00 Enrolled HJR 27                                                                                                         
01 Supporting the relocation of the home port of the Coastal Villages Region Fund fishing fleet                            
02 from Seattle to Alaska.                                                                                                 
03                                         _______________                                                                 
04 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                             
05      WHEREAS the State of Alaska worked tirelessly within the framework of the                                        
06 Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to transition from a federal                                   
07 fishery dominated by foreign fishing vessels to a fishery fully utilized by Americans; and                              
08      WHEREAS, in the 1990s, the state worked in partnership with the state's                                      
09 Congressional delegation to promote the community development quota (CDQ) initiative in                                 
10 the Bering Sea, which provided residents of the villages located on and around the Bering Sea                           
11 fisheries a stake in the fishing industry; and                                                                          
12      WHEREAS many past leaders of the state have shared a longstanding goal of                                        
13 Alaskanizing ownership of the fishing fleets serving the CDQ groups and home-porting those                              
14 fleets in the state; and                                                                                                
15      WHEREAS the Coastal Villages Region Fund, one of six CDQ groups and the largest                                  
16 Alaskan-owned and Alaska-based seafood company in the state's 100-year history of                                       
17 commercial fisheries, holds either 100 percent sole ownership of its fishing fleet or ownership                         
01 in partnership with another CDQ group; and                                                                              
02      WHEREAS the Coastal Villages Region Fund is projected to make $75,000,000 in                                     
03 seafood sales in 2011; and                                                                                              
04      WHEREAS the Coastal Villages Region Fund has become so big and successful that                                   
05 it costs $2,000,000 to fill up the fuel tanks of its fishing fleet just one time, spends                                
06 approximately $20,000,000 annually in Seattle for moorage, vendor support, and                                          
07 maintenance, and spends approximately $2,000,000 each year to fly crews between Alaska                                  
08 and Seattle; and                                                                                                      
09      WHEREAS the money spent by the Coastal Villages Region Fund in Seattle is                                        
10 money that could be spent in the state; and                                                                             
11      WHEREAS the legislation establishing the CDQ groups requires that the earnings of                                
12 those groups be reinvested in the Bering Sea area; and                                                                  
13      WHEREAS no locations within the Bering Sea area meet the home-porting                                            
14 requirements of the large fishing and processing vessels owned by the Coastal Villages                                  
15 Region Fund; and                                                                                                        
16      WHEREAS the Coastal Villages Region Fund desires to relocate its home port from                                  
17 Seattle to a port in Alaska that has the following characteristics:                                                     
18           (1)  a year-round ice-free deep water port;                                                                   
19           (2)  road, rail, and air access;                                                                              
20           (3)  available space on the water and upland for development;                                                 
21           (4)  major ship repair capabilities; and                                                                      
22           (5)  maritime training and licensing; and                                                                     
23      WHEREAS, after a statewide review, the Coastal Villages Region Fund has                                          
24 determined that the City of Seward is the only community in the state that meets all of its                             
25 requirements; and                                                                                                       
26      WHEREAS the president and board of directors of the Coastal Villages Region Fund                                 
27 have proposed that Seward become the home port for its growing fishing and processing fleet;                            
28 and                                                                                                                     
29      WHEREAS the Coastal Villages Region Fund requires a half-mile of dock space to                                   
30 dock its fishing vessels, 20,000 square feet of warehouse space, 5,000 square feet of office                            
31 space, and five to 10 acres of fenced yard for equipment and staging; and                                               
01      WHEREAS the relocation of the Coastal Villages Region Fund to Seward will                                        
02 encourage and facilitate the relocation of the remaining five CDQ groups to the state; and                              
03      WHEREAS the home-porting of the largest CDQ group in Seward will begin the                                       
04 transition of hiring vendors from inside the state to repair propellers and vessels, weld and                           
05 paint, service electronics, mend fishing gear, repair diesel engines, supply packaging, provide                         
06 fuel and groceries, and provide marine safety training; and                                                             
07      WHEREAS, with the relocation of the home port to Seward, the money earned by the                                 
08 Coastal Villages Region Fund in the Bering Sea fisheries will ripple through the state's                                
09 economy; and                                                                                                            
10      WHEREAS the Alaska District of the United States Army Corps of Engineers has                                     
11 made a preliminary finding that the relocation of the Coastal Villages Region Fund fishing                              
12 fleet to Seward is economically feasible; and                                                                           
13      WHEREAS the infrastructure for home-porting the Coastal Villages Region Fund                                     
14 fishing fleet in Seward will build on the $70,000,000 in existing infrastructure at the Seward                          
15 Marine Industrial Center that was constructed in the 1980s; and                                                       
16      WHEREAS the City of Seward has paid for the initial engineering analysis to home-                                
17 port the Coastal Villages Region Fund in Seward; and                                                                    
18       WHEREAS construction of the infrastructure to support home-porting the Coastal                                  
19 Villages Region Fund in Seward may be completed by December 15, 2014;                                                   
20      BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature fully supports the relocation of                                
21 the home port of the Coastal Villages Region Fund fishing fleet from Seattle to Alaska.                                 
22      COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the                                  
23 Honorable Mark Begich, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative,                                 
24 members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.