Legislature(1999 - 2000)
04/26/1999 05:08 PM House FSH
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
HOUSE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON FISHERIES April 26, 1999 5:08 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT Representative Bill Hudson, Chairman Representative Fred Dyson Representative John Harris Representative Carl Morgan Representative Harold Smalley MEMBERS ABSENT Representative Jim Whitaker Representative Mary Kapsner OTHER MEMBERS PRESENT Representative Alan Austerman COMMITTEE CALENDAR CONFIRMATION HEARINGS Board of Fisheries Grant J. Miller - Sitka Virgil L. Umphenour - Fairbanks - CONFIRMATIONS ADVANCED Dan Kelly Coffey - Anchorage - CONFIRMATION HELD OVER HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 2 Relating to the sovereignty of the State of Alaska and the sovereign right of the State of Alaska to manage the natural resources of Alaska. - SCHEDULED BUT NOT HEARD (* First public hearing) PREVIOUS ACTION No previous action WITNESS REGISTER GRANT J. MILLER, Appointee to the Board of Fisheries P.O. Box 6097 Sitka, Alaska 99835 Telephone: (907) 747-7870 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified as appointee to the Board of Fisheries. VIRGIL L. UMPHENOUR, Appointee to the Board of Fisheries 2400 Davis Road Fairbanks, Alaska 99701 Telephone: (907) 456-3885 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified as appointee to the Board of Fisheries. REPRESENTATIVE AUSTERMAN Alaska State Legislature Capitol Building, Room 434 Juneau, Alaska 99801 Telephone: (907) 465-4956 POSITION STATEMENT: Asked Mr. Umphenour questions. GARY HOLLIER P.O. Box 2965 Soldotna, Alaska 99609 Telephone: (907) 262-5785 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in opposition to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries. JOHN HOPKINS P.O. Box 343 Cordova, Alaska 99574 Telephone: (907) 424-7632 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in opposition to the appointment of Virgil Umphenour. SUE ASPELUND, Executive Director Cordova District Fishermen United P.O. Box 939 Cordova, Alaska 99574 Telephone: (907) 424-3447 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified on behalf of Cordova District Fishermen United in opposition to the appointment of Virgil Umphenour. JOHN RENNER P.O. Box 756 Cordova, Alaska 99574 Telephone: (907) 424-7563 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in opposition to the appointment of Virgil Umphenour. LAIFE WEATHERS [address not provided] Telephone: (907) 424-3745 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in opposition to the appointment of Virgil Umphenour. ROBERT HEYANO P.O. Box 1409 Dillingham, Alaska 99576 Telephone: (907) 842-1053 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support of Dan Coffey, Grant Miller and Virgil Umphenour to the Board of Fisheries. KEVIN VANHATTEN, Member Tanana Chiefs Conference 122 First Avenue Fairbanks, Alaska 99701 Telephone: (907) 452-08251 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in opposition to the appointment of Virgil Umphenour on behalf of the TCC. RALPH SEEKINS, President Alaska Wildlife Conservation Association 1605 Old Steese Highway Fairbanks, Alaska 99701 Telephone: (907) 459-4000 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support of Dan Coffey, Grant Miller and Virgil Umphenour to the Board of Fisheries. DREW SCALZI, Representative Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly 41685 Redoubt Circle Homer, Alaska 99603 Telephone: (907) 235-6359 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in opposition to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries on behalf of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly. STEVE VANEK P.O. Box 103 Ninilchik, Alaska 99639 Telephone: (907) 567-3470 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in opposition to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries. JOHN MCCOMBS P.O. Box 87 Ninilchik, Alaska 99639 Telephone: (907) 567-3334 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in opposition to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries. BILL GRANGER P.O. Box 1162 Soldotna, Alaska 99669 Telephone: (907) 262-1284 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in opposition to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries. RION VANEK P.O. Box 251 Ninilchik, Alaska 99639 Telephone: (907) 567-7394 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in opposition to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries. STEVE TVENSTRUP 4928 Beaver Loop Kenai, Alaska 99611 Telephone: (907) 283-3482 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in opposition to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries. JOE MALATESTA, SR. P.O. Box 318 Clam Gulch, Alaska 99568 Telephone: (907) 567-3419 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in opposition to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries. CHUCK ROBINSON P.O. Box 3519 Soldotna, Alaska 99669 Telephone: (907) 262-9164 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in opposition to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries. DON FOX P.O. Box 2971 Kodiak, Alaska 99615 Telephone: (907) 486-4738 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in opposition to the appointment of Virgil Umphenour. SKIP BOLTEN P.O. Box 2852 Kodiak, Alaska 99615 Telephone: (907) 486-4099 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in opposition to the appointment of Virgil Umphenour. AL GEISER Speaking for VIRGINIA ADAMS P.O. Box 315 Kodiak, Alaska 99615 Telephone: (907) 486-7559 POSITION STATEMENT: Read a letter from Virginia Adams in opposition to the appointment of Virgil Umphenour. BRUCE KNOWLES P.O. Box 873206 Wasilla, Alaska 99687 Telephone: (907) 745-4965 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries. RICHARD GRAHAM P.O. Box 871495 Wasilla, Alaska 99687 Telephone: (907) 376-2137 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries. JAMES CHESBRO P.O. Box 1093 Palmer, Alaska 99645 Telephone: (907) 376-5433 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries. BOB MARTINSON 900 Iriquois Drive Wasilla, Alaska 99654 Telephone: (907) 373-2627 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in opposition to the reappointment of Virgil Umphenour. KORY BLAKE P.O. Box 1706 Palmer, Alaska 99645 Telephone: (907) 376-8325 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in opposition to the reappointment of Virgil Umphenour. RON WILSON P.O. Box 760 Willow, Alaska 99688 Telephone: (907) 495-7700 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries. ROBERT HALL Representing the Houston Chamber of Commerce P.O. Box 871906 Wasilla, Alaska 99687 Telephone: (907) 373-6555 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries. ERIC JORDAN 103 Gibson Place Sitka, Alaska 99835 Telephone: (907) 747-6743 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries. TIM SMITH, President Nome Fishermen's Association P.O. Box 747 Nome, Alaska 99672 Telephone: (907) 443-5352 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in opposition to the reappointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour to the Board of Fisheries on behalf of the Nome Fishermen's Association. ERIC OSBORNE P.O. Box 1738 Nome, Alaska 99762 Telephone: (907) 443-7256 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in opposition to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries. CARL ROSIER, Representative Alaska Outdoor Council 8298 Garnet Street Juneau, Alaska 99801 Telephone: (907) 789-9117 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries. DEAN CURRAN P.O. Box 42 Cordova, Alaska 99473 Telephone: (907) 424-7642 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in opposition to the reappointment of Virgil Umphenour. DENNY WEATHERS [Address not provided] Cordova, Alaska 99473 Telephone: (907) 424-3745 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in opposition to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries. THEA THOMAS, Board of Directors Copper River Salmon Producers Association P.O. Box 1566 Cordova, Alaska 99574 Telephone: (907) 424-5266 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in opposition to the reappointment of Virgil Umphenour. DALE BONDURANT 31864 Moonshine Soldotna, Alaska 99669 Telephone: (907) 262-0818 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries. GRACE KENDELL P.O. Box 2523 Soldotna, Alaska 99669 Telephone: (907) 262-6130 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in opposition to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries. JOE CONNORS, President Kenai River Professional Guide Association P.O. Box 1085 Sterling, Alaska 99672 Telephone: (907) 262-9496 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries. MARILYN KEENER P.O. Box 2833 Kenai, Alaska 99611 Telephone: (907) 283-9513 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in opposition to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries. PHIL SQUIRES, President United Cook Inlet Drift Association P.O. Box 1231 Kenai, Alaska 99611 Telephone: (907) 283-3600 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in opposition to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries. LARRY VANSKY HCR 1, Box 1330 Kenai, Alaska 99611 Telephone: (907) 776-8627 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in opposition to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries. MARK DUKER 23259 South Cohoe Loop Kasilof, Alaska 99610 Telephone: (907) 262-7989 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in opposition to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries. PAUL SHADURA P.O. Box 1632 Kenai, Alaska 99611 Telephone: (907) 262-1771 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in opposition to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries. MEL ERICKSON, Representing Deep Creek Charter Boat Association P.O. Box 1127 Soldotna, Alaska 99669 Telephone: (907) 262-2980 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries. DON JOHNSON P.O. Box 876 Soldotna, Alaska 99669 Telephone: (907) 262-7893 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries. ACTION NARRATIVE TAPE 99-12, SIDE A Number 0001 CHAIRMAN BILL HUDSON called the House Special Committee on Fisheries meeting to order at 5:08 p.m. Members present at the call to order were Representatives Hudson, Dyson, Morgan, and Smalley. Representative Harris joined the meeting at 6:25 p.m. CONFIRMATION HEARINGS Number 0060 CHAIRMAN HUDSON announced that the committee would consider three nominees for the Board of Fisheries; they would listen to the nominees and then to the public testimony. He indicated that resumes were provided by all appointees. Number 0238 GRANT J. MILLER, Appointee to the Board of Fisheries, testified via teleconference from Sitka. He stated that he has been a commercial fisherman for over 31 years and has been on the Board of Fisheries for three years. He indicated that he appreciates the group of people that he works with; there is a great deal of integrity and concern for the resource. He is happy to be a part of the team and that is the main reason he wants to continue to be on the Board of Fisheries. Another reason is that they have started a committee with the intent of producing a policy for the state for sustainable fisheries. The project is well under way and he would like to see it all the way to completion. He feels it is something that the state can hold up to the rest of the country showing that Alaska can maintain sustainability of its resources. MR. GRANT further stated that he would like to put a word in for his fellow board members; Virgil Umphenour and Dan Coffey. He said that Mr. Umphenour has been a real asset to the board; his concern for the resource has been primary and his concern for people who have little to work with out of the resources in their area says a lot about who he is and what he cares about. Mr. Coffey is a tremendous organizer and has made the function of the board extremely efficient. He added that all of these things have contributed to an effective board and he is glad to be apart of it. REPRESENTATIVE DYSON said that