1986 Year-End Pieces

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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . rifle association, one of the most powerful lobbying groups in the country, passed a resolution opposing the amendments. The resolution which came out of the group's Anchorage chapter claimed the amendments further the cause of sovereignty and gave Alaska natives broad powers to dictate who can hunt and fish on public lands. The NRA resolution was a full bearer of things to come. Assistant Secretary of the Interior, William Horne, voiced the Reagan Administration's displeasure with the amendments. He said the bill went far beyond what is needed to ensure that corporations keep the assets they received under the act.

Although the House of Representatives passed its version of one of the bills, the administration's announcement made it clear to many that the road to passage would be a rocky one for the 1991 amendments. Meanwhile Senator McCasky's public hearings ran into criticism in Bethel. The Senator was accused of a number of improprieties, including holding the hearings during fishing season, requiring that any testimony also be submitted in writing and closing the meeting stand earlier than announced because he believed no one else would come forward to testify. A Bethel group wrote a letter of protest and a senator claiming the hearings were just cosmetic and would have no bearing on what Congress decided. The hearings were supposed to show there was unity among Alaska natives in regards to the amendments. However, that unity was becoming hard of the fine with each passing day. And the issue that was pulling it apart was to fight over tribal sovereignty. On one side was the Alaska Federation of Natives who were trying to make the amendments

sovereignty neutral. On the other were leaders of the sovereignty movement who wanted the issue dealt with in the amendments. Any fuel to the fire was the opposition by the NRA and the Reagan administration who were totally against making any changes in the settlement act which would force the sovereignty. The sovereignty movement was given further life by the long-awaited release of the report of the Alaska Native Review Commission headed by former Canadian Chief Justice Thomas Berger. His report, based on hearings held all over the state, criticized Ankska for not improving the economic condition of Alaska Natives. The report claimed the act failed to protect the people it was intended to help. Speaking to the Inuit Circle and Paula conference who commissioned the report, Berger said villages deserve the right to govern hunting and fishing on lands traditionally used for subsistence. He added that subsistence rights become more important in times of economic hardships.

While the Alaska Natives Berger said, they were born here, live here and will die here. They never pulled up stakes when the economy was down. Not everyone was waiting for the amendments to protect native interests. Late in September, the St. Mary's Village Corporation asked its shareholders to vote on a measure which would keep corporate voting rights in the hands of shareholders and their dependents after 1991. In November, two resolutions were passed, one gave voting rights only to native shareholders and the other made it mandatory that those wanting to sell their shares offered them to members of their family first and then to the corporation. Meanwhile the fight over the amendments came to a head in October, with the AFN gathering in Anchorage and the U.S. Congress set to adjourn at any time, passage of the amendments was becoming more in doubt. On a surprise move, the AFN asked that the amendments package be withdrawn on the day it was to be voted on by a Senate committee.

Passage by the committee would have moved the bills on to consideration by the full Senate. AFN President Janie Lees said the amendments were withdrawn because the changes made by the Senate Energy Committee was so great it was felt the entire package had to be resubmitted to the convention once again for approval. In another reversal, the AFN realized in the hour of adjournment was nearing told Congress they could live with the amendments if Alaska Natives could vote on them after passage by the legislators. That scenario did not seem realistic to many and given the fact that President Reagan had indicated in the past he would veto the amendments if he did not like them, it was beginning to appear that the amendments were dead for this year. Second Anchorage, the AFN had thrown out their original agenda and took up a panel discussion of the changes to see if they could agree on an amendment's package. That agreement never came, split by the sovereignty issue, the convention ended without

reaching a consensus. In Washington, Congress adjourned without ever voting on the package and native leaders felt there would be two to three years before legislation could be passed and that would make it very close to 1991. It was an unusual mixture of national and village politics which brought down the 1991 amendment and it's going to take a delicate mix of the two to finally get them passed. But one thing is for certain, before anything else happens, the issue of sovereignty is going to have to be resolved. In Bethel, I'm rich trotter. The U.B.T. nation first formed in 1983 with A.K. to other neighboring villages, A.K. and Toelksak. Now there are 14 villages in the movement with former villages planning to join soon. In February, the local boundary commission turned on A.K. to dissolve its city government because the current regulations needed to be changed to comply with existing laws.

