Legislature(1999 - 2000)
03/22/1999 03:20 PM Senate RES
| Audio | Topic |
|---|
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
SJR 17-COOK INLET BELUGA POPULATION
CHAIRMAN HALFORD called the Senate Resources Committee meeting to
order at 3:20 p.m. and announced SJR 17 to be up for consideration.
SENATOR TAYLOR moved to adopt the Committee Substitute, dated
3/19/99, Utermohle. There were no objections and it was so
ordered.
MR. RON SOMERVILLE, Resources Consultant to the House and Senate
Majority, says it's pretty obvious that the National Marine
Fisheries Service and other groups have felt that the Beluga whale
in Cook Inlet has been under pressure for some time and what is
causing the decline is speculative at this point. By and large the
trend has been down and the harvest has gone up. In 1994, the
Beluga population was estimated to be about 650 and it's now about
less than 350.
CHAIRMAN HALFORD asked what the accuracy was on the harvest data.
MR. SOMERVILLE answered that the harvest data was provided by the
National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and all of the harvest is
taken by native Alaskans. NMFS cannot regulate the taking by
natives on any of the species unless there is some wasteful taking
or if the species is depleted. Working with local hunters and
shops in Anchorage, one in particular that sells beluga meat, they
have been able to estimate the take. He also worked with the local
Cook Inlet Marine Mammal Council.
In the last five years they have estimated that somewhere between
70 - 100 animals have been taken per year.
CHAIRMAN HALFORD asked about strikes versus taking.
MR. SOMERVILLE replied that "strike" information is not very
accurate, but a 1996 Cook Inlet Marine Mammal Council estimated
hunters landed 49 whales and estimated a total mortality of about
147 whales from hunters alone. NMFS and ADF&G didn't think that
mortality is that great for most years.
CHAIRMAN HALFORD asked how the whales are taken.
MR. SOMERVILLE replied that they are harpooned and some are shot
before they are harpooned. He said that proposed regulations from
NMFS probably will require that harpooning occur first to improve
the wounding losses. The main thing he wanted to stress is that
there was a petition from a number of organizations to list beluga
on the Endangered Species Act and if there's anything we want to
avoid it's that listing. This resolution asks NMFS to speed up the
process of the status review to determine exactly what the
population of the Cook Inlet beluga whales is and asks congress to
appropriate money for this project. It also asks for a
congressional "fix" from the Marine Mammal Protection Act allowing
NMFS to regulate and enforce.
He said there has been an agreement worked out between the local
council representing most of the tribes in Cook Inlet and the
National Marine Fisheries Service on some sort of plan. A proposed
amendment they are working on with Senator Stevens, which has been
added to the supplemental appropriation, will make it illegal to
take beluga in Cook Inlet unless it's under a regulated regime.
MR. JOEL BLATCHFORD supported SJR 17, but added that he has
witnessed commercial fishermen shooting beluga whales and he
personally had sunk four of them since 1955. He explained when a
beluga gets old, their livers hold a lot of pollutants. So when
they go into their winter season and their fat gets thin, the
livers put out a lot of toxic waste. They start breaking out with
tumors and are just too sick to eat. Their whole skin changes
colors. When they are young, they are very clean. He noted that
EPA has allowed discharging in coastal waters.
MR. BLATCHFORD also informed the committee that the grey whales
from California get very hungry on their migrations because they
keep getting pushed away from their source of food by people other
than hunters.
Number 180
MR. DANIEL ALEX, Project Coordinator for Cook Inlet Marine Mammal
Council, along with the Alaska Beluga Whale Committee asked for the
emergency amendment of MMPA which has been introduced as a rider on
an appropriation bill by Senator Stevens. They have also asked for
funding for co-management. They are concluding an interim co-
management agreement with the National Marine Fisheries Service by
April 1. They have recently reached a consensus that Cook Inlet
Marine Mammal Council is the negotiating entity and have worked out
some of the major points for an interim co-management agreement.
They have a set of conservation measures proposed by hunters that
are in the proposed interim draft co-management agreement.
MR. CARL JACK said he provides staff support to the Indigenous
People's Council for Marine Mammals, a coalition of 14 native
marine mammal councils that function in the State of Alaska. They
support SJR 17, but request on line 17 insert language supporting
Senator Stevens amendment #87 which was made on March 18, 1999. It
would amend the Marine Mammal Protection Act to put a moratorium on
the taking of belugas in Cook Inlet unless it's done through the
co-management regime that Mr. Alex talked about.