he is assuming there will be testimony from Cook Inlet fishermen in opposition to the reappointments of Mr. Grant, Mr. Coffey and Mr. Umphenour. He wondered what Mr. Grant's perception is as to why Cook Inlet fishermen are cross with them and what the issues are. Number 0605 MR. GRANT responded that the meeting with regards to Cook Inlet the Board of Fisheries passed an additional closure date for the drift gillnet fleet and he believes that is why there is a considerable amount of animosity. He indicated that it was a difficult decision because he knows how hard it is to give up fishing time. He said that his primary concern was the fact that some weak stocks were passing through the Cook Inlet fishery and there was little information on them. His tendency was to err on the side of conservation with regards to those stocks. He feels that the Northern district setnetters have had limited opportunity to harvest in the past few years and he thought that the closure would bump a few more fish into their fishery as well as pushing more fish up into the system of the Kenai River. He pointed out that he also made two motions following the vote on the closure that would restrict the potential for the closures to occur. One was to provide for a certain level of return during which the closure would happen and the other was to extend the days during which the closure could take place; therefore, it is possible that the closure could take place after the peak of the run so that it would have minimal impact. Number 0781 REPRESENTATIVE DYSON wondered if Mr. Miller would catagorize the disagreement as being between the commercial fleet and conservation as opposed to between the commercial fleet and the sport fishing industry. MR. MILLER explained that he thinks it is a matter of perception on the part of those who were unhappy with that decision, but he would catagorize it as a disappointment between the drift gillnet fleet and the additional protection from the weaker stocks and some additional fishing time for the Northern district setnetters. REPRESENTATIVE SMALLEY mentioned he is from the Cook Inlet area. He asked Mr. Miller what he thought the responsibility of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) was with regards to the management of fisheries in Alaska and what the Board of Fisheries responsibility was with regards to fisheries. MR. MILLER replied that the responsibilities for both are basically the same. He thinks ADF&G's responsibility is to ensure that there is a continued resource or that there is sustainability; the same applies to the Board of Fisheries. REPRESENTATIVE SMALLEY wondered, with regards to a sustainable fishery, if Mr. Miller thinks it is possible for the Board of Fisheries to ensure a sustainable fishery in Alaska. Number 0980 MR. MILLER said that he believes it is possible, but that there are a lot of other factors, which include: reduced budgets, insufficient enforcement and lack of data. It is very difficult to manage for sustainability without the information; it would be a lot better if there was more research and more data on the returns. REPRESENTATIVE SMALLEY requested clarification on whether or not Mr. Miller thought there was sufficient biological data to support this type of policy. Number 1069 MR. MILLER stated that he thinks in some areas the amount of data is greater than in others, particularly in Southeast where there is a considerable amount of data, but in many areas of the state it is difficult to collect the data and very expensive. REPRESENTATIVE SMALLEY asked if it would be more appropriate for the state to have a sustainable fishery policy developed by the ADF&G, Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), rather than by the Board of Fishery. MR. MILLER replied no. He said that he believes it would not be better to have DNR or the DEC develop the policy. Even when he was not on the Board of Fisheries and was a fishermen his experiences with DNR and DEC were not favorable. He has a lot more faith in ADF&G and with the current Board of Fisheries. He believes that the current board can accomplish what they need to with the limited amount of information they have. CHAIRMAN HUDSON stated that he has received testimony expressing concern about a bias by certain board members toward hatcheries. MR. MILLER stated that a certain board member feels that the hatcheries have had a negative impact on the marketability of the resource from his area. Mr. Miller indicated that he has a some what different opinion, but he thinks each hatchery situation needs to be looked at and assessed individually and that they cannot be addressed in a broad sweeping way. Number 1256 CHAIRMAN HUDSON said, as Mr. Miller probably knows, the legislature is up against the wall on the subsistence issue. He wondered if Mr. Miller or the other board members have had a chance to discuss the ramifications that it may have with regards to the Board of Fisheries roll with the fisheries at large. MR. MILLER responded that he was not sure if he understood the question being asked, but the board members have had some casual conversations with regards to the ramifications that the federal management of fisheries would have, and none of them feel very positive about it. A good example is the Beluga whale stock management issue in Cook Inlet; if the Board of Fisheries would have had jurisdiction over that they would not have let a situation of that nature go as far as it did. Number 1339 REPRESENTATIVE SMALLEY wondered why there is a new committee process if local advisory committees have advised the board for over 40 years. MR. MILLER stated that the advisory committee process is first class and he feels that it needs to be empowered even more. He also thinks that the committee process, in terms of going to each community, has been invaluable. He said, "It is not a matter of one or the other, it is a matter of the more opportunity there is to get information the more information they are going to get." REPRESENTATIVE SMALLEY commented that in the last meeting in Soldotna it appeared that the new committee process kind of circumvented public input because once the committee came up with a decision that's the way it was going to be. MR. MILLER indicated that he was not sure he saw it that way. He said that they had some concerns about what came out of committee and not allowing the public to respond. They made some adjustments to that so the public could see what came out of committee and respond at that time. He said he doesn't feel that the board is shutting anything off; if anything, they are opening more doors. CHAIRMAN HUDSON asked if Mr. Miller is currently participating in a fishery as a permit holder, crew member or sport fisherman. MR. MILLER replied that he is currently a commercial fisherman and has a herring bait pound operation. He said that he passed his seine, troll and long line permits over to his son. VIRGIL L. UMPHENOUR, Appointee to the Board of Fisheries, testified via teleconference from Fairbanks. He stated that he has lived in Alaska since 1971 and has been on the Board of Fisheries for the past five years. He bought a commercial fish wheel license for the upper Yukon in 1984 and fished with that until 1995 when he turned it over to his son. In 1985 he started a fish processing business in Fairbanks, which he is currently operating. They process commercial-caught fish primarily from the upper Yukon district. They also process subsistence-caught fish and do custom processing of wild game. He indicated that the reason he wants to stay on the Board of Fisheries is similar to what Mr. Miller said; they have a very good team, they are very responsive to the public, the sustainable fishery process is important and it is important to have a policy that will answer some of the questions that the board has on sustainability. He also noted that the current composition of the board is very balanced and he supports the confirmation of Mr. Miller and Mr. Coffey. Number 1712 REPRESENTATIVE SMALLEY asked Mr. Umphenour what he considers to be a commercial mixed stock fishery. MR. UMPHENOUR replied that a mixed stock fishery is a fishery that harvests fish that are destined for more than one place; therefore, it is a general rule that the management biologists do not have any means to assess the strength of the individual stocks that make up the mixed stock. REPRESENTATIVE SMALLEY asked Mr. Umphenour what his viewpoint is on cost recovery of aquaculture programs. MR. UMPHENOUR stated that his viewpoint on cost recovery is that it should be reasonable. The original purpose for the hatchery enhancement program in the state was to rebuild depressed wild salmon stocks; therefore, the cost recovery process is suppose to generate operating funds to operate hatcheries in order to rebuild the depressed stocks. Whenever an aquaculture association or a hatchery harvests more of the hatchery-produced stocks then the common property is allowed to harvest, he feels they are defeating the purpose. There are cases where the cost recovery harvest is 100 percent of the harvest. Number 1830 REPRESENTATIVE SMALLEY wondered who should implement policy regarding the fishery source in Alaska. MR. UMPHENOUR responded that the legislature has given that authority to the Board of Fisheries. CHAIRMAN HUDSON asked the same question that he asked Mr. Miller with regards to the testimony he has received expressing concern about a bias by certain board members toward hatcheries. He said that some folks seemed to believe that Mr. Umphenour had a conflict of interest. Number 1887 MR. UMPHENOUR indicated that some people consider him biased and prejudice against the hatcheries. He stated that he is not prejudice against hatcheries, but he does question when the hatchery system was set up in the state it was set up to rebuild and rehabilitate depressed wild salmon stocks. The way it was set up is that each region could have regional planning teams. Those regional planning teams would decide what their production would be without any thought given to what the impact would be on other regions of the state; therefore, in a situation like that a small region of the state is allowed to take public funds from the state and they expend these public funds and they are allowed to set what the production and marketing is going to be. When they compete against private enterprise and increase the production it is a situation like in Prince William Sound. In the 1980s the wild catch of chum salmon averaged between 1.1 and 1.2 million fish, where the hatchery production was around 100,000 and now in the 1990s it has flip flopped; the harvest of the wild chum salmon is between 100,000 to 150,000 and they are harvesting an excess of 1 million hatchery produced chum salmon. There is a lot of concern about the competition of the wild salmon with the hatchery salmon. He indicated that DIPAC (Douglas Island Pink and Chum) have been releasing chum salmon smolt near the mouth of the Taku River. The Canadian biologists are concerned that the wild chum salmon stocks that enter the river are being out competed by the hatchery chum salmon smolts that are being released from the hatchery to the extent that the wild chum salmon are approaching the endangered species mode. Number 2963 REPRESENTATIVE AUSTERMAN mentioned the last cycle in Anchorage created a problem with bottom fishing statewide. He said he has received a number of calls indicating that Mr. Umphenour is more concerned with the in-stream fishery and that he is out to basically do away with the bottom fisheries in Alaska. MR. UMPHENOUR believes resident small-vessel fishermen (in the smaller communities) should not have to compete against very large (hard-on-bottom) trawlers, including mid-water trawlers that come up from Washington state where the majority of them are owned by large corporations. For example the Bank of Norway uses "American Seafoods" as their name to mislead the American public when it's a primarily Norwegian-owned company. He emphasized the people of Alaska should have the first shot at the resources. REPRESENTATIVE AUSTERMAN pointed out that the bottom