If changed it would clear the way for the LBC to reconsider package expeditions to dissolve. The A.B.T.T. convention began on March 19 in the Tundra village of Cassieglock. You beat nation chief, Walikazyle, spoken proposals sent to Washington, D.C., along with several other issues. The convention heard from Anchorage, Mayor Tony Knowles, who spoke on the death of Francis Trotter in an Anchorage alley. Knowles promised to do something to aid Anchorage Street people, but he is still fighting with the Anchorage Assembly over the cost of a new sleep-off center. A resolution protesting the last of funding for dissolved cities was passed on the last year of the gathering. Towards the end of March, A.B.C.P. executive vice president, Tom Richards, resigned his post-defective March 31. He said he was resigning for personal reasons, which had no bearing on A.B.C.P. The beginning of April 86, A.B.C.P. and Jalissa Corporation in favor of forming a regional tribal government, A.B.C.P. president Jean Pothola said A.B.C.P. is in favor because

of doing the link state and federal funding. He said that people need to be unified in one governing entity and acquire administration of services that are now provided by the federal and state governments. On April 28, we heard that the director of Nurem Clutesty, Harold Spark, was resigning his post, Spark had held that post since 1973. The Nurem was instrumental in developing state and federal laws protecting subsistence. Spark himself was instrumental in tying federal D-2 legislation to the state laws protecting subsistence. He was successful in suits stopping the high seas interception of herring, Lee Sales in the Bering Sea, and creating new water parody regulations for the state's plasma miners. But the biggest battle fought by Spark and Nurem continues to be stopping high seas fishing by foreigners. On May 2nd, A.B.C.P. president Jean Pothola announced the hiring of my renining to the vice president post, Nurem's platform is posted special assistant to the governor.

In mid-May, the Nurem Clutesty Board members met to finalize Harold Spark's resignation and appointed a new director, George M. Hilari, who has been working at the organizations since 1979. After his formation in June, a group claiming to be representing the tribal elders of Bethel called for a July meeting to draft a resolution calling for a tribal government to claim the right to rule Bethel. The gathering of the tribal elders covered issues such as the Arctic Policy, 1991, and A.C.C. The Inuit Circumpolar Conference this year was held for the second time in Alaska in Gatsby, the meeting of delegates and others around from July 28th through August 3rd. The delegates from Russia would have been invited to attend the ICC for the first time didn't show. The president of the ICC for six years, Hans Pavia Rosen, presented his welcome speech, which was also a federal speech. Only one resolution was not passed by the ICC.

That resolution presented by the Bethel was presented by the Bethel traditional elders. Along with the host of other proposals, the resolution called for a battle of alcohol and drugs in Bethel, and thus for enforcement by a federal marshal. The resolution was defeated mainly by the Alaska delegation. On the third day of the ICC, the delegates nominated ICC executive director Mary Simon to the president's post, Simon was elected with little opposition. In its mid-August meeting, the Bethel city council was scheduled to meet with the elders of Bethel, but the elders didn't attend. The meeting was held by the elders the day before, whether city of Bethel was said to be in contempt for not attending the elders' meeting. The U.S. and invited by Chief Eddie Hoffman also did not attend the meeting, and the two groups never got together. Also in August, the village of Atmaltor voted to do itself at city government, because he voted to do the same, but reversed itself quickly. State officials froze at Maltor State revenue of sharing funds for 30 days until they understood

more about what was happening. A meeting was held with the Department of Community and Regional Affairs at Maltor because he looked at an aperture and dissolution near the end of August. DCRA staff explained the two methods of dissolving city governments that state lab provides. As a result of the meeting, Atmaltor was to continue its process, although they were unsure of their next move. Cassie Loa plates split on the issue, and in other particular leaders were in neutral, saying they just wanted information on the solutions. The two methods DCRA discussed are, petitioning to the local boundary commission and the local option method which requires a village election. The first method has to go to the legislature for approval without an election. In the August 19 meeting of the tribal elders, the elders received support from two local organizations, ABCP and ONC. During the Alaska Federation of Natives Convention this year, a new pair of co-chairmen were chosen.

