00                      HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 26                                                                     
01 Urging federal agencies to work with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game,                                            
02 Southeast Alaska Native leaders, and other interested parties to establish strategies and                               
03 plans for the sustainable management of the reintroduced sea otter population of                                        
04 Southeast Alaska.                                                                                                       
05 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
06       WHEREAS, in the late 1960s, in the absence of a long-term management plan, the                                
07 Alaska Department of Fish and Game reintroduced approximately 400 sea otters to nearshore                               
08 waters in six different locations around Southeast Alaska; and                                                          
09       WHEREAS, without proper management, the sea otter population in southern                                        
10 Southeast Alaska has grown at an alarming rate; and                                                                     
11       WHEREAS more than 5,800 sea otters were observed in 2003, and a 2010 aerial                                     
12 survey by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service revealed more than 11,000 sea otters,                             
13 for an approximate annual growth rate of 13 percent; and                                                                
14       WHEREAS the federal government, which has responsibility for managing sea otter                                 
15 populations under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, has not established an                                      

01 effective management plan for protecting the ecosystems affected by sea otters; and                                     
02       WHEREAS, in 1994, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service issued the                                        
03 "Conservation Plan for the Sea Otter in Alaska," which stated that, while the optimum                                   
04 sustainable population range had not been numerically defined for sea otters in Alaska, the                             
05 stock was believed to be in the optimum sustainable population range; and                                               
06       WHEREAS the preface to the 1994 plan states that the plan "will be reviewed                                     
07 annually and revised at least every three to five years"; and                                                           
08       WHEREAS male sea otters in Alaska can weigh up to 100 pounds and average                                        
09 between 60 and 85 pounds, and large females can weigh up to 72 pounds and average                                       
10 between 35 and 60 pounds; and                                                                                           
11       WHEREAS unmanaged high numbers of reintroduced sea otters consume up to 23                                      
12 percent of their body weight each day of crab, abalone, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, clams,                              
13 and other shellfish that the region's human residents rely on for subsistence and commercial                            
14 uses and appear to be contributing to degradation of the ecological balance in many areas,                              
15 leading to diminished human harvests of those important subsistence and commercial                                      
16 resources; and                                                                                                          
17       WHEREAS the dramatically increasing and currently high number of reintroduced                                   
18 sea otters has, in some areas, depleted shellfish stocks to a degree that subsistence, personal                         
19 use, sport, and commercial fishing have been halted because of unsustainable lack of                                    
20 abundance; and                                                                                                          
21       WHEREAS many residents in the state's coastal communities directly or indirectly                                
22 depend on the fishery resources of the state's coastal waters; and                                                      
23       WHEREAS money derived from the harvest of the state's sustainably managed                                       
24 aquatic resources forms a major component of the economies of the state's coastal                                       
25 communities, causing those communities to be particularly vulnerable to situations that                                 
26 negatively affect yields from local resources; and                                                                      
27       WHEREAS Southeast Alaska's municipalities, towns, and villages face substantial                                 
28 challenges in developing broader economic opportunities for their residents; and                                        
29       WHEREAS Southeast Alaska's indigenous inhabitants have hunted sea otters since                                  
30 time immemorial; and                                                                                                    
31       WHEREAS, under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, Alaska Natives are                                   

01 denied the customary and traditional ability to sell intact sea otter pelts; and                                        
02       WHEREAS sec. 101 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 provides for                                       
03 exemptions for Alaska Natives to harvest marine mammals, as long as the taking is for                                   
04 subsistence purposes and not accomplished in a wasteful manner; and                                                     
05       WHEREAS sec. 101 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 allows for the                                     
06 use of marine mammal pelts for authentic Native articles, including handicrafts and clothing;                           
07 and                                                                                                                     
08       WHEREAS, under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, sale of value-added                                    
09 fur products is allowed in both intrastate and interstate commerce; and                                                 
10       WHEREAS the state serves as a model for the management of harvestable resources                                 
11 for sustained yield and sustainable use; and                                                                            
12       WHEREAS implementation of a sustainable harvest management regime for sea                                       
13 otters will serve the dual purposes of maintaining sea otter populations at a level suitable for                        
14 continued ecological balance and expanding economic opportunity; and                                                    
15       WHEREAS sec. 119 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 allows the                                         
16 United States Secretary of the Interior to enter into cooperative agreements with Alaska                                
17 Native organizations for the conservation of marine mammals and the development of marine                               
18 mammal cooperative management structures with federal and state agencies, including the                                 
19 creation of local management plans for the harvest of marine mammals for subsistence use;                               
20       BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the United States                                        
21 Secretary of the Interior and appropriate federal agencies to work with the Alaska Department                           
22 of Fish and Game, Southeast Alaska's Native leaders, and other interested parties in the state                          
23 to establish strategies and plans for sustainable management of the reintroduced sea otter                              
24 population of Southeast Alaska; and be it                                                                               
25       FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges state and federal                                      
26 government authorities, in developing those management plans, actively to consider means of                             
27 expanding and enhancing small business and broader economic opportunities for residents of                              
28 Southeast Alaska; and be it                                                                                             
29       FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges federal authorities                                    
30 to consider broadening the scope of allowable uses for sea otters taken for subsistence                                 
31 purposes to include the use, transfer, and sale of intact sea otter pelts in order to restore to the                    

01 state's Native people the right to make full use of sea otters harvested for subsistence while                          
02 expanding and enhancing economic opportunities for residents of Southeast Alaska.                                       
03       COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Ken Salazar, United States                             
04 Secretary of the Interior; and the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the Honorable Mark Begich,                              
05 U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska                                  
06 delegation in Congress.