fishery and whitefish industry is the larger fishery in Alaska and that a lot of that is offshore, however, most of the Alaska fleets would not be able to participate due to the size of their vessels. Number 2217 MR. UMPHENOUR explained the board only regulates out to the three-mile limit in the groundfish fisheries. However, the board regulates that entire crab fishery to the 200-mile limit because the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council gave that authority to the state. He further stated that the board is very concerned with the by-catch and the manner in which by-catch is counted in these trawl fisheries. The board did convince the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council to lower the cap on king salmon in the Bering Sea last February due to the by-catch of salmon and other species that do affect our inshore salmon fishermen because they just kill them and pitch them overboard. He reiterated that he is very supportive of Alaskans having the first shot at catching whatever the harvest is and employing people in the state because the majority of the large fleet (which fishes offshore) employees aren't even citizens of this country we should employ Alaskans first. REPRESENTATIVE AUSTERMAN asked Mr. Umphenour, "If a dragger out of Kodiak, or Unalaska, or Chignik, as long as his fishing within the three-miles and he's Alaskan-owned, you don't have a problem." MR. UMPHENOUR replied he has a problem if he's hard-on-bottom trawling. REPRESENTATIVE AUSTERMAN asked what about mid-water. MR. UMPHENOUR stated that he can see mid-water trawling as long as it's done in a responsible manner. Number 2337 REPRESENTATIVE SMALLEY asked, with an increased demand on a fully-utilized fishery, what factors do you consider when allocating the resource. MR. UMPHENOUR replied that he goes by the board's allocation criteria. REPRESENTATIVE SMALLEY asked how would you elaborate on that. MR. UMPHENOUR said the first thing the board addresses is the history of the fishery, number of participants in the fishery, where they live, whether the fishery is going to provide recreational activities for residents and nonresidents of the state and whether the fishery is going to provide fish to put on the Alaskan's dinner table. REPRESENTATIVE SMALLEY asked what is the future of commercial fisheries and the guided sports fishing industries on Cook Inlet and its tributaries. Number 2360 MR. UMPHENOUR pointed out, with the growing demand for the limited resources, sport fish guides are going to have to be regulated. He mentioned that he has worked with Representative Austerman during the last two years in an attempt to get the sport fishing guiding industry regulated and until we regulate them, were going to continue to have problems. Mr. Umphenour stated, "With growth of that fishery and with people coming up from outside and declaring their self a sport fish fisherman and paying for a guide, and all they have to do is pay $50 and declare themselves one, and they are one with absolutely no ethics, conduct - or anything to regulate them, other than just the regulations that the boards passed and all we can do is regulate methods and means and seasons and bag limits, we can't regulate them. I see a lot of problems there and the board is going to have to keep regulating the seasons and the bag limits so that we make the pie even smaller for the individuals. ... And a lot commercial fishermen are complaining that their seasons have been shortened. The reason their seasons have been shortened has been primarily because their efficiency has increased with modernization and whenever, regardless of whether their season shortened or not, if they're catching the same amount of fish, or a larger amount of fish, then that's all the board can do because we're mandated by the legislator to manage the fisheries for sustainable yield. ... We just have to keep restricting and I see more restrictions in the future as efficiency continues to increase and as the population increase and because we haven't been able to get the legislature to pass a statute to regulate sport fish guides." Number 2499 REPRESENTATIVE AUSTERMAN said there were two incidents in Kodiak. The first one dealt with the sport fish industry and the second with the limit of five kings. He noted that the advisory board made recommendations yet those recommendations weren't followed by the board. He asked Mr. Umphenour if he wanted to comment. MR. UMPHENOUR indicated that was a very heated issue. He said the advisory committee could not reach a consensus and that there was a big dispute between the vice-chair of the advisory committee in Kodiak and some of the other people on that committee. The board did what they thought was the best thing to do with the least amount of economic hardship to the people involved. REPRESENTATIVE AUSTERMAN remarked that's not what he recalls. He said he will have to pull the record on that issue. MR. UMPHENOUR further explained that the board received a lot of testimony and written documentation. He suggested Representative Austerman obtain a copy of the minority and majority reports. [The following witnesses testified via teleconference]. Number 2646 GARY HOLLIER testified from Anchorage in opposition to the confirmation of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries. He noted that he was born in Alaska, and hired 17 people last summer, 11 of which were born and raised in Alaska, including two Alaska Natives. He worked hard for what he has and doesn't feel that the board has given him a fair shake. MR. HOLLIER said the board met seven times in the last four years and has hammered on his business with new regulations without biological data. He urged the members not to confirm Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour or Grant Miller, because the current board has put Alaska's fishery on its knees. He remarked that Governor Knowles said he wants the jobs for Alaskans, yet his board has destroyed many family businesses by his appointments to the board. Mr. Hollier stated, "How can commercial fishermen get a fair shake by dancing with Dan Coffey when he helped author the fish initiative which would have put commercial fishermen out of business? Three years ago the Board of Fish [Fisheries] raised escapement goals in the Kenai River from 700,000 to 850,000 and wanted an update from the [Alaska] Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) as far as to what the impact was. [The Alaska Department of ]Fish and Game ... said (this year) that the Kenai River, Russian River watershed, was the number one most impaired watersheds in the state of Alaska but no damage could be accounted for by boat wakes or angler pressure. To me this is a joke, ... then they went and raised escapement goals this year to l.2 million - I don't think they're good stewards for the resource. I think Dan Coffey leads the board along with Doctor White, the rest of the people just follow." Mr. Hollier concluded that if you can find new individuals who aren't so biased, you can give the people of the Kenai Peninsula Borough a fair shake. The Kenai Peninsula Borough realizes what great harm the current Board of Fisheries has done to the Kenai Peninsula Borough and its citizens. Number 2767 JOHN HOPKINS testified from Cordova in opposition to the reappointment of Virgil Umphenour noting that he is an Alaska Native and that he would like to respond to a few inflammatory remarks that Mr. Umphenour made last week. Mr. Hopkins said the PWSAC (Prince William Sound Aquaculture Corporation) debt probably would have been in fine shape if "we" had not helped the state out by taking over the two hatcheries that the state was having difficulty managing. And had we known the effects of the oil spill, we may have chosen a different plan. He said he does not believe PWSAC would be allowed to produce salmon to the detriment of wild stocks, PWSAC is being watched closely by ADF&G and other state agencies, to allow any harm to come to wild stocks would be against their rules. As for the Copper River Flats, any person with an inkling of common sense would realize that it is not to the best interest of any commercial fisherman to even think of wiping out the fishery. He said the drift gillnetters on the Copper River work hard with ADF&G to make suggestions which makes management easier for ADF&G and allows them to be part of the team. For this reason, they have experienced record runs of king salmon and sockey. He concluded that their most important reason to be conservation-minded is because they would like their children to fish and to be able to eat the salmon because it is the best food in the world. Mr. Hopkins said, "This is why I am opposed to Mr. Umphenour's reappointment because he is uninformed and he doesn't try to find out the facts and he shouldn't be allowed to be making important decisions for this state or its people." Number 2884 SUE ASPELUND, Executive Director, Cordova District Fishermen United, testified from Cordova in opposition to the confirmation of Virgil Umphenour on behalf of the Cordova District Fishermen United, because they believe that the board and the public's interest would be better served by the (indisc.) and unbiased appointee, one who is clearly able to ascertain the facts and is able to treat the public with respect. "We believe Mr. Umphenour demonstrated prejudices and unwillingness to critically examine the facts should preclude him from further service on the board. The issues facing our industry are diverse. They demand the kind of knowledge, skills and abilities that come from a broader scope of experience than which currently exists on the board. We believe that the appointment of someone other than Mr. Umphenour could provide for improved balance and performance." Number 2905 JOHN RENNER testified from Cordova in opposition to the reappointment of Virgil Umphenour to the board noting he personally witnessed Mr. Umphenour's outburst at the last board meeting and that he repeats inaccurate facts. Subsequently the board went into an executive session and asked the public to leave. He said Virgil Umphenour is biased on his lack - Prince William Sound is important to Cordova, he is biased on the Copper River, he has a conflict of interest because he processes poundage out of the upper Copper River, so of course he doesn't want a commercial fishery on the lower Copper River. However, it has been managed affectively and conservatively for 100 years, and it has been increasing to record numbers. Mr. Renner stated, "The percentage of harvest by species, by user-group on the Copper River, the percentage of that are raising are up-river, sir, not down-river." MR. RENNER said he is also very concerned with the new subcommittee system that the board has gone to. TAPE 99-12, SIDE B MR. RENNER continued. "We have no input when things happen in subcommittees and it's a whole different system than we've been dealing with for years. I hope you could see it to appoint someone who listens to facts and is less biased and can retain the facts. Please don't reappoint Mr. Umphenour." Number 2937 LAIFE WEATHERS testified from Cordova in opposition to the reappointment of Virgil Umphenour to the Board of Fisheries noting that he is a commercial fisherman in Prince William Sound. He strongly urged the committee not to confirm Virgil Umphenour to the Board of Fisheries because he has shown himself to be prejudice against the Copper River drift gillnetters by telling lies about the fishery. An example is comparing drift beach seining to drift gillnetting for kings. Number 2899 ROBERT HEYANO testified from Dillingham in support of Dan Coffey, Grant Miller, and Virgil Umphenour to the Board of Fisheries. He noted that he is a lifelong resident of the Dillingham area and is a second-generation commercial fisherman and has represented the local advisory committee for a number of years and worked with a number of different Board of Fisheries members. He believes these three members are doing a very good job, he finds them very accessible during the meetings to discuss Dillingham's position with them, he finds them knowledgeable