THE WHITE HOUSE

                     Office of the Press Secretary
                            (Yulee, Florida)
________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                       May 28, 1999

                PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES DAVID BENTON AS
             COMMISSIONER OF THE PACIFIC SALMON COMMISSION

The President today announced his intent to appoint David Benton as Commissioner of the Pacific Salmon Commission.

Mr. David Benton, of Juneau, Alaska, is currently the Deputy Commissioner for Fisheries and International Affairs for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. In this capacity, he is responsible for establishing and implementing statewide policies and programs regarding international and federal fisheries management, coordinating and managing the department's international and extended jurisdiction groundfish and crab programs. Mr. Benton has extensive experience in international fisheries, representing the State of Alaska at international negotiations, conferences, meetings, and before international organizations and commissions. Presently, he serves as the Acting Commissioner for Alaska on the U.S./Canada Pacific Salmon Commission. He is also the Alaska Department of Fish and Game representative on the U.S. section of the North Pacific Andromous Fish Convention, the U.S./Russia Intergovernmental Consultative Committee on Fisheries, and the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council. Mr. Benton has also served as the State of Alaska's representative to the U.S. section of the International North Pacific Fisheries Commission.

Mr. Benton received his B.A. with a double major in Coastal Resources Planning and Biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He was also part of the UCSC Sea Grant Project, where he conducted research in Alaska on proposed offshore oil development in the Alaskan Arctic.

The Pacific Salmon Commission serves as a forum for cooperation between the United States and Canada in the establishment of general fishery management regimes for the International conservation and harvest sharing of intermingling North Pacific salmon stock. It manages the intercepting fisheries and also establishes a basis for bilateral cooperation on research, restoration, and enhancement of salmon stocks on the Canadian and U.S. Pacific Coast.

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