator BYRD. You speak of the expanding Soviet fisheries in the Northwest Atlantic and also the expanding Soviet and Japanese fisheries in the North Pacific. Would you like to elaborate on this a bit for us?

Mr. PAUTZKE. Yes, I would, Mr. Chairman. The Soviets are operating both on the Pacific coast and on the Atlantic, because their agricultural pursuits have not had success in producing the quantities of protein foods that the country and people need and they have gone to the sea to obtain these. And they appear not to be in quest of any certain species. They are just after all fish. We call these bulk fish. Speaking of the U.S.S.R., they freeze these fish, and those species that they find their people will utilize for food are kept separate, and the others go into their meal making, which is for the feed for their stock.

And because their fishing fleets, as you will undoubtedly hear from Mr. McKernan, are subsidized, it does not seem to matter whether they make a profit or not, as long as they continuously are able to put

their vessels out to sea. And these are new vessels and very efficient, operating both on the Pacific coast and on the Atlantic.

But their fishing effort is primarily for all species, rather than to selectively fish for a certain species as our fishermen do. This makes them highly competitive, to our fishermen who go out and take one species, and toss the others overboard.

JAPANESE FLEETS SUBSIDIZED

Senator BYRD. Are the Japanese fishing fleets subsidized?

Mr. PAUTZKE. Yes, they are in many instances. I am on two international fisheries commissions, one of them being the International North Pacific Fisheries Commission which has Canada and Japan and the United States as the three contracting parties.

It is difficult to tell where industry and Government are separated, with the Japanese. Among their members of the commission, one man will be in the Government this year, and the next year he will be with industry, and it seems that they rotate back and forth. And their fleets are in many instances heavily subsidized.

Senator BYRD. Senator Young?

Senator YOUNG. Have we made any progress in dealing with the Russians with respect to their fishing off our shores in the Atlantic and the Pacific?

Mr. PAUTZKE. We have the International Commission for the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries, which is made up, I believe, sir, of 13 nations, and they have entered into programs of research aimed at maintaining certain stocks of fish caught off the Atlantic coast. And they are also a party to the North Pacific Fur Seal Commission covering the United States, Japan, Canada, and Russia in maintaining the fur seal resource in that area.

The general policies as set up in the Northwest Atlantic Treaty behoove each country to do its own patrolling upon its own nationals in seeing that they conform to conservation regulations. They have cooperated on the face of the agreements with the other nations.

We have no such similar agreement with them in the North Pacific. The North Pacific has always been considered an American and a Canadian special area, and it was because we could show that stocks of fish, such as the salmon and the halibut and the herring, were being fully utilized, that a treaty in 1952 was drawn up with the Japanese, by virtue of which they must stay out of this area.

CRITERIA IN JAPANESE FISHING

There were very severe criteria set up to make the Japanese stay out of this area.

After 5 years, which would be 1958, as it went in force in 1953, the Commission was to determine whether or not the species which I have mentioned still met those criteria. We were unable to substantiate that the herring qualified, because we were not utilizing them to the maximum. So this was the first one that was taken off the abstention list.

And then in the area north of the Aleutian Chain, starting in 1961, in Tokyo, we were challenged as to whether the Bering Sea halibut qualified. And this was an area that just recently our fishermen have