in the fisheries' issues, and they are willing to let the stakeholders work out compromises on allocation issues. Mr. Heyano added that he finds the new subcommittee very positive because it provides board members with a lot more detailed information than the previous system did. Number 2818 KEVIN VANHATTEN, testified from Fairbanks on behalf of the Tanana Chiefs Conference in opposition to the reappointment of Virgil Umphenour. He said the basis for our lack of support is due to the problems that have arisen in the communities on the Koyukuk River. Mr. Vanhatten further stated, "As you know Mr. Umphenour is a big game guide in that area of the state and some issues concerning the sensitivity of the Koyukuk River has been brought to our attention regarding his operations there. Due to those reasons, we cannot support Virgil Umphenour reappointment to the Board of Fisheries." Number 2769 RALPH SEEKINS, President, Alaska Wildlife Conservation Association testified from Fairbanks in support of the reappointment of Virgil Umphenour to the Board of Fisheries. He said the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Association thinks his perspective to the Board of Fisheries is important especially for the people who live in the Interior of Alaska. Number 2757 DREW SCALZI, Representing the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly, testified that the assembly chose by resolution last Tuesday to ask the legislature to not reappoint the three incumbents to the Board of Fisheries, noting he has been on the assembly for approximately seven years, and in that time they have taken many steps to ensure the health of the Kenai River. He said the assembly has taken economically-valued selected land along the river and placed it in preservation status, they have given part of the land back to the state so it could be used for critical buffer areas, and they struggled for two years with their first step of zoning in establishing a 50-foot buffer along the Kenai River on both private and public lands. Mr. Scalzi indicated they had much resistance this, a lot of them were absentee property owners from Anchorage, but nevertheless, after two years of compromising the ordinance passed. And with the cooperation of the state, federal and borough cooperation they came about with the Kenai River Center. He emphasized that he brought these issues up to show that the Kenai Peninsula Borough has stepped up both financially and with legislation to protect and enhance the Kenai River and the assembly does not feel that the Board of Fisheries is acting in the river's best interest. MR. SCALZI further stated that it was interesting to hear Mr. Umphenour comment on what should be done regarding the amount of pressure that the guides put on the river. However no action has been taken, it seems that the only action they see from the Board of Fisheries each year is that they curtail the commercial salmon catch. By changing the terms of managing of sockey for commercial in the management plan, and increasing the acceptable escapement levels to 1.2 million sockey, the board has affectively allowed the river to reach potentially high and low fluctuations and the result of which will be economically disastrous for the commercial industry and biologically unacceptable as anyone knows the ramifications of over escapement and these escapement levels have far exceeded the recommended limits of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Number 2609 STEVE VANEK testified from Ninilchik in opposition to the confirmation of the three board members. He said Dan Coffey, Grant Miller and Virgil Umphenour have had an agenda for Cook Inlet since they were first appointed, that their agenda was to reduce the catch of all salmon by commercial fishermen in the central district. They began by generating their own anti-commercial fishing proposals out-of-cycle and were prepared to act on them without public comment. There was such a public outcry, from around the state, that Mr. Coffey apologized for circumventing the public process. Mr. Vanek stated, "Mister Miller said he was concerned about weak stocks. What did he do about the northern district setnetters and the sport fishermen? Shouldn't everyone share the burden, why just the drift gillnetters? He said he wanted to pass more fish to the northern district setnetters, how does that protect weak stocks." MR. VANEK noted the second reason he is opposed to the three board members is because they have destroyed the advisory committee and the public process through Mr. Coffey's board appointed subcommittees and that the new board committee process makes a joke out of the local advisory committee. Mr. Vanek stated, "We who represent the public, from our area, must sit down on a board subcommittee equally with special interest groups. Elected advisory committee members have no more influence on a single person representing a special interest. All important occur in these subcommittees, so why would I want to waste my time on a local advisory committee anymore, why should the public waste their time testifying before the board anymore. This board committee process takes more time and produces volumes of more paperwork, it must go and so must these three board members who promoted it." Number 2501 JOHN MCCOMBS testified from Kenai in opposition to the confirmations of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries. He explained the present Board of Fisheries came to Soldotna last winter and put more fish and more people on the Kenai River and did nothing to mitigate habitat degradation - fish don't spawn on boardwalks. Actions taken by this board restricted the drift fleet by removing three best openings without financial consideration mandated by their own allocation criteria. The present board allocated fish to nonresident sport fishermen, taking them from resident commercial fishermen. Mr. McCombs said the state constitution stipulates against allocating natural resources to nonresidents, if this was gold, or oil or timber, such an allocation would not be tolerated. MR. MCCOMBS continued. "This board circumvented the advisory committee, instituted a new committee process without the traditional public notice or comment period. Columbia Wards Cannery closed their doors in Kenai, Icicle Seafood in Homer has chosen not to rebuild - net loss 200-300 jobs - both companies stating the difficulty of trying to do business in a hostile regulatory environment. Is this the purpose and function of the Board of Fish to close businesses, bankrupt fishermen, allocate resources and redistribute jobs and dollars? Ninety percent of the state's total sport and commercial-economic value is not represented by this board. There are three Cook Inlet sport fish advocates on the present board. Geographic and economic representation has never been worse. Without armed guards, without hiding behind the gavel, come back to Soldotna and explain how the board justifies killing so many jobs on the Kenai Peninsula. I urge you not to confirm Grant Miller, Virgil Umphenour, or Dan Coffey." Number 2369 REPRESENTATIVE SMALLEY said he heard another cannery was closing down on the Kenai River and noted that it was purchased. He asked Mr. McCombs if that was correct. MR. MCCOMBS replied yes, other processors are also going to work in one facility and they're going to combine their efforts and thus trying to keep their overhead down to stay in business this summer. Number 2371 BILL GRANGER testified from Kenai in opposition to the confirmations of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries, noting that he has lived on the Kenai Peninsula for 28 years and has been a commercial fisherman for 21 years, 5 years as a permit holder. He said he attended the Alaska Board of Fisheries meeting in Soldotna and was appalled at the way the board was conducted. He said overwhelming public comment to the board was met with deaf ears - it became obvious to him that the board came to town with an agenda which was designed to destroy the commercial fishing industry in Cook Inlet. He emphasized that he is asking the legislature to withhold the confirmation of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller. Number 2315 RION VANEK testified from Kenai in opposition to the confirmations of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries, noting that he is a Cook Inlet drift gillnet fisherman. He said the current board has affected the inlet's fishery and his livelihood dramatically. With no representation on the Board of Fisheries from his area this board has made sweeping changes without any regard to the economic consequence brought upon the industry and the Kenai Peninsula. Mr. Vanek stated, "On a more personal level, this board has brought considerable hardship to me and my family. I bought a permit to enter a fishery with a longstanding tradition of support by the state. One agency brings stability by issuing and monitoring ownership of the limited fishing rights, another agency lends money to people like me indebting them to the state in order to keep permits in the hands of Alaskans and provide them with opportunities. The third agency is supposed to make sure the resource remains stable and healthy, this third agency has instead become a vehicle for special interest to rob commercial fishermen of their livelihood or even their ability to make payments to the second agency. This Board of Fisheries has not provided stability or health to the resource. We need to have people on the Board of Fisheries who care about the resource and understand the economics involved with closing down our fishing industries. Increasing escapement levels, in an already over-escaped river, shows disregard for the recourse and even less regard for the well-being of fishing families." Number 2231 STEVE TVENSTRUP testified from Kenai in opposition to the confirmations of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries, noting that he was born and raised in Alaska and currently obtained a commercial fishing permit. He said Grant Miller indicated that there was a few commercial fishermen not happy with the process, and the processes that he has been in with the Board of Fisheries for the last six years have been "take, take, take," from the commercial fisheries. If they're worried about weak stocks, the local Department of Fish and Game will shut it down, for example in 1998 the drift fishermen shutdown for most of the season by the Board of Fisheries. Mister Tvenstrup emphasized, "There's got to be some changes here. We have to have some representation on the commercial fisheries and on the Kenai Peninsula here. There's no reason for these particular board members to be shutting up the hard and fast closure like the 25 and the 23 [of July]. The 15th has also been a very critical closure, there used to be a handful of local fishermen on the 15 of August would go out and fish this fishery when there was a strong stock out there that we weren't the stock and we were able to make some money, now we're shut down on the 8 of August ... for the silver stocks and even the Kenai River and the Mat-Su (Matanuska-Susitna) for silvers there for the sport fishermen. So we need some help, we need some representation please I urge you not to reconfirm these gentlemen." Number 2118 JOE MALATESTA testified from Kenai in opposition to the confirmations of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries, noting that he forwarded a 40-plus page to the legislature and that none of these men deserve to be reappointed because they don't care about the habitat or about the economy in Kenai or the people that live there. Mister Malatesta said this board is going to go down in the history of Alaska as the worst Board of Fisheries to circumvent the board's process. For example, they've taken (indis.