00CS FOR SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 17(JUD) am H                                                                         
01 Relating to reauthorization of the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management                                         
02 Act.                                                                                                                    
03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
04  WHEREAS the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act established a                                             
05 fishery conservation zone, now known as the exclusive economic zone (EEZ), out to 200                                   
06 miles off the coast of Alaska and the other coastal states to protect, conserve, and manage the                         
07 extensive fishery resources of the continental shelf; and                                                               
08  WHEREAS the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act has fostered                                              
09 rational management of formerly unregulated fisheries off Alaska; and                                                   
10  WHEREAS the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act has successfully                                          
11 promoted the development of an American fishing industry within the EEZ off Alaska; and                                 
12  WHEREAS the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act has eliminated                                            
13 foreign fishing within the EEZ off Alaska; and                                                                          
14  WHEREAS the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act established the                                           

01 North Pacific Fishery Management Council as the fishery management council for the EEZ                                  
02 fisheries off Alaska; and                                                                                               
03  WHEREAS the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act since its                                                 
04 enactment in 1976 has provided that a majority of the membership of the North Pacific                                   
05 Fishery Management Council be from Alaska; and                                                                          
06  WHEREAS it is reasonable and just that a majority of the membership of the fishery                                     
07 management council responsible for the EEZ fisheries off Alaska be Alaskans;                                            
08  BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature supports the reauthorization of                                       
09 the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act and respectfully requests the                                      
10 Congress to act expeditiously in reauthorizing the Act; and be it                                                       
11  FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests that                                          
12 the current geographic composition of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council be                                   
13 retained.                                                                                                               
14  COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Al Gore, Jr., Vice-President                                  
15 of the United States and President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Ron Brown, Secretary                               
16 of the U.S. Department of Commerce; the Honorable Robert C. Byrd, President Pro Tempore                                 
17 of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Thomas S. Foley, Speaker of the U.S. House of                                         
18 Representatives; the Honorable Gerry E. Studds, Chair, Committee on Merchant Marine and                                 
19 Fisheries of the U.S. House of Representatives; the Honorable Thomas J. Manton, Chair,                                  
20 Fisheries Management Subcommittee of the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries of                                  
21 the U.S. House of Representatives; the Honorable Ernest F. Hollings, Chair, Committee on                                
22 Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable John C. Danforth,                               
23 Ranking Minority Member, Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the U.S.                                 
24 Senate; and to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S. Senators,                              
25 and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in                                   
26 Congress.