Legislature(2007 - 2008)BUTROVICH 205
03/19/2008 03:30 PM Senate RESOURCES
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HJR14 | |
| Confirmation- Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission (cfec) | |
| SB284 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | SB 284 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | HJR 14 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
SB 284-BOARD OF FISHERIES: MEMBERSHIP
4:31:08 PM
CHAIR HUGGINS announced SB 284 to be up for consideration.
Before the committee was CSSB 284 ( ) 25-LS1500\V.
SENATOR LYDA GREEN, sponsor of SB 284, indicated she didn't have
anything more to add.
4:31:31 PM
DWIGHT KRAMER, Chairman, Kenai Area Fisherman's Coalition,
opposed SB 284. They didn't support it because it dictates Board
of Fisheries seat requirements for select user groups and takes
away the governor's flexibility to fill seats as necessary to
maintain balance between user groups and diverse demographic
areas throughout the state. He said the need for regulatory
changes in the state's personal use fisheries have been minimal.
The Kenai and Kasilof Rivers provide the largest personal use
fishery opportunity in the state and the board has made very few
changes to the regulations in this fishery.
4:34:21 PM
GERRY MERRIGAN, representing himself from Petersburg, opposed SB
284. He said he had been attending Board of Fisheries meetings
on an off for the last 20 years for Southeast and statewide crab
and Bering Sea issues. If you look at the volume of proposals
the board goes through, you get a healthy respect for what they
do.
He opposed SB 284 because it designates seats by sectors and
limits family affiliation and what family members can do for a
living. Both are very impractical. He explained that the pool of
knowledgeable good people who are willing to do this job and
make the necessary time commitment and fill out the new
financial disclosure forms is small; this legislation will make
that pool even smaller. If the goal is to have a fair board that
follows a good public process and uses the best science, this
legislation doesn't do it. Designating seats to sectors will do
just the opposite. The result will be members that will be
entrenched and represent just their sector and not the public
interest at large.
MR. MERRIGAN said the issues before the board are related 70
percent to commercial use, 20 percent sport and personal use and
5 percent subsistence and probably 5 percent related to
allocation issues. Unfortunately, the 5 percent of allocation
issues gets all the attention. He asked the committee to look at
the entire volume of board decisions over multiple cycles of
addressing the same issues. This legislation seems to be
responding to one event at one time that is no doubt important
to those constituents. But the legislation proposes to fix a
system that is not broken and uses a sledge hammer to do it.
Some people think the process is fair if they just got what they
wanted, but it's really and issue of whether the public can
provide input along with the ADF&G and the Department of Law.
The board members can then make a decision weighing all the
factors.
CHAIR HUGGINS asked what might improve the board's performance.
MR. MERRIGAN replied to get good people on it because the
current members are getting worn out. Sometimes people - just to
make a point - will put in the same proposals to create a paper
trail. So, while he didn't want to deny the public access, he
thought coming up with a way to eliminate duplicate proposals
and ones that are already in regulation would be worth looking
into. In terms of going for fair and balanced, you have to step
back and look at it over a longer period of time and try to not
react to a single issue at a single meeting.
4:40:02 PM
SENATOR GREEN observed that a de facto appointment by
designation of user groups is already practiced; this would just
admit what is being done and clearly define it.
MR. MERRIGAN said while there are no designated seats and you
want good people, he thought they had always tried to keep
Alaska's regions represented. The issues are very complicated
region to region.
SENATOR GREEN agreed.
SENATOR WAGONER commented for people who hadn't tried to
actually find qualified people to serve on the board and then
tried to talk them into serving that a very small pool of people
is available and they do it for the fish and not the user group.
4:44:28 PM
SENATOR WAGONER wanted to dispel the notion that some people
have about the number Cook Inlet fishermen who have served on
the board and said in fact, not one has been on the board for
the last 35 years - and the biggest controversy every three
years is Cook Inlet. It's not a matter of commercial/sport
representation; it's a matter of fairness.
CHAIR HUGGINS said that's a debatable subject.
4:45:24 PM
LEROY CABANA, representing himself from Homer, said he owns a
seine boat, but he sport and personal fishes, too. He opposed SB
284. He said he is a lifelong Alaskan person and is offended and
outraged to be singled out as a commercial user when he does
them all.
CHAIR HUGGINS asked if he goes to Board of Fisheries meetings.
MR. CABANA answered yes and added that years of high emotion
means nasty as usual.
SENATOR STEVENS asked if he thought Mr. Merrigan's summary if
the spread of issues was correct.
4:51:05 PM
MR. CABANA answered yes. Most of the stuff the board deals with
provides good management. He agreed that the members must have
broad experience.
CHAIR HUGGINS asked how he would improve the process.
MR. CABANA answered he thought the board process had improved
except for the Susitna Valley problems. The vetting of people
who are serving on the board is better.
4:53:21 PM
CHAIR HUGGINS asked when he sees the major change in the
demographics that are projected to be even more major going
forward, does that cause him to think the board needs to change
how the resource is viewed.
MR. CABANA replied that the management of the Southcentral
resources are going to be under continuous pressure just like
they are in the Lower 48 and the voters would eventually prevail
as far as establishing a larger percentage of the harvest. The
argument is about why the fish aren't there and restructuring
the board won't fix that.
4:54:41 PM at ease 4:56:19 PM
WADE WILLIS, representing himself from Anchorage, said he
subsists on the Copper River; he has a degree in marine biology
and has submitted several proposals and supported SB 284. It
will insure that the board has diversity among user groups by
making sure they are fairly represented.
4:59:34 PM
ROD ARNO, Executive Director, Alaska Outdoor Council, strongly
supported SB 284.
5:02:29 PM
PAUL SHADURA, Executive Director, Kenai Peninsula Fishermen's
Association, opposed SB 284 and said this measure would not
encourage diverse views and promote the ability to negotiate. He
pointed out that the statute also says board members should not
be appointed with regard to geographic location or user group.
5:05:22 PM
YAKOV REUTOV, K-Bay Fisherman's Association from Homer, opposed
SB 284. The Board Of Fisheries should make decisions based on
sound biological data, not on an agenda. Besides this bill only
provides for two members to represent commercial fishermen and
that wasn't fair either. From his experience, commercial
fishermen are the most conservation minded of people because
they want to have enough fish for everybody. They will be the
first to support the biologists and fisheries experts in all
areas. This is just another blatant disregard by the sport fish
industry for the Board of Fisheries process.
CHAIR HUGGINS noted that he is a sport fisherman and that the
bill provides for only two sport fishermen, as well. So, it
would be equal by design.
5:07:11 PM
JESSIE NELSON, representing herself from Homer, opposed SB 284
saying the board makes rules for fishermen all over the state
for all gear types and a multitude of species and experience is
vital. She said she is a commercial and sport fisherman as most
commercial fishermen are. She said commercial fishermen
understand the intricacies of gear and the rules more so than
sport fishermen. Most sport fishermen think commercial fishermen
are bad and their livelihoods should be taken away. To put five
sport personal use members and two commercial members on the
board in this context is just plain wrong she said.
5:09:20 PM
SENATOR STEVENS remarked that he was concerned about the amount
of activity the board has that affects commercial fisheries and
the limited numbers of commercial fishermen who would be allowed
to serve on it.
CHAIR HUGGINS held SB 284 and commented that the more the
membership gravitates toward user groups, the more self
defeating the process becomes.
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