Testimony said the fish were destined for the Three Star Smoked Fish plant in Los Angeles. There were 651 fish in their possession. This arrest led to a complaint filed on April 30, 1979, by Deputy District Attorney Robert Sills, charging Three Star Smoked Fish Co. with buying salmon taken from the Klamath River District unlawfully and failure to pay fish privilege taxes dating from January 1, 1976 to September 30, 1978. Back taxes covered some 2.2 million pounds of salmon.

In 1977, during a 22-day period, 249,000 pounds of Klamath River salmon were sold to 4 Oregon fish buyers; 40 sellers were involved with the majority of funds going to just 18.

In 1976, the State charged a major fish company and eight gillnetters with the suspected sale of more than 19 tons of Klamath River fish.

In 1978, it is believed that the majority of 8,503 netted fish were sold, with approximately 3,462 being sold in Oregon according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and Oregon fish buyer receipts and according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reports.

The Oregon market price for salmon in 1977 was an average of $2.35 per pound. If you take time to do a little arithmetic, you will see that gillnetting on the Klamath River, legally or illegally done, is a multimillion-dollar business.

The people who fish commercially on the Klamath lean very heavily on the word "traditional." However, they do not practice the traditional ways in regards to conservation and sharing.

Of the millions of pounds of fish taken from the Klamath, that have been sold and the huge amount of money involved, none has gone into a tribal fund. The individuals who have fished the Klamath commercially for the past few years are nothing but opportunists who have nothing but personal gain in mind.

In a November 5, 1977, press release, the California Department of Fish and Game stated:

A radical drop in the number of king salmon that reached Iron Gate Hatchery on the Klamath River this fall may be linked to sizable sales of salmon to southern Oregon fish wholesalers.

Fish and Game said that 4,850 king salmon migrated the 190 miles from the Pacific Ocean up the Klamath to Iron Gate Hatchery in northeastern Siskiyou County this year, far fewer than the 13,738 that were counted then at the hatchery in 1976.

Fish and Game said that 70 percent of the adult-sized salmon reaching the hatchery bore gillnet marks from fighting their way through downstream gillnets. Only 40 percent of the fish had net marks last year and only an occasional fish was found to have the marks prior to 1976.

We must challenge BIA's statement in the Federal regulations of the Indian's traditional right to commercial and ceremonial fishing.

In the case of The People of the State of California v. Eberhardts, case No. 76-051, heard in the Superior Court of Del Norte County, it was stated and I quote:

By stipulation it is agreed that there is not and there has never been a treaty between the Yurok Indian Tribe and the United States with respect to the purchase and sale of fish taken by Yuroks in the Klamath River District on reservation land.

Subsistence fishing has been defined as "table use." Now it must be limited. How many eligible Indians reside on the reservation land and how many fish do they need for subsistence?

As mentioned, fish were sold after the moratorium on commercial fishing was imposed and we have reason to believe that they are still being sold at this time. The Honorable Cecil Andrus, Secretary of the Interior, has indicated that he continues to support a moratorium on commercial fishing and that the Klamath River is too small to support or sustain commercial fishing. He also stated on ABC's television program, "The American Sportsman," that the BIA had made a mistake in allowing commercial fishing. The tribal council in Hoopa has an ordinance which prohibits commercial fishing on the Klamath. And the majority of the Yurok Indians also are against commercial fishing on the Klamath.

Loss of business in the Klamath area has been great due to the State-imposed moratorium on sports fishing and the actions of certain Federal agencies. These actions have resulted in adverse publicity, harassment of local people and tourists, violence and a very real fear of loss of life.

Federal and State actions have resulted in what amounts to inverse condemnation of property as well. The Federal Government has recognized the plight of the business people in Klamath in the form of declaring Klamath a disaster area.

I quote:

Klamath, Calif., declared a disaster area on April 3, 1979, because of economic injury due to conflict in State and Federal fishing regulations and publicizing of violence, shooting and assaults. Eligible persons, firms and organizations may file applications for loans for economic injury until the close of business on January 4, 1980. The provision of section 7(13)9 of Public Law 95-89 will apply. The six-digit reporting number for economic injury is 529000. Signed, J. B. Alexander, director, Disaster Operations Staff.

