HOW HE SEES IT A family affair that has a fishy smell to it

By GERALD LEAPE
KNIGHT RIDDER/TRIBUNE
No one in Congress is better positioned to attach unrelated, often controversial, amendments to an essential piece of legislation than Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, chair of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, and no one has more sway over the U.S. fisheries industry. This has led to a display of raw power that threatens to undermine the livelihoods of thousands of Alaskan fishermen and produce a windfall for a handful of well-heeled commercial processors who just happen to have hired Ben Stevens, the senator's son, to lobby on their behalf.
In 1996, the senator led efforts to amend and improve the landmark Magnuson Act, passed in 1976 to prevent America's fisheries from eventual collapse. Stevens' revised law limited overfishing, reduced incidental catch of non-target fish, and protected areas of the ocean -- known as essential habitats -- that are vital to the survival of young fish. In principle, Magnuson-Stevens sought to protect the livelihoods of fishermen by ensuring there were enough fish in the ocean to support them and their families.
Now, however, Stevens seems to have changed his mind.
He added amendments, or "riders," to the appropriations bill that must be passed for the federal government to continue operating. The House voted overwhelmingly for the version of the bill without Stevens' amendments, but now the Senate must act. Stevens is exploiting the situation to help special interests in which his son has financial interests. The riders would let crab processors dictate prices by giving them monopoly rights to buy the annual harvest, privatize the fishery for Pacific rockfish by setting quotas for fishermen and processors, and guarantee exclusive rights to the pollock fishery, once it reopens for fishing, to a corporation of Alaskan Natives.
Conglomerate
The rider on crab processing would leave fishermen at the mercy of a 12-corporation conglomerate, the North Pacific Crab Association, which could set prices for 90 percent of the harvest. No longer would Alaska's crabbers be able to sell to the highest bidder; instead, they could be forced to take whatever they were offered. Coincidentally, Ben Stevens, the senator's son and an Alaska state senator, is on the payroll of the industry group. According to the Seattle Times he has received more than $80,000 from the association in the past two years.
Another rider would impose a quota system on rockfish. Instead of respecting the conservation measures set by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to protect rockfish populations, Stevens wants to micro-manage the fishing industry by imposing quotas on fish processors and on fishermen themselves. The rider pre-empts the current work of the council, which is trying to devise a management plan for rockfish and other species. Stevens' rider also legislates out-of-date quotas based on catch rates set several years ago that will accelerate the decline of rockfish.
Finally, Stevens wants the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to reopen the pollock fishery in the Aleutian Islands. If it does, his amendment would give the Aleut Corp. monopolistic rights to it, so the organization can develop an abandoned Navy base into a commercial fishing port. The pollock fishery was closed by the council in response to a court order in 1998 to protect the endangered Steller sea lion, which depends on pollock for food.
Commercial port
By giving the Aleut Corp., a Native Alaskan business group, complete access to pollock, Stevens hopes to turn the former Adak Naval air station, now owned by the corporation, into a commercial port. Transferred to the corporation this year, Adak boasts a deep-water port, landing field and warehouses -- everything needed for a full-scale commercial fishing operation. Once again father and son figure prominently in the scheme: Ted Stevens co-sponsored the legislation that gave the naval base to the Aleut Corp., while Ben Stevens sits on the board of directors and was hired as its government relations consultant.
The Stevens' riders mark a low point in fishery management. After years of tireless work by federal and state, public and private entities, epitomized by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council and its evolving regulations, the chief architect has decided to scrap progressive plans. The victims of this about-face are fishermen -- the very people Stevens claims to care about.
X Gerald Leape is vice president of the marine conservation program at the National Environmental Trust, Washington, D.C. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.