00                             HOUSE BILL NO. 98                                                                          
01 "An Act relating to escapement thresholds and escapement goals for certain salmon                                       
02 stocks."                                                                                                                
03 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                                
04    * Section 1. AS 16.05 is amended by adding a new section to read:                                                  
05            Sec. 16.05.252. Salmon escapement goals. (a) The Board of Fisheries shall                                  
06       adopt in regulation a specific management objective for a salmon stock that the                                   
07       department has identified as a stock of concern. The department, in consultation with                             
08       the board, shall set the management objective for that stock. The management                                      
09       objective must include                                                                                            
10                 (1)  a sustained escapement threshold; and                                                              
11                 (2)  an escapement goal, designated as the "optimal escapement goal,"                                   
12       that takes into consideration biological and allocative factors, and sets an escapement                           
13       threshold above the sustained escapement threshold.                                                               
14            (b)  The department, in collaboration with the Board of Fisheries, shall set                                 

01       escapement goals for salmon stocks. If, for two consecutive years, a salmon stock falls                           
02       below the escapement threshold of the escapement goal, neither the department nor the                             
03       Board of Fisheries may adopt in regulation an escapement goal for that stock with a                               
04       lower escapement threshold.                                                                                       
05            (c)  In this section,                                                                                        
06                 (1)  "escapement goal" means a specific management objective,                                           
07       expressed as a range, for an annual number, or weight, of a spawning salmon stock                                 
08       arriving at a natal stream, river, or geographic area in which the salmon stock is                                
09       managed as a unit;                                                                                                
10                 (2)  "escapement threshold" means the lowest bound of an escapement                                     
11       goal, expressed as an annual number, or weight, of a spawning salmon stock;                                       
12                 (3)  "salmon stock" means                                                                               
13                      (A)  a locally interbreeding group of salmon distinguished by a                                    
14            distinct combination of genetic, phenotypic, life history, and habitat                                       
15            characteristics; or                                                                                          
16                      (B)  an aggregation of two or more interbreeding groups that                                       
17            occurs within the same geographic area and is managed as a unit;                                             
18                 (4)  "stock of concern" means a salmon stock that, notwithstanding the                                  
19       use of management measures, has not met the annual escapement goals for that stock                                
20       for four consecutive years;                                                                                       
21                 (5)  "sustained escapement threshold" means the lowest annual number,                                   
22       or weight, of a spawning salmon stock, arriving at a natal stream, river, or geographic                           
23       area in which the salmon stock is managed as a unit, below which the department has                               
24       determined the salmon stock's ability to sustain itself is jeopardized.