A friend delegates chose Morris Thompson in Glen Fredericks. Thompson is president of the Doryan Limited Corporation, and Fredericks is president of the Cusco Con Corporation, a merger of ten villages. Late this year, there was also a gathering of church leaders from the four major churches in Bethel. You beat nation past the resolution last year, asking that church leaders meet with them to talk about the church's roles with you beat nation, but I turned out that none of the four support you beat nation because they had too little information about it. Reporting for KYK, I'm Lillian Michael. In January 1986, the Association of Village Council of Presidents, or ABCP, hired a director for its new Natural Resources Department, Larry Landry became the head of that department. In late 1984, Congress ordered the Fish and Wildlife Service staff to put together a comprehensive conservation plan and to inform villages about the declining geese.

Local refuge information technicians hired by the service, run school programs and hold village meetings. The technicians increased the services ability to communicate with village leaders and its people. In April 1986, the UConn Cusco Con Delta Goose Management Plan, formerly the Hooper Bay Agreement was still in effect. The plan is a cooperative agreement between the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Department of Fish and Game, ABCP, and the Waterfall Conservation Committee. During that time, the agencies traveled to the villages to in front of that cattle hunting was closed, but the three other declining geese could be taken when they arrived in the spring and again in the fall. In May the Alaska State Troopers were investigating the alleged poaching of a caribou herd from the Kilbuck Mountains. The killings happened in March and several hunters believed to be from Togak were followed by the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Troopers. The alleged killings were denied by the Togak traditional councils representative from the Dillingham Alaska Legal Services, Sydney Watson.

She said the villagers did not know anything about the poaching and that the troopers were uncooperative and were accusing innocent subsistence hunters of killing caribou. No one was ever charged in the incidents. At the end of May 1986, the Waterfall Conservation Committee of ABCP alerted all hunters of the Delta to stop hunting Pacific black brands, white front geese, and emperors. The villagers had earlier agreed not to take the cucklers or their eggs during the summer. The federal wildlife officials were puzzled in June by a sudden decline in the Emperor Geese population. Their population had gone down by 28% from 1985 and the drop prompted a ban on subsistence hunting of emperors. Just guess that some emperors may have died during the winter, changed their migration roots or may have flown to Siberia. However, instead of a ban, village hunters were asked in August to voluntarily reduce their take of emperor geese, a special announcement from ABCP's WCC asked that force species not be taken.

The announcement did not affect the take of duck swans or cranes. In early August the Fish and Wildlife Service, which has been in Bethel for about 50 years, started its new headquarters near the Old Hospital site in Bethel. In the spring of 1986, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a notice of intent to propose regulations governing the subsistence harvest of microdera birds in the state. Fish and Wildlife intends to have the new regulations in place by spring of 1988. Plans for citizen involvement process, including distribution of background information, workshops, and a series of meetings in the village of statewide before actually developing those regulations. But the regulations would only deal with subsistence hunting of geese in the spring and summer only. All subsistence hunting of migratory birds was banned by an act called the migratory waterfall act. However, Alaska natives have been allowed to hunt birds during the spring and summer by a special agreement. Since subsistence hunting is actually allowed by law, there has never been any regulations published to control the spring hunting.

Okay, okay, okay, I'm Leon Michael. 1986 was a major election year, and there were a lot of changes in western Alaska's national, state, and local leadership. There were three elections in all, the primary in late August, the local election in early October, followed by the general election in early November. As a result of all this voting, we have a new governor, also a new state senator and state representative, both of them from Bethel, and many new members on the Bethel City Council, the Lower Cuscoquim School District Board, and advisory school boards throughout the region. Steve Cooper, a 48-year-old lawyer from Fairbanks, stepped up as governor by beating Republican Arles Stirjaluski by 8,400 votes on November 4. Cooper earned the Democratic nomination by beating Bill Shepfield in the August primary that came as a surprise to the majority of western Alaskan voters who supported Shepfield.

Jane Anvik, a Democrat, also got strong support out here as a lieutenant gubernatorial candidate, but lost in the primary as well. Stephen McCalpine will once again fill that spot. After a close match up in the primary, Republican John Bingley emerged the winner for the Senate seat m-race with an 800-voted vantage over Democrat Tony Vaskep, former Senator George Holman, also ran an unsuccessful write-in campaign for the seat, formerly held by John Sackett. Bingley spent the past two years in Juneau as District 25 representative, and will join the Senate as co-chair of the Finance Committee under the Jan Fakes Coalition. One note about this Senate race, Bethel candidates spent more money campaigning a Senate district that stretches from Fort Yukon to Nunavac Island than ever before. The Alaska Public Office's commission in the unaudited 10-day report shows Bingley's paid expenditures at just over $86,000, Vaskez at $35,300.

