00                      HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 44                                                                     
01 Relating to research into the decline of the Southwest Alaska population of the Northern                                
02 Sea Otter in the western Gulf of Alaska.                                                                                
03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
04       WHEREAS the Southwest Alaska population of the Northern Sea Otter in the                                      
05 western Gulf of Alaska may have declined as much as 65 percent since the mid-1970s; and                                 
06       WHEREAS the Southwest Alaska population of the Northern Sea Otter is found in                                 
07 the nearshore water of the Aleutian Islands, the Alaska Peninsula, and the Kodiak                                       
08 Archipelago; and                                                                                                        
09       WHEREAS the United States Fish and Wildlife Service has recently proposed to list                               
10 the Southwest Alaska population of the Northern Sea Otter as threatened under the                                       
11 Endangered Species Act; and                                                                                             
12       WHEREAS commercial fishing activity in the western Gulf of Alaska may be                                        
13 restricted if the Southwest Alaska population of the Northern Sea Otter is listed under the                             
14 Endangered Species Act; and                                                                                             
15       WHEREAS coastal communities of western Alaska, and the State of Alaska, as a                                    
16 whole, are heavily dependent upon the revenue generated by commercial fishing in the                                    

01 adjacent nearshore water of the western Gulf of Alaska; and                                                             
02       WHEREAS Kodiak, a major commercial fishing port of the United States, is located                                
03 in the western Gulf of Alaska, the area of the sea otter population decline; and                                        
04       WHEREAS the cause of the decline in abundance of the Southwest Alaska                                         
05 population of the Northern Sea Otter is unknown; and                                                                    
06       WHEREAS long-term studies are necessary to assess changes in the population of sea                              
07 otter off Alaska and to determine the extent of variability in sea otter population levels; and                         
08       WHEREAS previous surveys of sea otter population levels off western Alaska have                               
09 been sporadic and asynchronous;                                                                                         
10       BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests that the                                 
11 United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the United States Congress provide $5,000,000 a                             
12 year over the next five years to conduct research into the abundance of the Northern Sea Otter                          
13 and the cause of the decline of the Southwest Alaska population of the Northern Sea Otter in                          
14 the western Gulf of Alaska; and be it                                                                                   
15       FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests that                                   
16 research regarding the Southwest Alaska population of the Northern Sea Otter be centered in                           
17 Kodiak with field stations located in the coastal communities of western Alaska where the                               
18 Northern Sea Otter occurs.                                                                                              
19       COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Gale Norton, United States                             
20 Secretary of the Interior; the Honorable Steve Williams, Director, Fish and Wildlife Service,                           
21 U.S. Department of the Interior; the Honorable J. Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the U.S. House                             
22 of Representatives; the Honorable Ted Stevens, President Pro Tempore of the U.S. Senate and                             
23 member of the Alaska delegation in Congress; and to the Honorable Lisa Murkowski, U.S.                                  
24 Senator, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska                                        
25 delegation in Congress.