--paper shuffling) up out of cycle two or three times just to take away fishing time for these folks. This committee process is a joke and it's never been noticed nor has there ever been public comment. They appoint people at random from the public to do the public's business, it's bad and it's illegal. MR. MALATESTA further stated that the board dismantled the Upper Cook Inlet Management Plan and took out the priority. He said, "These folks down here have got a very short time to commercial fish, they only get to fish now from the 1 - 8, and some of the 15 of August and this is terrible. They have to make their living in that time. The industry down here is no longer viable because of this Board of Fisheries and at this last hearing they were told by not only businesses, but ... in front of you with a bunch of petitions with approximately 600 people, and there's more to come. We're tired of it, we do not want these men confirmed, they do not deserve to sit there and make these rules and regulations, they're hurting the resource and the habitat, and keep in mind the most precious resource is our children." Number 1984 CHUCK ROBINSON testified from Kenai in opposition to the confirmations of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries, noting that he has a commercial setnet permit in Cook Inlet and has fished in Cook Inlet since 1976. He stated, all three of these people have sat on the board for the last five years and have had an agenda since that time to pretty much restrict commercial salmon fishing in Cook Inlet to the point where it's no longer economically viable for fishermen to do it. The Board of Fisheries has a cycle regulation or policy that they will only consider a subject fishery every three years, unfortunately these three members have pushed forth considering Cook Inlet every year. And every year that they've come up and considered the fishery, every year they've taken something away from the commercial fishermen. Mister Robinson further stated, "Here's an example of why I believe Mr. Umphenour isn't fit to serve, he was asked a question as what does he see the future of commercial fishing and guiding to be in the Cook Inlet area, and he addressed only one-half of the question by saying that he thought the problem with the guides was that they were unregulated. Well, they're certainly regulated as to time, area, bag limits, et cetera, but he's right they're not regulated in terms of entry into the fishery, there's not a lawful way right now for that to happen. But he failed to talk about what he saw as the future for commercial fishing in Cook Inlet and if you look at Virgil's [Umphenour] voting record, I can pretty much tell you that his idea of the future is the potential elimination and strangulation of the fishery. The commercial fishermen are not regulated by the board in terms of entry into its fishery either, but that doesn't mean that because they're not regulated by entry into the fishery that the Board of Fisheries should play favorites and give sport guides better opportunities to fish than commercial fishermen but that's precisely what's going on here. This idea of the state, and when I say state I mean when the Board of Fisheries - they're state officials, when the state gets involved in giving advantages of competition to private individuals, it seems to me that the state has overstepped its bounds. And by giving more competitive-edge to sport fisheries, particularly guides, than commercial fisheries, then they have jumped into a fray that they should never be involved in. They should stay out of the economic competition between users and just strictly with what's in the best interest of the resource. And none of these men, including Dan Coffey who has always had agenda to get rid of commercial fishing - have the resource at heart. All they really have at heart is making it better for their own interest groups to advance over the expense and hardship of another." Number 1800 DON FOX testified from Kodiak in opposition to the confirmation of Virgil Umphenour, noting that he is a 30-year Kodiak fisherman, that he has been on the Kodiak Advisory Committee for 12 years, is a member of the Regional Aquaculture Committee, and is a USA Steering Committee member. He stated, "I would like to address this as the 'Alaska Board of Salmon,' I think there's too many salmon members on it and there should be somebody appointed to this who has a well-grounded knowledge of bottomfish, dragging and our shellfish industry which are a big part of our state, so I would like to have somebody appointed to that. And a comment on the committee process, I saw it in action and I liked it - and I've been to a lot of Board of Fisheries meetings and I really like it. And to get somebody on the board who would represent these other interests and who has a knowledge of them, I guess I would have to say Virgil Umphenour would be the one not to confirm even though I would love to find a reason to get rid of Dan Coffey but I can't, I disagree with him but he does his homework, he listens, and I don't think he's prejudice against commercial as much as other people think. But Virgil - I think he has a habit of going into meetings with his mind made up, I've seen it happen and no matter what you say, it's just like in the tunnel, tunnel-vision, he's already got his mind made up. Personally I like the man, I've talked to him, I like him, but I would like you to reject Virgil." Number 1691 SKIP BOLTEN testified from Kodiak in opposition to the confirmation of Virgil Umphenour, noting that he has been a commercial fisherman, residing and fishing out of Kodiak for the past 33 years and during that time he has been on the Board of Directors of the United Fishermen Marketing Association for over 20 years and has been the Vice President of the Alaska Draggers Association for the last four years. He said his involvement in fisheries politics has, up until now, been on a local level. At the January Board of Fisheries meeting, which was held in Kodiak, he testified as a stakeholder on Proposal 132 and bottom trawling in the state waters in Kodiak and subsequently became a member of the Groundfish Committee, from there he was appointed by the board to serve on a non-pelagic Trawl Task Force which he did for two months before the March Board of Fisheries meeting in Anchorage. MR. BOLTEN stated, "I must say that the inclination of the Board of Fisheries to close all state waters to non-pelagic trawling had me in disbelief that this governing body was making decisions affecting so many people would be so biased and unwilling to listen to both sides of the issue was shocking. In particular, Mr. Umphenour's manner of professional conduct could not have been less professional. During the March Board of Fisheries meeting in Anchorage, and more specifically the final deliberations of the Board of Fisheries and Proposal 132, Mr. Umphenour's predisposed biased and totally unprofessional conduct was rampant as is demonstrated by this tape. This short excerpt begins with Doctor White, Chairman of the Board of Fisheries asking Mr. Dave Jackson, Department of Fish and Game, Kodiak, about safety issues relating to the proposed closed areas." [Mr. Bolten played a portion of the tape but it was difficult to understand due to teleconferencing]. Mr. Bolten continued, "I ask you, you be the judge, is this a kind of an individual who will make intelligent, fair, unbiased, and I'm going to underline this: rational decisions that will not only affect the livelihoods but also the lives of many coastal Alaskan fishermen and their families, I don't think so. Please don't confirm Mr. Umphenour." CHAIRMAN HUDSON mentioned the audio was a little difficult coming over the teleconfrence, however, the committee has a copy of the tape if anybody would like to listen to it. Number 1236 AL GEISER read the following letter in opposition to the reappointment of Virgil Umphenour from VIRGINIA ADAMS to Representative Austerman, dated April 23, 1999: I would like to take this opportunity to comment on the confirmation of Virgil Umphenour to the Alaska Board of Fisheries. Since Mr. Umphenour was appointed to the Board of Fisheries, I have attended all Board of Fisheries meetings relating to my area, Kodiak. I have attended these meetings as the President of Northwest Seiners Association, as a Board member of United Fishermen of Alaska and as a member of the Kodiak Salmon Work Group. Most recently I attended the Board of Fisheries meetings in Anchorage dealing with state shellfish and groundfish proposals as a Board of Fisheries appointed member of the Kodiak Non-Pelagic Trawl Committee. I feel I have had a great deal of time an interaction with Mr. Virgil Umphenour on which to base my opinions regarding his qualifications. Mister Umphenour consistently shows an inability to keep an open mind when deciding complex issues, and in fact can be absolutely counted upon to bring his own strong opinions and preconceived ideas to important Board of Fisheries deliberations and votes. I witnessed this recently in January at the Board of Fisheries meetings in Kodiak. Mister Umphenour, making a point in the evening to several Board of Fisheries attendees, took a bag of potato chips, dumped them on the floor, ground them with his foot and then commented; "That's what a king crab looks like after a trawl runs over it!" This to me is not the kind of behavior I would expect out of a person holding such an important position as a Board of Fisheries member does. Mister Umphenour, has earned the reputation as a closed minded, opinionated board member whose vote can be counted on any issue BEFORE the Board of Fisheries even meets. Mister Umphenour is very forthright in his predisposition towards several commercial gear types such as non-pelagic trawl, as well as aquaculture associations in Alaska. This type of attitude is inexcusable in an individual who holds so much power in such an important industry to the state. I feel the legislature has an opportunity at this time to send the Governor a message that it is time to put some balance back in the Board of Fisheries. It is my sincere hope that Mr. Umphenour will not be confirmed to the Board of Fisheries and that his vacancy will give the Governor an opportunity to appoint an individual with commercial fish experience and knowledge. Alaska's fishing industry deserves a Board of Fisheries that is unbiased, intelligent and knowledgeable of the intricacies involved in the crucial decisions that make, many coastal families lives depend on those qualities. Quite frankly, Mr. Umphenour does not possess those qualities and his time on the Board of Fisheries should end. VIRGINIA ADAMS. Number 0789 BRUCE KNOWLES testified from the Mat-Su in support of the confirmations of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries, noting that he serves on the Mat-Su Valley Advisory Committee, Mat-Su Borough Blue Ribbon Fishery Committee, and is the President of the Guides Association, Board of Directors of the Cook Inlet Sport Fish Caucus. He indicated this is the finest board that we've ever had and explained Alaska's statehood was held up because the federal government felt the board which was initially established was stacked to favor commercial fishing and he felt it was that way for 34 years. He further noted that the board recently obtained fair and equal representation has developed a sustainable fisheries program and these people have to stay together to complete this so our salmon stay healthy. MR. KNOWLES continued, "And I bear quite a bit of complaint about these new closures as they're being called, in reality they're nothing but restrictions. They're restricting the drift fleets to a 'corridor' (ph) on these days and the publications by the Department of Fish and Game says the one restriction on the 22, 23, time frame will put 100,000 additional fish of different species up into the northern districts and up into the Mat-Su valley. Now this is 100,000 fish that are coming home that had been intercepted and we have lost the benefit of. Our commercial fishermen, ... sport fishermen, ... subsistence will be harvesting them. We've got runs that are serious trouble up here due to over harvesting from commercial fishing. We've got some salmon runs in this area that are in dire problems, McNeil River down in the lower Cook Inlet, the wildlife conservation people are concerned about the low number of returns to feed the bears in that