Democrat Lyman Hoffman goes to Juneau as District 25 representative. He beat Bob Charles with a 200-vote edge in the general election. Charles worked as Bingley's legislative aid since 1984. Hoffman is co-owner of North Star Gas and was Bethel City Manager for several years. APOC records show Charles with $15,000 in paid expenditures, Hoffman with $10,300. On the national level, Democrats took an amazing sweep of the Senate seats, but Alaska's delegation didn't change. Senator statewide chose to send Republicans Frank Murkowski and Dawn Young back to the U.S. Senate and House respectively. It marked the second time Democrat Peggy Vegge tried unsuccessfully to unseat young. Locally, there were two close races for Fort Bethel City Council seats in October. Tom Warner ended up keeping his seat and Ben Dale and Jerry Corthias were elected new members.

A November runoff election gave Diane Carpenter a slim lead over Wally Richardson for the final council seat. Two new lower Cuscocom school board members and two incumbents, one spots on that board in October, Sarah Baxter and Carl Mochin joined the nine-member board, Robert Nick and Fritz Bebe ran unopposed. In related results, four new Bethel ASB members were elected to that seven-member board. Finally, a wrap-up of Proposition and Initiative results, beginning with the nuclear freeze initiative that passed in the August primary. This is the majority of Alaskan voters supporting a mutual and verifiable nuclear weapons freeze. It instructed the governor to conduct business with this in mind. In October's local elections, Bethel residents soundly defeated a one-cent sales tax increase and approved a measure that affirms the city's commitment in providing library services to residents.

There were four items on the November ballot, three passed, voters said yes to continuing a veteran loan program to limiting state spending and changing the longevity bonus program to an annuity program. Voters chose not to let legislators override regulations made by the state's executive branch. Fifty-four percent of the state's registered voters turned out for the primary, sixty-two percent showed up for the general election. I'm Martha Scott reporting. Last year or so from the college. In a mid-March teleconference, Governor Bill Sheffield assured callers that Alaska's record of giving high priority to education wouldn't change, but it did, despite what he said. In fact, KUCC began feeling the effects of declining oil revenues when its budget dropped by $600,000 in one year. In October, the Governor's office requested that the U of A reduced goods budget by 15 percent,

which would result in an added $21 million in cuts for KUCC. In November, U of A President Donald O'Dout announced that the statewide educational system was facing a $60 million deficit. He then outlined a plan calling for a more compact and focused university, even if it meant merging community colleges with universities. KUCC President Lynn Lahis at the cuts would have a severe economic impact in this community where the college employs a good number of people. Following that, KUCC's council met to discuss the U of A's restructuring plan. Then an audio teleconference was held where it became obvious that most people didn't want to do away with community colleges. In early December, the Board of Regents voted to approve the restructuring plan. In the midst of all this budget situation, it was discovered that a former employee had embezzled between $5 to $10,000 over the last year or so from the college. In April, the student loan rates went up from 5 to 8 percent.

Three months later, the loan programs budget was cut by 10 percent. On September, the state's U of A system, including KUCC, showed a substantial increase in student enrollment at a time when schools are absorbing extensive budget cuts. Even LKSD was forced to take steps to overcome a $2.2 million budget shortfall around the month of August. Back in March, Alaska School Board's Association President Robert Nick Road Governor Sheffield saying that local officials needed the power to lay off tenure teachers and cut salaries. The added that the legislature should also create early retirement incentives for teachers. On July 25, our story focused on an item which states that under Alaska law and current contracts, tenure teachers could not be laid off or have their salaries cut. On August 12, the State Board of Education adopted a set of emergency regulations which allows tenure teachers to get laid off. The National Education Association in Alaska filed suit against the state claiming the move

was illegal. The decision was backed up by Juneau Superior Court Judge Walter Carbonetti. Another educational service which was affected by budget cuts is the federally funded Johnson O'Malley program. In June, the program was cut by two-thirds. The one item which LKSD had to deal with for several months was the teacher harassment incident. A Congigant teacher ended up leaving her job in April after having been harassed for months by a villager. The advisory school board of Congigant presented a petition to LKSD calling for the removal of that teacher and another, saying that the teachers have already been there too long. He turned out that all but one of the teachers did not return to the village to teach this year. One repercussions the villagers had to live with was that the transfer teacher had to be paid out of Congigant's school budget for the remainder of the school year. On December 1st and 2nd, the LKSD board met and passed a new policy protecting district teachers from assault, vandalism, and harassment.

