00HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 61                                                                                           
01 Relating to the Western Alaska Community Development Quota Program and the                                              
02 North Pacific Fishery Management Council Comprehensive Rationalization Program.                                         
03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
04  WHEREAS the Western Alaska Community Development Quota (CDQ) Program is                                                
05 a fisheries development program involving the federal Department of Commerce, the North                                 
06 Pacific Fishery Management Council, the State of Alaska, and 55 Bering Sea coast, Aleutian                              
07 Islands, and Pribilof Islands communities; and                                                                          
08  WHEREAS the CDQ program has set aside 7.5 percent of the available Bering Sea                                          
09 pollock quota during 1992 through 1995 for Bering Sea coast, Aleutian Islands, and Pribilof                             
10 Islands communities; and                                                                                                
11  WHEREAS the amount of pollock available for harvest under the CDQ program is                                           
12 more than 100,000 metric tons per year and has an estimated value of $20,000,000; and                                   
13  WHEREAS the CDQ program allocates the available harvest of pollock among                                               
14 eligible communities, local fishermen's organizations, and local economic development                                   

01 organizations who in turn reinvest the proceeds from the harvest and processing of the pollock                          
02 in additional local fisheries development projects; and                                                                 
03  WHEREAS the CDQ program has been expanded to include halibut and sablefish                                             
04 (black cod); and                                                                                                        
05  WHEREAS the CDQ program is important to the economic development of the                                                
06 Bering Sea coast, Aleutian Islands, and Pribilof Islands communities; and                                               
07  WHEREAS the North Pacific Fishery Management Council established the CDQ                                               
08 program as a component of the inshore and offshore allocation of Bering Sea pollock; and                                
09  WHEREAS the CDQ program represents an unparalleled opportunity for long-term                                           
10 stable economic development for the communities of the Bering Sea coast, Aleutian Islands,                              
11 and Pribilof Islands; and                                                                                               
12  WHEREAS the North Pacific Fishery Management Council is preparing to adopt a                                           
13 comprehensive rationalization plan for groundfish and crab in the Bering Sea and Aleutian                               
14 Islands area;                                                                                                           
15  BE IT RESOLVED by the Alaska State Legislature that the North Pacific Fishery                                          
16 Management Council is respectfully requested to allocate groundfish and crab to the Western                             
17 Alaska Community Development Quota (CDQ) groups in fairness and equity to the CDQ                                       
18 groups as part of any comprehensive rationalization plan that the council prepares.                                     
19  COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Ron Brown, Secretary of the                                   
20 U.S. Department of Commerce; Richard B. Lauber, Chair of the North Pacific Fishery                                      
21 Management Council; and to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Frank Murkowski,                                 
22 U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska                                  
23 delegation in Congress.