area, we've seen a chum salmon harvest drop from over 900,000 a year to less than 100,000 these last couple of years. So our board has taken action to resolve these problems, they've developed a task force to do it. I head the gentleman talk about the committee process of Kodiak ... and I heard quite a lot of mumbling about the board process, after the second day there were quite a few people that did support the process and I do find it good and I think everybody should be retained on the Board of Fisheries and let's bring salmon management into the 21st century." Number 0808 REPRESENTATIVE SMALLEY asked Mr. Knowles if he supported the sport fish guiding industry being limited to two specific areas on the Kenai River. MR. KNOWLES replied that he served for 18 months on the committee which tried to write legislation to manage guides and when the legislature got involved it was blown-out-of-proportion and never got anywhere. He said he would be willing to work with anybody that's going to develop a program to manage guides, however, he doesn't think a limited entry process would work. He said, "We've seen how the limited entry has failed in commercial fishermen, it's made an elite group of elitists that think they're guaranteed a living by the state and we don't need that." Mr. Knowles mentioned he will be in Juneau next week and will be glad to meet with Representative Smalley. Number 0733 RICHARD GRAHAM testified in support to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries, the Mat-Su Legislative Information office, noting that he is a retired Fish and Wildlife Protection Officer and has participated in an assortment of board meetings for approximately 23 years. He said he worked closely with Mr. Umphenour, Mr. Miller and Mr. Coffey on issues primarily involving the enforcement of Alaska's fishery laws and regulations and based on his positive experience with the gentlemen and based on their demonstrated dedication he encouraged the committee to recommend to the full legislative body the confirmation of reappointment to the board. MR. GRAHAM further stated, "The board recently completed a regulatory meeting in Soldotna in which a large portion of the Cook Inlet salmon management plans were reviewed and updated. Certainly a review that was long overdue. As a result of that meeting, certain groups of resource users are unhappy with the board's action simply because they will not be able to harvest the amount of salmon they've been allowed to harvest in recent years. These groups now want to block the reappointment of certain board members because of this. ... Anyone who has attended a board meeting knows one thing that with very few exceptions, someone or some group will leave the meeting unhappy ... because there is not enough fish to satisfy everyone's needs. This is certainly the case in Cook Inlet as well as other areas around the state. It is quite clear this board . . have made great strides in attempting to accomplish a task required by the state constitution that is the building and the rebuilding of our fishery resources to a sustainable level. Appointees that are in front of this committee for review have contributed much to the success of the board and again, I encourage you to support their confirmation." Number 0552 JAMES CHESBRO testified in support to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries, from the Mat-Su, noting he has been a resident of the Mat-Su since 1974 and has been an avid sport fisherman for 50 years. He added that he is a member of the Mat-Su Mayor's Blue Ribbon Advisory Board, the Mat-Su State Fish and Game Advisory Board and a member of the 600-member Alaska Fly Fishers, but is speaking for himself. Mr. Chesbro stated the present board has been forward thinking, professional, evenhanded, they have established a sustained yield fisheries program and is conservation minded and considered the entire echo-system. They have established stakeholder committees to resolve problems, therefor, he strongly supports the present board. Number 0477 BOB MARTINSON testified in opposition to the appointment of Virgil Umphenour to the Board of Fisheries from the Mat-Su, read the following statement: His [Mr. Umphenour's] temper tantrum raised at the 1996 board meeting in Cordova showed him to be both biased and uninformed. His cussing and false statement in front of the public put the board into an executive session. Other members had to calm him down. He clearly had a conflict of interest toward his handling of matters concerning the Prince William Sound Aquaculture Corporation (PWSAC) and/or matters relating to the Copper River fishery. During his tantrum he stated that we (Cordova) fishermen were allowed to "seine" up all the fish at the mouth of the river. Purse seining has never been allowed near the Copper River. Also, the mouth of the Copper River is about 60 miles wide across a delta with many entrances. Mr. Umphenour's interest in a processing operation in Fairbanks provides him with biases and personal interests when it comes to dealing with certain areas of the state. Because of his lack of judgement, the state should consider looking elsewhere. Mr. Umphenour denied this event occurring in 1996 and further explained his bias to the committee. I now have a record that the board did indeed go into an executive session. He went on to refer - we (Copper River gillnetters) have a bunch of people who don't care about the resource. I fished for 31 years on the Copper River and I'm the original permit holder, my father fished there for 40 years - he taught me the trade with my own boat when I was 11 years old. I personally witnessed the fine management of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game doing their job there. Committee members I ask you to think about this, who would care more about the fishery and it's well-being than one who depends on feeding their families, the commercial fishermen. We commercial fishermen have escapement levels to achieve before we go fishing, it's always been under strict guidelines and that's just as it should be. The Copper River commercial fishery is over 100 years old and only recently have the upriver reaches become accessible to many users. I don't think it's proper to have a biased and unknowledgeable person making decisions on how the resource should be protected. Mister Umphenour is purely allocative and while trying to sound scientific he forgets this arena is to be left to properly trained biologists. This man makes accusations toward my user groups and makes false claims about genetic diversity on king salmon stocks. I'd like to see his credentials to make such statements; these statements have been made to the board as well as to the public damaging our credibility and reputation. Members of the committee, please stop and think about the lack of fairness we are facing while trying to protect our livelihood and our resource. Also, please remember no one cares more about the health of the fishery than one who stakes their very life on it, the commercial fisherman. It is wrong for political appointees to think of themselves as biologists. Mister Umphenour must be removed from this position. He is very inappropriate. I'm enclosing a transcript of Mr. Umphenour's comments to House Resources. Number 0120 KORY BLAKE testified in opposition to the reappointment of Virgil Umphenour to the Board of Fisheries, noting he strongly disagrees with Mr. Umphenour's reappoint to the board based on the following concerns: The responsibility of being a board member requires each member to inform themselves with all the facts concerning each user group in all areas of the state. And after the facts are presented each board member is supposed to make an unbiased and informed vote - each member should vote on the facts not here say. Mister Umphenour has proven his comments during his term on the board that he is clearly biased toward commercial fishermen and hatcheries - not only in Prince William Sound but statewide. Statements he has made include that Copper River fishermen use their gillnets as beach seines, this statement is false. We fish drift gillnets meaning that we lay them out in a straight line and drift with the current. He [Mr. Umphenour] quoted that the Copper River is 10 feet deep and that we fishermen try to kill every last fish - these are also false statements. Commercial fishermen on the Copper River fish waters anywhere 3-300 feet in channels inside the Barrier Islands - our historic fishing grounds can be anywhere form 80-100 feet deep. It is a delta to say it's all 10 feet deep, is an uninformed statement. TAPE 99-13, SIDE A MR. BLAKE continued. Salmon returned at 3, 4, and 5 year fish, this means that in 1993, 1994, and 1995, the return escapement was large enough to produce record runs in 1996, 1997 and 1998. Mister Umphenour states that commercial fishermen have no respect for the resource, the fishermen of Cordova along with ADF&G have made five, ten and fifteen year plans to build a sustainable resource on the upper Copper River. In the last 10 years the Copper River fishery has been the bright spot in the state management of fisheries. The king and the red catches have been on the increase, escapement has not only met, but exceeded the department's goals 7 out of the last 10 years. If any informed person should be praised, the ADF&G ability to manage a resource, instead Mr. Umphenour keeps making damaging and false statements to the board members and the public. This should not continue. After his years on the Board of Fisheries, Mr. Umphenour should have a better understanding of the fisheries within the state of Alaska instead he makes false statements which have a lasting effect on both the board and the public's opinion on commercial fishermen in general. Number 0169 RON WILSON testified in support to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries from the Mat-Su, noting he is a sport fisherman from the Mat-Su valley. He said, "First of all I'd like to say I take exception to the fact that you've allowed 18 commercial fishermen to speak and about 3 sport fishermen to speak. I go on record as going along and agreeing that Dan Coffey, Grant Miller and Virgil Umphenour should be retained on the Board, this is one of the first boards in quite a few years that I've seen that has brought some fairness and integrity to the board itself. ... People like these three gentlemen here and also the ones that are on the board have been more fair to the total groups that they represent and the people of Alaska than any board that I've seen ever since I've been here. And I'm not a lifetime Alaskan, I've come from an area that the fisheries have been almost decimated because of lack of management - this is one of the finest management plans I have ever seen and I highly approve of what the board has been doing and they need to stay together so they can keep up the good work they have been doing." CHAIRMAN HUDSON explained the witness list doesn't indicate the individual is participating in sport fishing or commercial fishing. Number 0332 ROBERT HALL, representing the Houston Chamber of Commerce, testified in support to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries from the Mat-Su. He stated, "The Little Susitna River and its salmon runs go directly through the City of Houston and are very important to our community. We're here to support the reappointment of all three members to the Board of Fisheries. This Board of Fisheries is a very dedicated hardworking group that clearly puts the resource first before it gets into allocated issues. The very contentious, mixed stock intercept issues in the upper Cook Inlet have been dealt within a professional comprehensive and public process. It is impossible to please all the user groups in Cook Inlet, probably didn't please any of the user groups. The mixed stock intercept or northern district fish by central district fishermen have devastated northern district runs. I have the utmost respect for the Kenai commercial fishermen. However, the past intercept of northern district stocks could not continue without devastating and possibly a long term