The new policy sets down some procedures of how the school board would be involved in similar situations. Reporting for KYUK, this is Marie Jankowski. The year began on a positive note for the PHS hospital in Bethel. A translator position was established for the benefit of patients, doctors, and medical staff in order to ease the language barriers between them. The hospital also introduced a new method of scheduling patients which it implemented last February. Tirmed the family practice mode, the new scheduling system allows patients to have a choice in what doctor they want to see. This spring, the hospital's director, Joan Ryan, left to accept the job overseas. Despite severe financial cutbacks, Ryan was able to maintain operations within budget. He also helped make it possible for non-beneficiary patients of the Bethel family clinic

to be admitted to the hospital among his many deeds. A total of four doctors left Bethel through the course of the summer. For the last several years, this departure and replacement cycle has caused a six to eight week doctor's shortage. This results in longer waits for patients and the doctors are forced to stretch their long hours even more so. A more dramatic episode occurred in August during a three-day health aid conference in Bethel during which the fee for service concept was introduced. The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services proposed to adopt regulations dealing with fees for department services. The implementation date was set for October 1st. In the meantime, the hospital got a new service unit director, Delbert F. Nutter, replacing Joe Ryan who left in April. Then in August, we learned that $100,000 was reduced from the state's public health services budget. A fee schedule was one way to collect money to help make up that deficit.

This affects almost all state-provided services except for communicable diseases and children's services. On September 15, a public hearing was held to accept comments on proposed changes to federal regulations regarding who may receive medical care at Indian health service sites like the one in Bethel. The federal government proposed that patients proved their nationality in order to get care at IHS sites. According to George Burrell, IHS's Community Relations Officer for Alaska, IHS's Budget and Service Population prompted the proposed changes in regulations. If passed, the rules will be implemented in a year or more. September found us focusing once again on the doctor situation. P.A. Jancing Year's passed always had a good number of doctors because a majority of them came here by taking advantage of the doctor's scholarship program. The Reagan administration abolished that project two years ago.

The hospital had trouble filling one open position last spring, which raises the question of how the phase out program might affect this region in the future. October generated beats of a different rhythm. The Yukon-Kasukem Health Corporation received a grant from the IHS for $59,000 to conduct the study to determine the feasibility of the corporation as soon in charge of the hospital. The YKHC board has viewed the project as a priority for a number of years. In addition, this was seen as a self-determination process by which native people could control their own health care, educational services, and other entities in the future. Towards the end of the month, rumors began spreading through town that YKHC was having some difficulties with its internal personnel structure. Two board members ended up resigning following some meetings. On October 31st, we found out that the fee for service concept would be implemented on November 1st or soon afterwards. However, as of December 4th, the statutes governing those rules were still being written

up and are not yet ready for implementation. For KYUK, this is Marie-chan Kowski. Several changes occurred in the city of Bethel last year. Not only was a new city manager hired, but some alterations took place in the city's public works department, planning department, and Phillips Alcoholism Treatment Center as well. From a total of 22 applicants, Ivan L. Whittom was chosen to be Bethel's new city manager. In January, the city council voted unanimously to approve a two-year contract with Whittom, including a salary of $65,000 annually. The city manager set some specific goals from the very beginning, which included increasing the city sales tax and making the city more efficient at collecting those taxes from businesses. In the year, the city began auditing several of the enterprises in town, revealing many that were overdue in their sales tax payments.

With the budget cuts the city was facing, Whittom had to come up with other ways to save money. Many of his ideas were not popular with members of the community, and some disagreements began to surface. In April, the Bethel City Council performed a three-month evaluation on the city manager, at which time council decided to continue with Whittom's services. During an executive session, albeit one council member, Bob Carpenter, gave Whittom a vote of confidence. The city manager also passed his six-month evaluation, however, as the year ended, several efforts were still being made to remove Whittom from his position. There were also many changes in the Bethel City Council. By the end of 1986, only three of the seven original members were still on the council due to elections and other factors. In May, the city council voted in Louis Andrew to take the place of former councilman Rick Clark. However, Andrew lost that position a few months later when his seat came up for grabs during the October City elections.