Because of the lengthy amount of material we are submitting on law enforcement and the question of jurisdiction and because we do not want to overrun our time allotment, we have taken the liberty of including written commentary and a diary which has been kept on the Klamath River situation.

However, we would like to make the comment that Federal regulations regarding Indian fishing on the Klamath are now and always have been unenforceable and cannot possibly deter the sale of gillnetted salmon from the Klamath River District.

In 1892 Congress declared the lower 20 miles, one mile on each side of the Klamath River, open to entry, purchase and settlement. However, they failed to officially terminate same, this being the position held by the Supreme Court in the Arnett v. Five Gill Nets case. This case was decided in 1975.

Up until that time, no one was aware of the reservation status of this land in respect to hunting and fishing rights. And, most certainly, property owners were not aware of the ramifications of this decision until gillnetting was intensified at the mouth of the Klamath in 1977 and enforcement of the first set of BIA regulations failed miserably.

We are most certainly concerned with our rights as non-Indian and would like to have them clarified. We are equally concerned with the dwindling fish population in the Klamath River District,

which we believe is directly caused by the massive take of salmon, steelhead and sturgeon by gillnetters during the past few years. We have documented as much information as possible concerning the sale of gillnetted fish, though it is difficult to offer proven facts because so many have been sold on the black market with no records being kept.

In conclusion, the present status of the 20-mile strip in respect to Indian and non-Indian rights is garbled. The matter of jurisdiction in regards to county, State and Federal laws is a nightmare.

We offer two solutions:

No. 1, terminate the Klamath River Reservation, as was proposed so many years ago and negotiate a settlement with eligible Indians for their hunting and fishing rights, or;

No. 2, buy out property owners of the lower 20-mile strip and return the land to true reservation status.

Obviously, of course, there has been a great deal that has occurred on the Klamath and I would like to mention two of them to you.

On April 12, 1978 there were headlines in the San Francisco Chronicle about a salmon showdown. Indians versus fishermen. Speeding boats, lines were cut and there was general harassment. It was about 100 Indians who circled the sportsmen who were fishing the mouth of the Klamath and most were past retirement age and had their spouses with them.

The sickest thing about the whole incident was that Federal Officers, the U.S. Coast Guard, and local officials were on hand watching and nobody had any jurisdiction.

Mr. Nerney from the attorney general's office in San Francisco issued a statement that said that no arrests or citations or no warrants would be issued on Native Americans.

Another incident that happened to us was also in August and this was after the moratorium was placed in effect.

About 1 o'clock one of our fellows sighted a refrigerated truck that was with its unit running at the home of a known commercial gillnetter. That call went out at 1 o'clock in the afternoon and at 1:30 we had a call back from Fish and Game.

At 4 o'clock we still had no further response and then we called Mr. Al Winerich who is with the Fish and Wildlife Service and by 6:30 again we had no response.

One of our people contacted Duncan Snell, who is with the California Fish and Game at their Eureka office and his reply was that this was not in his jurisdiction.

At 9:45 I finally contacted Tom Hopper, our sheriff, who in turn finally contacted somebody else and we had a callback that the Feds had moved on it. As one of our people took the Feds to the location of the truck it was on the move.

And I might add that there are two ways into Klamath: one in and one out and 9 hours later they were on the move and that truck was lost.

So, you tell me where it is.

Also, before I close I would like to say that on April 1, 1979, which was the date that this year's regs was supposed to go into effect, the three Indian agents were advised by Fish and Wildlife

that there were to be no arrests and no citations for 10 days and that they were only there to warn our people.

And I might add that on that date there were 18 nets in the river and 11 were illegal. Citizens of the area made numerous phone calls stating that there were violations and that they were not going to go through another season like last season, with the rules not being enforced and the next day the agents were on the river, able to do their job.

Our suggestions are to terminate the lower Klamath River reservation, as proposed many years ago. Negotiate a settlement with the eligible Indians for their fishing and hunting rights. Obviously, until the Jessie Short case is settled, that money would have be to placed in trust for the eligible Indians.

