00                      HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 43                                                                     
01 Urging the federal government to provide funding for domestic seafood marketing and                                     
02 promotional activities.                                                                                                 
03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
04       WHEREAS Alaska seafood products face ever-increasing domestic competition from                                  
05 imported seafood products, with more than 50 percent of the total fish and seafood consumed                             
06 annually in the United States currently originating in foreign countries; and                                           
07       WHEREAS effective domestic marketing of Alaska seafood in the face of aggressive                                
08 competition from foreign products requires innovative, forceful, and consistent promotion;                              
09 and                                                                                                                     
10       WHEREAS the Alaska seafood industry self-assesses a fee on fisheries production to                              
11 finance domestic and international marketing of Alaska seafood; and                                                     
12       WHEREAS the state makes substantial financial contributions to the promotion and                                
13 marketing of Alaska seafood; and                                                                                        
14       WHEREAS annual funding for the domestic promotion of Alaska seafood is not                                      
15 sufficient to effectively develop the thriving markets that sustainable Alaska seafood products                         
16 merit, especially when confronted with nationally supported promotional programs aimed at                               

01 United States consumers by key rival producer countries; and                                                            
02       WHEREAS duties and tariffs on imported seafood products generate approximately                                  
03 $280,000,000 annually for the United States Treasury; and                                                               
04       WHEREAS revenue from anti-dumping and countervailing duties on imported fish                                    
05 and fish products collected by the United States government total hundreds of millions of                               
06 dollars annually; and                                                                                                   
07       WHEREAS federal revenue derived from the importation of competing seafood                                       
08 products is not presently made available for the marketing of seafood harvested and produced                            
09 domestically; and                                                                                                       
10       WHEREAS using a portion of the revenue collected on the importation of foreign                                  
11 seafood products to promote American seafood to domestic consumers will secure American                                 
12 fisheries and seafood processing jobs, create robust and enduring domestic markets, and                                 
13 greatly enhance the nutritional value of American diets;                                                                
14       BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature strongly supports the allocation                               
15 of money generated from federal marine and fishery product import tariffs for the domestic                              
16 marketing of Alaska seafood; and be it                                                                                  
17       FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully urges the                                       
18 United States Congress to pass legislation dedicating a significant portion of marine and                               
19 fishery product import tariffs to a national seafood marketing fund to promote domestic                                 
20 seafood products that face competition from foreign imports; and be it                                                  
21       FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully urges the                                       
22 Alaska Delegation in Congress to work with representatives of other seafood and fish-                                   
23 producing states to secure adequate funding for effective and sustained domestic marketing of                           
24 American seafood.                                                                                                       
25       COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of                             
26 the United States; the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and                          
27 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Robert C. Byrd, President Pro Tempore of the                                
28 U.S. Senate; the Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; the                              
29 Honorable Timothy F. Geithner, United States Secretary of the Treasury; the Honorable Tom                               
30 Vilsack, United States Secretary of Agriculture; and the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the                               
31 Honorable Mark Begich, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative,                                 

01 members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.