00                       SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 16                                                                    
01 Calling on President Biden to immediately seek and secure an end to the embargo                                         
02 imposed by Russia on seafood imports from abroad so that Alaska seafood producers'                                      
03 access to the Russian domestic seafood market is fully restored.                                                        
04 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
05       WHEREAS Russia instituted an embargo on certain seafood imports in 2014,                                        
06 affecting almost all United States seafood products, including almost all categories of fish,                           
07 crustaceans, mollusks, and other aquatic invertebrates; and                                                             
08       WHEREAS, before the embargo, Russia was an important export market for Alaska                                   
09 seafood, with $61,300,000 in purchases from Alaska seafood producers in 2013, the year                                  
10 preceding the embargo; and                                                                                              
11       WHEREAS the embargo has deprived Alaska seafood producers of a market for                                       
12 certain products, including Alaska salmon roe, that have few alternative markets; and                                   
13       WHEREAS the lack of access to the Russian domestic seafood market reduces the                                   
14 value of Alaska seafood products and imposes significant and ongoing costs on the state's                               
15 seafood economy; and                                                                                                    
01 WHEREAS Russian seafood products compete directly with Alaska seafood products                                        
02 in the United States domestic market and the global market and yet are not subject to an                                
03 analogous import limitation by the United States or another county; and                                                 
04 WHEREAS Russian seafood imports continue to enter the United States almost                                            
05 entirely duty-free and have increased by 173 percent since 2013, the year preceding the                                 
06 embargo;                                                                                                                
07 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature calls on President Joseph R.                                         
08 Biden to immediately seek and secure an end to the embargo imposed by Russia on United                                  
09 States seafood so that Alaska seafood producers' access to Russia's domestic seafood market                             
10 is fully restored.                                                                                                      
11 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, President                                   
12 of the United States; and the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the Honorable Dan Sullivan,                                  
13 U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska                                  
14 delegation in Congress.