With a new council seated, it was time to choose a new mayor as well. Tom Warner was elected by council to take the position previously held by March Bainton. Shortly after the new council was seated, councilman Bob Aloysius resigned his position, saying the community lacked appreciation for all the time and effort council spent on behalf of Bethel's residents. One example Aloysius gave was the third recall petition that was circulating in town. The first recall attempt occurred in May. There were changes taking place in other parts of the city as well. The Phillips Alcoholism Treatment Center saw several improvements. In February, the city council accepted the plans for expansion of the PATC, which will give the facility six additional beds for inpatient treatment. The year didn't begin well for the PATC, however, employees quitting the treatment center complaint of mismanagement and the facility failed to pass two state audits. But under a new director, Barry Gold, the PATC passed the state audit in October.

The center also made improvements in native hiring of the 15 staff members now there, nine are native. Another plus for the city of Bethel in 1986 was the extension of the seawall and several other measures that were taken to prevent erosion along the riverfront. However, under a backdrop of tension between Ivan Whittom and seawall engineers Galliot and Salidys early in the year, the city manager asked that a second engineering firm be hired to look at the existing seawall. This was done in part to determine whether the bulkhead was adequate and to find solutions to problems that had already surfaced. One such problem was the thawing that began taking place beneath the seawall, which allowed the deep channel of the river to cut under the bulkhead. In their report, Thames Engineering agreed with the Army Corps of Engineers, saying that rock protection should be placed along the seawall to prevent any undercutting. In May, part of First Avenue, better known as Mission Road, had to be closed due to erosion.

That same month, the Army Corps of Engineers had funds appropriated for rock bottom protection in Bethel. The city also received a $4 million grant from the state, which was used to extend the seawall about 500 feet downstream from Mission Road and to add about 275 feet at the petroleum dock. Another item regarding the seawall was Council's decision to place safety ladders along its length by June 1, 1987. People had decided not to place the seawall ladders last year because it was late in the season and the river would soon be freezing up. The city attorney later informed them it would have been in their best interest to place the ladders due to the liability risk that existed. The city had already settled the lawsuit after a young man fell from the seawall floating docks and drowned. Another change the city saw in 1986 was the resignation of the special assistant to the city manager.

Sheryl Keepers left the city on August 30th and was replaced by Dale Wagner. Other changes took place in the city's planning department with a resignation of two employees including planning director Steve Gabor. The city council passed a new curfew ordinance in 1986 with children required to be home by 10 p.m. on weekdays and midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. Also last year council voted to charge a 15% interest rate for overdue utility bills. They increased the interest charged on late sales tax payments as well while also granting a one month forgiveness period for back taxes paid by the 15th of this month. The city manager's effort to increase the sales tax by 1% failed by a wide margin in the October city elections causing each department to review their budgets and find areas that could undergo funding cuts. In December after many work sessions the city finally came up with a balanced budget for fiscal year 1987.

Some new census figures taken over the summer showed Bethel had grown substantially since the last census in 1982. The new numbers show a total of 4,462 residents in the city. This could mean additional revenue sharing funds for the city in 1987. Finally Bethel celebrated its 101st birthday in 1986. In May the city centennial book Bethel the first 100 years was released. The book portrays the history of the city which started out as an Eskimo village letter becoming the site of the area's first Moravian missionary and finally the hub of the Yukon Cuscoquim Delta. Copies of the book were sent to libraries museums and schools throughout the state and the city administration has already received many favorable comments about the book from some of those institutions. Reporting for KY UK I'm Anita Hawkins. It seems there are two major fishing seasons in Alaska these days.

