00                  SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 21                                                                   
01 Establishing the Cook Inlet Salmon Task Force as a joint legislative task force.                                        
02 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
03       WHEREAS art. VIII, sec. 2, Constitution of the State of Alaska, mandates that                                   
04 Alaska's resources be managed for the maximum benefit of its people; and                                                
05       WHEREAS Southcentral Alaska has the highest concentration of population in the                                  
06 state and Cook Inlet is located in Southcentral Alaska; and                                                             
07       WHEREAS the sport fishing community is a vital part of the local and statewide                                  
08 tourism industry and the Cook Inlet region sustains 55 percent of the statewide sport and                               
09 personal use fishing effort; and                                                                                        
10       WHEREAS the economic contribution to the state of the in-river sport and personal                               
11 use fisheries in Cook Inlet far exceed the ex-vessel value of the Cook Inlet commercial fishing                         
12 harvests; and                                                                                                           
13       WHEREAS the Department of Fish and Game has repeatedly failed to successfully                                   
14 manage the competing goals of maximizing the commercial fishing harvest of Central District                             
15 salmon stocks and meeting minimum escapement goals in the Northern District; and                                        
16       WHEREAS the Yentna River has failed to achieve the minimum escapement goal                                      

01 during six of the last nine years, despite the Department of Fish and Game's and the Board of                           
02 Fisheries' lowering the minimum escapement goals on two separate occasions; and                                         
03       WHEREAS the Board of Fisheries, in accordance with the sustainable salmon                                       
04 management policy, declared Susitna drainage sockeye salmon a yield stock of concern, but                               
05 failed to take action to reduce the commercial harvest of those stocks; and                                             
06       WHEREAS the Department of Fish and Game has failed to provide a comprehensive                                   
07 management and research strategy to reduce allocative conflict within Cook Inlet;                                       
08       BE IT RESOLVED that the Twenty-Fifth Alaska State Legislature forms the Cook                                    
09 Inlet Salmon Task Force composed of 10 legislators: five members from the senate appointed                              
10 by the president of the senate and five members from the house of representatives appointed                             
11 by the speaker of the house of representatives; and be it                                                               
12       FURTHER RESOLVED that the president of the senate and the speaker of the house                                  
13 of representatives shall jointly appoint the chair and vice-chair of the task force; and be it                          
14       FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force shall examine the conservation and                                         
15 allocation issues within fisheries management of Cook Inlet; and be it                                                  
16       FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force shall examine the economic effect of                                       
17 Cook Inlet salmon and the maximum benefit of those salmon to the people of Alaska; and be                               
18 it                                                                                                                      
19       FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force shall examine the legal and                                                
20 constitutional issues of a buy-back program, reducing the number of commercial fishing                                  
21 permits in Cook Inlet; and be it                                                                                        
22       FURTHER RESOLVED that the Cook Inlet Salmon Task Force shall submit a                                           
23 report of its findings to the legislature on the first day of the First Regular Session of the                          
24 Twenty-Sixth Alaska State Legislature, which must include                                                               
25            (1)  the short term and long term uses of Cook Inlet salmon consistent with the                              
26 maximum benefit principle contained within art. VIII, sec. 2, Constitution of the State of                              
27 Alaska;                                                                                                                 
28            (2)  specific proposals to address the conservation issues in the Northern                                   
29 District; and                                                                                                           
30            (3)  options to reduce allocative conflict in Cook Inlet, which may include a                                
31 buy-back program; and be it                                                                                             

01       FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force is terminated on February 1, 2009.