SJR 33: Supporting passage of S. 1221, the "American Fisheries Act," by the United States Congress.
00SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 33 01 Supporting passage of S. 1221, the "American Fisheries Act," by the United States 02 Congress. 03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 WHEREAS Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska has, with the cosponsorship of Senators 05 Murkowski, Breaux, and Hollings, introduced S. 1221, the "American Fisheries Act"; and 06 WHEREAS S. 1221 would require that at least 75 percent of the controlling interest 07 of a vessel engaged in the fisheries in the United States navigable waters and exclusive 08 economic zone be owned by citizens of the United States; and 09 WHEREAS fishing vessels that do not satisfy the 75 percent United States ownership 10 standard will not be eligible for individual fishing quota shares or other limited access permits 11 under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act; and 12 WHEREAS S. 1221 would prohibit new large fishing vessels that are more than 165 13 feet long, are greater than 750 tons, or have greater than 3,000 shaft horsepower from entering 14 domestic fisheries in the United States navigable waters and exclusive economic zone; and
01 WHEREAS S. 1221 would phase out existing factory trawlers and other fishing 02 vessels that are longer than 165 feet, are greater than 750 tons, or have greater than 3,000 03 shaft horsepower from domestic fisheries in the United States navigable waters and exclusive 04 economic zone by prohibiting those vessels from being replaced by other vessels at the end 05 of their useful lives; and 06 WHEREAS S. 1221 would correct a loophole in the Commercial Fishing Industry 07 Vessel Anti-Reflagging Act of 1987 that allowed at least 14 factory trawlers that were rebuilt 08 in foreign shipyards to enter the fisheries off Alaska; and 09 WHEREAS S. 1221 would permanently prohibit federal loan guarantees for any vessel 10 intended for use as a fishing vessel that would be longer than 165 feet, be larger than 750 11 tons, or have greater than 3,000 shaft horsepower after being built or rebuilt; and 12 WHEREAS S. 1221 would conform with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation 13 and Management Act and international law by allowing foreign fishing vessels to harvest 14 fishery resources in United States waters if United States fishing vessels do not have sufficient 15 capacity to harvest the entire allowable catch in a fishery; and 16 WHEREAS non-United States citizens should not receive permanent access privileges 17 to United States fishery resources when there are United States citizens that can harvest those 18 resources; and 19 WHEREAS S. 1221 would further one of the primary goals of the original Fishery 20 Conservation and Management Act -- Americanization of the fisheries of the United States; 21 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature supports S. 1221, the "American 22 Fisheries Act," and respectfully requests the Congress to pass S. 1221. 23 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Al Gore, Jr., Vice-President 24 of the United States and President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Strom Thurmond, 25 President Pro Tempore of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Newt Gingrich, Speaker of the U.S. 26 House of Representatives; and to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Frank 27 Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of 28 the Alaska delegation in Congress.