CHAIRMAN HALFORD informed Mr. Jack that the committee substitute
more directly supports the Stevens language.
Number 139
MS. DELICE CALCOTE, Secretary, Cook Inlet Marine Mammal Council,
supported SJR 17. However, she didn't think it was fair to blame
the hunters on the numbers dwindling. NMFS data shows that they
have only looked at tracer elements of biopollution in belugas and
they have only looked at a few samples. Their hunters have been
cutting up and sinking all of the belugas that are diseased with
pus pockets. All samples that NMFS samples have been taken from
marketable beluga. Fishermen have not provided any kind of bad
samples to the NMFS. This is why the Cook Inlet belugas are the
healthiest in the whole world. She asked for much more research
and noted the problems that come from pollution, including metals,
that come from the 230 plus operating wells in the Inlet. There
are tankers that come up and dump their ballast treatment waters in
the Kenai area. Plants in the Kenai are producing toxins that
could be getting into the water source. She also said the tourist
industry will bring further stresses on the area.
MS. CALCOTE suggested establishing a five-mile no bothering zone
around fishing and birthing areas much like the Canadians have just
adopted on their beluga grounds. One day when she was fishing, she
heard on the radio a man announce that he was shooting at belugas
because they were bothering his nets. So the commercial fishing
industry is not necessarily policing themselves as they say they
are.
She said there is sewage coming from Anchorage, Kenai, Ninilchik,
Homer, and Elmendorf and Fort Richardson. According to EPA, there
are billions of tons of toxins produced by the oil and gas industry
per year that are being pumped into the Inlet. All of those
pollutants settle into the mud. The beluga shrug out of their skin
every year and they use the mud to take off their old skin. She
asked if there would be dredging in the area where the beluga are
known for their feeding and birthing areas. She repeated that
protection for feeding and birthing zones needed to be established.
There is a potential for gold mines coming in and she wanted the
gold production runoff to be monitored. The beluga like to stay at
the mouths of the streams for their food source. The Johnson River
and the Beluga River are known beluga feeding areas, but she
concluded saying that the whole area needed to be looked at and not
just one small piece at a time.
Number 310
MR. JEV LANMAN, Chickaloon Village, said he is a member of the Cook
Inlet Marine Mammal Council and representative of the Cook Inlet
Treaty Tribes. He supported SJR 17 saying that his views have been
voiced already. He said that getting accurate information about
the numbers needed to have attention. Hunters don't have total
control over this limited resource. The number of whales that are
struck and destroyed because of pollution hasn't been recorded and
it's not reflected in the scientific reports people are receiving
today. He noted interference from tourist boats, oil wells, and
many other industries are impacting what's going on.
MR. LANKAN said that toxins in belugas have recently been evidenced
by the yellow tumors and radioactive content. It has reached a
state where you are taking a big risk if you eat the meat without
having it tested first.
SENATOR TAYLOR asked if the Council has records of how many belugas
are being taken and being shot.
MR. LANMAN answered that the numbers vary from hunter to hunter and
locations. He said they have totals, but they are not good numbers
which is why he is testifying on behalf of this bill.
CHAIRMAN HALFORD said one question has come up and they know the
harvest has increased substantially, but they don't know that is
the only reason or even a major reason for the decline. The way
the resolution is drafted it says, "primarily due to overharvest".
It also says, "appears to have declined". It might be more neutral
to say "appears to have declined in recent years while harvest
levels have increased significantly". Both of those things are
true.
SENATOR TAYLOR moved to adopt that language. There were no
objections and the amendment was adopted.
SENATOR TAYLOR asked what the feds have said is the base line
population of belugas in Cook Inlet. He asked how long they had
been managing them.
CHAIRMAN HALFORD answered they had been managing them since 1972.
MR. SOMERVILLE inserted after the Marine Mammal Protection Act was
last amended it was required that NMFS U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service do population assessment and establish base line population
levels for all the species they are responsible for. For belugas in
Cook Inlet, their number was around 750 - 800, but it was
established in those days as an off the top guess based upon
surveys incidental to other work the State was doing in Cook Inlet
as well as the University of Alaska.
SENATOR TAYLOR asked if that wasn't the same thing we are working
with today.
MR. SOMERVILLE repeated that the data is skimpy at best, but the
problem is under the Endangered Species Act the courts look at the
"best available information." Many species like the wolf and
goshawk can be listed on very skimpy information.
SENATOR MACKIE moved to pass CSSJR 17(RES) from committee with
individual recommendations. There were no objections and it was so
ordered.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|