The one in the water and the one out of the water. As far as the fishing which occurs in the water it was a good year for Alaskan fishermen including those on the Cuscoquim River. In the fall local districts fishermen recorded the highest salmon catch on record a combined total of over 1,200,000 fish. Those numbers include the highest sockeye or red salmon catch ever and the second highest Cusco take. State wide it was the fourth largest catch on record a total of almost 130 million fish. Those fish were worth a record 13.9 million dollars to the state's fishermen. However the other fishing season the one which took place out of the water was a different story. Beginning with negotiations between the United States and the nation of Japan early in the year and ending with the unexpected adjournment of the board of fish in December 1986

was a rocky one for the fishermen of western Alaska. The year started with the United States presenting a somewhat united front in negotiations with Japan on the interception of Alaskan salmon on the high seas. The State Department had agreed to a request from the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council and just about the entire state of Alaska to withhold Japan's allotment of bottom fish until an agreement was reached on salmon. The Japanese are allowed to take a half million tons of bottom fish from US waters every year. It didn't take long for that early unity to begin to erode. Even while some people were still recovering from their New Year's Eve celebration the State Department was already giving away some of the ground fish allocation just to get the Japanese back to the bargaining table. Later in February not only did the State Department continue to give away America's

only bargaining chip the ground fish but the Alaskan trawars who sell to Japanese buyers began to pressure the State Department to release the allocation. Meanwhile the Japanese were also having problems with the Russians. Just regarding the Japanese catch a salmon in Russian waters had broken down causing severe shortages in the Japanese markets. Behind that background the American position of holding back the ground fish allocation was making front page headlines in Japan and causing demonstrations in front of the US Embassy. The Japanese also threatened the boycott American seafood in particular Alaskan salmon. In the US the issue did not cause anywhere near the concern. However since the Japanese were concerned about it that brought in Secretary of State George Schultz and the interception of Alaskan salmon on the high seas became small change in comparison to the entire trade issue with the Japanese.

It was however not Subaru's but Star Wars which turned the tide in negotiations and it seems Alaskan salmon soon became the first victim of Ronald Reagan's strategic defense initiative. In what many believe was a trade off for Japanese help with Star Wars the State Department with the direct intervention of Secretary Schultz reached an agreement which Alaskans felt was very favorable to the Japanese. The agreement included a phase out of the Japanese mothership fishery by 1990 a slight move to the west for the rest of the Japanese fleet and more studies. The agreement was expected to cut the Japanese interceptions by only 20-30% over 8 years. Although Alaskans were not happy with the agreement many urged the United States to make sure funds were available to monitor Japanese compliance with the pack. In spring good things began to happen for the fishermen of Western Alaska.

The Russians were still stopping the Japanese from fishing in May allowing Alaskan chumps to escape along with the Russian fish. Also a limit placed by the board of fish on the incidental chump catch in false past caused the closure of that fishery in June and still more chumps escape to the rivers of Western Alaska. While the chump situation was improving the King salmon picture grew increasingly darker. For the 50-year in a row, escaping objectives were not reached. That was a critical benchmark since many kings were on a five-year cycle. And that meant an entire cycle of kings had gone by without achieving enough escape meant to ensure the kings would keep returning to the classical creme river. The actual fishing season began with a strike by Quinn Hawk fishermen who finally received the 80 cents per pound they asked for and then went out and enjoyed a fairly good king salmon season.

There was no commercial king salmon season on the classical creme river. They just weren't enough kings available without doing even further damage to future runs. In fact, the king salmon escapement was so bad that the Alaskan Department of Fish and Game proposed regulations which would limit the fishing time for subsistence fishing during next year's king salmon run, a proposal which was not cheerfully greeted by local fishermen. Those proposals were part of some 700 proposals to be decided on by the board of fish. However the proposals were never considered, sparked by an unpopular decision regarding keen-eye river salmon, the fight over false paths exploded when three board members resigned after the board voted to adjourn by a six-to-one decision. In addition to the king salmon question, the Herring fisheries north of Togiaque will become exposed to outside fishermen without further action from the board. 1987 holds a lot of unanswered questions for the fishermen of western Alaska.

The Japanese are receiving a lot of criticism in their attempt to renew a marine mammal permit. Without that permit, they cannot fish for salmon in all waters. The proposals before the board of fish have to be resolved or it could mean severe problems for the Coastal Crem River kings and the Herring fishermen on the coast. The opening of the Bering Sea to only American Bonofish trawlers could mean more interceptions of western Alaskan chums by American fishermen who are not as regulated as the foreign vessels they replace and budget problems and an attack in 1986 on a female American fisheries observer on a Korean boat brings into question our ability to monitor what little restrictions we have on foreign fishing. In Bethel, I'm Rich Chata. Thank you.

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