damaging effects of the northern district streams. Even with the changes that are made, northern district users were disappointed that a Cook Inlet coho salmon management plan was not instituted. Even though we were disappointed, we came away with a feeling that it was an honest and satisfied affair and an open process that took place. This volunteer Board of Fisheries is the most balanced hard-working Board of Fisheries since statehood, there's an effective team that is putting together a long-term statewide sustainable fisheries plan and the members should be reappointed to work with the rest of the team so that this plan may be completed." Number 0503 ERIC JORDAN testified in support to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries from Sitka. He stated, "This is the third time I've been here and ... the last two times I didn't get to testify so I'm really glad you're hearing from this time. I'm a lifelong Alaskan, I served 15 years on the Sitka Fish and Game Advisory Committee, eight as secretary and four as Chair, I served eight years on the advisory panel to the North Pacific Fishery Council, my grandfather, father and sons have all commercial fished in Alaska, I worked part-time now for the Alaska Marine Conservation Council, I troll salmon, I work as a sport fish guide and I'm a subsistence harvester. I'm a current member of the sustainable fisheries panel - advising the Board of Fisheries on sustainable fisheries and I'm here representing myself. I have worked with the board ... since 1973, it's part of my job, I work closely with this Board of Fisheries. I've found this board's commitment to the public process and fact finding unparalleled. I have participated in the subcommittee process and support it, I also participate and work with the advisory committees and I think they are complimentary. I support the Governor's nominations and I urge you to confirm all these incumbents. This is one of the best hardest-working Board of Fisheries in a fine legacy of Alaska fishery boards. Service on the Board of Fisheries takes a great deal of work and uncommon dedication, Alaska's fortunate that these dedicated experienced members are willing to serve again. I recommend unanimous support from the Alaska Legislature." Number 0681 TIM SMITH, President of the Nome Fishermen's Association, testified in opposition, on behalf of the association, to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour to the Board of Fisheries from Nome. He stated, "We've been very dissatisfied with the board's handling of salmon management in our area, for more than a decade salmon returns have been severely depressed and the board has been ineffective in addressing this problem. In March 1998, the board appointed a citizen's committee to address these issues and advise the board, and during the next year we met 24 times ... we produced a 28-page report with a number of recommendations and we voted unanimously in opposition to 'Tier 2' fishing. The board came to Nome with a prepared agenda and despite the fact that diversely no one wanted 'Tier 2,' the board through away our report and crammed Alaska's first 'Tier 2' fishery down our throats. Alaska needs a Board of Fisheries that listens to the public and we urge you not to reappoint Virgil Umphenour or Dan Coffey." Number 0771 ERIC OSBORNE testified in opposition to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries from Nome. He stated, "About a year ago the Board of Fisheries came here and a citizen's committee was formed to study 'Tier 2' - it had good citizens, somebody who used to run the college ... and former people who worked for ADF&G and we all formed a consensus that 'Tier 2' was bad. The board told us that we had real power, that our decisions would be deferred to, but throughout the process it was obvious that there was some pressure from outside of that room, from the board, perhaps from ADF&G, that 'Tier 2' had to come. Our group withstood enormous pressure for a year, we were told we met more often and worked harder than any other working group in Alaska history. When the board came they blew our report off, all we were formed for was political cover, and when we didn't afford that political cover, we were just blown away. And I would estimate that the citizens of Nome put forth about a thousand hours of free work and in a time of the budget crunch, if people in the best tradition of small-town America will come forth and work hard and sacrifice their time, by God you ought to listen to them. I want these appointees thrown out the door, they've wasted my life, and their wasting our fish." Number 0951 CARL ROSIER, Representative, Alaska Outdoor Council, came forward in support of the reappointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries. He said, "I spent 30 years working for ADF&G in various capacities that range from commercial fisheries assistant area biologist to a final position as commissioner of the department under Governor Hickel. In that time I've had the opportunity to observe and participate in a significant number of Board of Fisheries regulatory sessions with a variety of board members. The Alaska Outdoor Council is a strong supporter of the Alaska board regulatory system, Alaska's system is the most publicly opened process in the nation and when one views the generally good condition of our fish and game resources, it's a system that has served the state well. A part of the board's effectiveness has been the quality and the many dedicated individuals that have served and what we consider to be the toughest regulatory appointment in the state." MR. ROSIER continued. "Your committee has before it three very dedicated and capable individuals that are truly deserving of being confirmed for another term on the Board of Fisheries. The current Board of Fisheries operates as a consensus building entity that has established processes to bring opposing views to the table for resolution among the stakeholders at the meeting and further enlightenment of the board. The stakeholders cannot reach a consensus, the board has the last and best information in which to make the final decision on a given issue. The present board leaves no question about conservation of the resource being the priority consideration of the decision process. In this arena the Board of Fisheries is in the process of developing a sustainable fisheries policy for the state, development of the policy is occurring in conjunction with stakeholder groups and technical support from ADF&G. This policy when completed will provide guidance for the public, the department and future boards on decision-making to assure sustained yield of our fisheries. It's a good piece of work in progress." MR. ROSIER continued. "Balance in regard to decisions affecting a variety of user groups is probably the best I have observed in my 30 years association with the board process. No one group dominates the board as we have observed in the past, it is our view that the present board gives true consideration of the public demands, whether you are commercial, subsistence, personal use, or sport users. As a participant you may not like a decision, but you have every opportunity to make your case and know that the board is listening and fairly evaluating your view. The three members before you for confirmation have all grown in their knowledge and understanding of the great numbers of fisheries in our state, each of these individuals have become an integral part of a well functioning regulatory board that is important to all Alaskans. The system is functioning well and the Alaska Outdoor Council urges you to support the confirmation of Mr. Coffee, Mr. Umphenour, and Mr. Miller to another term on the Board of Fisheries." Number 1169 DEAN CURRAN testified in opposition to the reappointment of Virgil Umphenour to the Board of Fisheries from Cordova, noting that he is a commercial fisherman and has been a resident of Alaska since 1951. He said, "I oppose the appointment of Virgil Umphenour. It comes to my mind Virgil Umphenour processes chum salmon for the roe and gets his fish from the Yukon [River], he doesn't like Prince William Sound Hatchery because they produce chum salmon. The timing for the return of these chum salmon is before the run gets to the Yukon, so the Prince William Sound salmon is brought to market before the Yukon chum salmon. It seems to me that Mr. Umphenour has a conflict of interest." Number 1229 DENNY WEATHERS testified in opposition to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries from Cordova. She said, "I oppose the confirmation of any of these three members, in fact I oppose the board all together. The Board of Fisheries does not listen to the public's views or concerns whether it be an issue concerning shellfish, bottomfish or finfish. We have many times tried to work with the Board of Fisheries to save our crab fisheries in Prince William Sound which are now all closed. Example, we submitted emergency proposals, only to be told by the Board of Fisheries that it was not in eminent danger, the next year our fishery was closed - that was in 1992 and none have been opened since. We have no recourse when it comes to Board of Fisheries, in fact it's been known that they have laughed at some of the people who have gone to your meetings. We cannot fire them as we did not hire them. It is the legislature that is responsible for the Board of Fisheries and their failures. It is you that is supposed to take them on, it is your responsibility to make the laws and see that your board and commission acts as public servants - they are supposed to work for us, not against us." Number 1354 THEA THOMAS testified in opposition to the reappointment of Virgil Umphenour to the Board of Fisheries from Cordova, noting she is a member of the Board of Directors of the Copper River Salmon Producers Association which represents over 350 commercial salmon harvesters in Prince William Sound and on the Copper River Flats. She said, "We recently sent a letter to all members of the legislature voicing our strong opposition to the reappointment of Virgil Umphenour. The appointments to the board must be open and unbiased and have a commitment to proper-process and a passion for the preservation and fair allocation of the state fisheries. We do not believe that Mr. Umphenour brings these qualities to the board. We urge you not to reappoint him." Number 1417 DALE BONDURANT testified in support to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries from Kenai. He said, "I see the Kenai Borough's Assembly resolution of opposition as an officialized act of intimidation of - reflects the orchestrated demonstrations of individual acts of (indis.) during the Soldotna public hearing. Here I address just one resolution demand for the appointment of two commercial board members of which one must be a Cook Inlet commercial fisherman. I submit that if one is a commercial fisherman from Kodiak and the other is an upper northern district setnetter, that the central district sector - commercial fisherman, and the Kenai Borough Assembly will vent even more strongly opposition to Governor Knowles, the Alaska Legislature, the Board of Fisheries, and the commissioner of the Department of Fish and Game and [the Department of] Natural Resources. The whole resolution is aimed to give discriminatory support to just one sector of the Kenai Peninsula population of users of our (indisc.