And the other solution is to buy out the property owners on the lower 20-mile strip and return the land to true reservation status. I have heard for the last 4 years that the BIA holds a trust responsibility for the Indians. Well, I feel that U.S. Congressmen hold a trust responsibility to me and to the other people who live and fish on the Klamath River.

Thank you.

Mr. BREAUX. Thank you, Ms. Bostwick, for your testimony.
I think you are next, Ms. Judy Hokman.

STATEMENT OF JUDY HOKMAN, PACIFIC COAST FEDERATION
OF FISHERMEN'S ASSOCIATIONS

Ms. HOKMAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, Mr. McCloskey.

I am here to read the statement of Zeke Grader, who is the general manager, counsel for the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, since he cannot be here today.

I wish to thank you for the opportunity to testify before the subcommittee here today. The Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations represents 15 California commercial fishermen's associations, from Crescent City in the north to San Diego in the south. Through our member associations, we represent all of the organized commercial salmon fishermen in the State of California. Since 1957, the only type of commercial fishery for salmon allowed in California under State law is the ocean troll fishery. Trolling is a hook-and-line fishery. Traditionally, the troll salmon. fishery in California begins the 15th of April and closes the 30th of September for Chinook salmon. The coho fishery begins 1 month after that.

The troll fishery occurs on mixed stocks of salmon of varying sizes and thus it will seldom have an adverse effect on either a particular run of salmon or a particular year class, as can other types of commercial salmon fishing. The troll fishery almost always takes fish in a live condition. If fish are undersized, they can be released back into the wild in a live condition. Recent experiments in British Columbia by Canadian trollers indicate a good survival rate of undersized fish released by fishermen there.

There is no evidence whatsoever of overfishing by either the ocean sport or commercial troll salmon fishery. The declines of salmon populations in California and elsewhere are directly attrib

utable to the destruction of the fish's inland spawning and rearing habitat.

The California Citizens Advisory Committee for Salmon and Steelhead Trout in its report to the California Legislature found that California chinook populations have declined 64 percent, coho 65 percent and steelhead 80 percent. Steelhead are not taken in the ocean fishery.

The troll fishery harvests salmon when they are most plentiful, before they are subject to further predation in nature, and it harvests the fish when they are the most valuable.

Subject to the vagaries of weather, the troll salmon fishery provides the consumer with fresh fish of various sizes over a roughly 6-month period of the year. Because of the care involved in the taking of troll salmon and since these fish are taken while they are growing-not while they are dying-troll salmon are in the greatest demand of any salmon taken in the world. This is indicated by the prices troll salmon command. They not only provide the U.S. consumer a high quality source of protein, but because many are exported, they aid the U.S. balance of payments.

There are approximately 4,000 vessels and 7,000 fishermen involved in the California commercial salmon fishery and many more persons are involved in the onshore processing and distribution of these fish.

I am here today because stocks of salmon, from the Klamath and Trinity River system are important to our ocean salmon fishery. Impacts on salmon from these rivers, whether it be the lack of adequate instream flows of water, poor logging practices, the spraying of toxic chemicals on the forests of the watershed, or an unrestricted net fishery on the river, are all of concern to the commercial salmon fishermen.

The controversy surrounding the Klamath River salmon fishing has been troubling to us, and I do not claim that we fully understand all of the problems of the people who are part of the reservation there.

Among those belonging to our member associations are fishermen who have reservation rights. We have shared the task of seeking their advice and the advice of others knowledgeable of the situation for guidance. We are, of course, concerned that Klamath/ Trinity spawning salmon and their progeny be protected while in the fresh water environment and that no attempts be made to further restrict the valuable offshore troll salmon fishery.

Our organization has offered to work with responsible Indian leaders to restore the salmon runs of the Klamath/ Trinity system. Some of our member organizations are active in salmon restoration elsewhere, particularly on the Mendocino coast. We have supported the Governor's request for moneys for the "license plate" fund of the State to be appropriated for salmon restoration efforts on the Klamath.

We have suggested that persons having reservation rights desiring to be commercial fishermen be provided with training and assistance to enter the ocean fisheries-not merely for salmon, but for all species, species which could support a commercial fisherman year round.