--teleconferencing) resources. Please support the reappointment of these Board of Fisheries members." Number 1517 GRACE KENDELL testified in opposition to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries from Kenai, noting she has commercially fished for approximately 25 years. She said, "Governor Knowles promised to veto any bill that mandates a specific allocation in fisheries and yet it appears to me that's all they've done so far. Tony Knowles has also pledged to protect our fisheries and fishing families. I'm a single person and (indisc.) stand on the income from the fisheries and yet the regulations passed by the Board of Fisheries have resulted in lost income for Cook Inlet fishing families and local associated support industries. Therefore, I feel it is in the best interest to deny the confirmation of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller. They've already served one term - I feel their political management of the fisheries may cause damage to the Kenai River and habitat areas. Please appoint more people who are concerned about local people and the local economy. So far we don't have anyone on the Board of Fisheries from the local area and yet Cook Inlet appears to be more affected than any other area. In consideration of this I feel we should have more say in the process instead of being regulated by other interests." MS. KENDELL continued. "One of the election flyers, that our Governor put out before he was elected the first time said, 'Our pledge to you, Alaska's commercial fisheries will continue to be the main stay of our economy as (indisc.) jobs decline. We are committed to keep our fisheries healthy and our fisheries' families working,' and yet he has done just the opposite. The Board of Fisheries has dismantled the upper Cook Inlet Management Plan, paving the way for more allocations away from the commercial fisheries. The fresh water tributaries, in my opinion, are continuing to be mismanaged and won't stand up under the pressure too many more years, and then everyone loses. Please do not confirm Dan Coffey, Umphenour and Miller, they have done enough damage already." Number 1651 JOE CONNORS, President, Kenai River Professional Guide Association, testified in support to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries from Kenai. He said, "There are 347 licensed Kenai River guides, 85 percent of those are Alaska residents - compare that to 1,150 or more Cook Inlet limited entry permits, keep in mind please that the guides don't fish, we take people fishing and they fish with a rod, the corresponding 1,150 limited entry permits fish with nets. Our membership of our organization is 92 percent Alaska residents, we support adamantly the three people nominated by the Governor for reconfirmation - they have gone out of their way to provide a public process, I sat through 12 days of it, they extended it by two days ... in Soldotna, I've been to Kodiak, I intend to go to Fairbanks. We think that they've done an excellent job. Now, that doesn't mean, hearing this from the president of the guide association that we did well, they took away, from us one major activity this year and the year 2000 we will lose one of the seven days of the week, we will not be able to fish one out of seven days that we are allowed to now. And in the year 2000 we will only be allowed to take four people fishing instated of five, ... one of those is a 20 percent reduction and the other one is about 16.5 percent - we're not bellyaching. I'm a little bit concerned and I hope you're not fooled by the irresponsible emotional rhetoric that some of my predecessors here at this site have put upon you, see through that and see the true issue. More fish result in the public gaining access to stocks that they have not been able to get, that means Alaskans and Americans will be able take fish." Number 1788 MARILYN KEENER testified in opposition to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries from Kenai, noting that she is a lifelong Alaskan. She said, "I attended the Board of Fisheries hearings which were held in Soldotna in February of this year. I was disappointed in the boards lack of regard for local and state economics as well their circumvention of local advisory boards. The subcommittee process that this board came up with was a complete sham in my opinion. Although Mr. Miller stated tonight that the public was allowed to comment and give testimony during this process, I witnessed otherwise. These subcommittees were actually meeting at the same time in different parts of the same room, there was no way any one person could participate or even listen to all that was going on. It was wrong and I'm afraid you legislators have been misled as to the public being involved in this process." MS. KEENER continued. "Another example of the unprofessionalism that was also exhibited was the incident that my 11 year old daughter and I witnessed - my daughter had gone to listen to the public testimony with me, and a short break was called for. My daughter whispered that she wanted me to point out who Bob Penney was, I looked all around and finally spotted him alone in the parking lot, just then Dan Coffey walked up to him, they exchanged a few words and Mr. Penney tucked a folded piece of paper into the front shirt pocket of Mr. Coffey. We will never know if it was a check or a note, but the fact remains that there is a definite lack of professionalism by this board member. My family and I have been hurt deeply by this board and their dismantling of the upper Cook Inlet Management Plan. My children a fourth generation commercial setnet fishermen in Cook Inlet, I know our great state of Alaska can rise above the terrible precedent our Board of Fisheries has set - that of displacing hardworking families and disregarding biological data given in testimony and by our own Department of Fish and Game. Please show your support of our resources, families and fish by denying the confirmation of these three men." Number 1908 PHIL SQUIRES, President of United Cook Inlet Drift Association, testified in opposition to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries from Kenai, noting that he has resided in Kenai for more than 20 years and is a commercial fisherman. He said, "They've had an enormous influence fishery in Cook Inlet which has not been positive for the drift fishery here. I think that they've had as much influence as anyone individual or any group of individuals should have and it's time for a change. I hope that the backing-off little bit - I hope that the legislators can see that the Board of Fisheries has been formulated around a couple of issues, it appears to me statewide, one of them is the allocation of salmon in Cook Inlet, the other is the allocation down in False Pass. And there has been very little regard for the rest of the commercial fisheries in this state and I think that's wrong. You have to remember that authority wielded by the Board of Fisheries is delegated from the legislature not from the Governor and I would urge you not to rubber stamp these appointees but to give them some very serious scrutiny because if anything is apparent it's that you can predict somebody's support or lack of for these particular appointees by their side of a specific issue, that to me demonstrates a lack of objectivity or perceives the lack of objectivity that their safe votes on a couple of certain issues. For that I would like to see the legislators take an interest in returning an objectivity to the board and experience from a statewide perspective not just the two issues that I have outlined." Number 2086 LARRY VANSKY testified in opposition to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries from Kenai. He said, "I believe the board is very bent on creating a fishery that's called a terminal harvest fishery, they spent two days in Anchorage at one of the board meetings discussing terminal harvest and they were really unable to arrive at what terminal harvest was. So in the absence of that, they've created one by regulating us - how they regulate here in Cook Inlet. If there's a question of biased or unbiasedness, and terminal harvest, Virgil Umphenour is probably situated in his position where he is the most terminal of a commercial harvest industry. And if that is not biased then I don't know what it is. I am very much opposed to all three of these candidates being reappointed." Number 2143 MARK DUKER testified in opposition to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries from Kenai, noting that he is a third generation commercial fisherman. He asked, "Did Dan Coffey and Grant Miller enter into a business arrangement in Anchorage, if they're still there maybe they can answer that for us? Another thing I would like to point out is that Bruce Knowles is the sponsor of a fish initiative, the same initiative that Dan Coffey wrote and the same initiative that the court found illegal. He also called us elitists as limited entry permit holders. We're just common people trying to make a living, and rough work. Thank you for your support and I really urge you not to confirm these people." Number 2196 PAUL SHADURA testified in opposition to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries from Kenai. He said, "At present there is no represented commercially knowledgeable Board of Fisheries member who understands or has any commercial history in Cook Inlet. There are three members that represent lesser users of the total resource, it is no wonder recent regulations adopted on the major traditional user restricts that user to a lesser nonviable category. Prejudice, contempt, biased, dipsomania, uninformed, arrogant, dirty deeds done cheap, are all terms that I could use in describing the current Board of Fisheries reappointees. Please, out of fairness of decency do not reconfirm Dan Coffey, Grant Miller or Virgil Umphenour. This is from a 100-year family resident of the Kenai Peninsula." Number 2263 MEL ERICKSON, Representing Deep Creek Charter Boat Association, testified in support to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries from Kenai. He said, "We feel that they have the resource in the best interest and are trying to put more fish in the spawning grounds and trying to get more fish to the people. And one other issue that's a big concern for us and that's we need some management through the legislature on the growth of the guides, down in the Deep Creek area we have 8,000 king salmon guideline harvest limit and we got 24 new boats coming into the fishery this year and we've already been real close to coming over that guideline harvest level. Next time we come up to the Board of Fisheries they'll probably have to put restrictions on seasons and bag limits in the methods of means on us. We do need some help there to get some sort of a management on the growth of the guide industry or we'll face future restrictions that will hurt us economically so we appreciate your help in that manner." Number 2341 DON JOHNSON testified in support to the appointments of Dan Coffey, Virgil Umphenour and Grant Miller to the Board of Fisheries from Kenai. He said, "I wanted you to understand that you're talking to special interest groups and not the general public. ... Some of the issues that have been flying by us here on the Umphenour roast ... Mr. Umphenour has a really colorful personality but I don't spite him for that - I think a lot of people react negatively to him because of that. I think he's a normal thinking considerate person and board member, probably all three members, Coffee, Miller and Umphenour should remain and be confirmed I believe and if there is a reason to not confirm any potential board member, it would from some of the inflammatory statements like Mr. Umphenour said about guides. I am a sport fishing guide and he came out basically and said that guides need to be regulated and they aren't regulated and it was mentioned before that it's not really a true statement, we are currently regulated for days, time and area, and people we can carry, and lots of other goodies on the Kenai River. I would just like to make that clear, that we are (in my opinion) tremendously regulated and he's talking basically about limited entry." Number 2460 CHAIRMAN HUDSON announced Mr. Coffey's confirmation will be brought up at the next committee hearing. He asked it there was any objection to advancing the confirmations of Mr. Miller and Mr. Umphenour. REPRESENTATIVE SMALLEY objected. CHAIRMAN HUDSON requested members say "Aye"; all members present with the except Representative Smalley said "Aye". Therefore, the confirmations of Mr. Miller and Mr. Umphenour advanced. ADJOURNMENT Number 2550 There being no further business before the committee, the House Special Committee on Fisheries meeting was adjourned at 7:35 p.m.
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