SJR 43: Relating to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council comprehensive rationalization plan.
00SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 43 01 Relating to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council comprehensive 02 rationalization plan. 03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 WHEREAS the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) is considering 05 the adoption of individual fishery quotas (IFQ) as a management scheme for the groundfish 06 and crab fisheries off Alaska; and 07 WHEREAS the concept of IFQs means granting individual fish harvesters or boat 08 owners ownership of a share in the harvest of these offshore groundfish and crab resources 09 to the exclusion of others currently participating in the fisheries; and 10 WHEREAS the IFQ system provides no incentives or requirements for fish harvesters 11 and boat owners to sell their catch to shore-based processors and creates incentives to deliver 12 and to sell to offshore mother ships and factory trawlers; and 13 WHEREAS the IFQ system would greatly reduce the volume of groundfish and crab 14 sold to shore-based processors; and
01 WHEREAS the shutdown or reduction of shore-based processing operations will 02 greatly reduce the contribution that shore-based processors make to state and local taxes and 03 economies and will severely and adversely affect local employment, taxes, and social and 04 economic stability in the coastal communities of Alaska; and 05 WHEREAS in 1992, according to the Department of Commerce and Economic 06 Development, Department of Labor, and Department of Revenue and the Alaska Seafood 07 Marketing Institute, the Alaska seafood processing industry harvested more than 5,500,000,000 08 pounds of fish; processed these fish in more than 500 large and small Alaska seafood 09 processors registered with the state; paid fish harvesters $1,400,000,000; provided more than 10 35,000 shore-based jobs in Alaska; spent $280,000,000 to support its activities; paid over 11 $60,000,000 in taxes and cash benefits to the state and Alaska's coastal communities; paid 12 $10,000,000 for salmon enhancement; paid $700,000 in fisheries related and marine mammal 13 research and $3,200,000 for domestic marketing of Alaska seafood products; invested 14 $1,000,000,000 in shoreside plants; paid $11,000,000 to local governments in municipal fish 15 taxes; and paid over $3,000,000 in local real and property taxes; and 16 WHEREAS, in Western Alaska, the Aleutian Islands, and Kodiak, shore-based 17 processors pay over $400,000,000 annually to fish harvesters; process 1,250,000,000 pounds 18 of crab, groundfish, salmon, herring, and halibut; employ over 13,000 people; pay over 19 $90,000,000 in annual payroll; purchase $45,000,000 in goods, services, and utilities; pay over 20 $7,000,000 in local raw fish taxes; and in 1992 paid over $900,000 in grants to nonprofit 21 organizations; and 22 WHEREAS the current open access fishing regime coupled with an onshore allocation 23 of a percentage of the groundfish and crab to the shore-based processors allows the continued 24 participation by shore-based processors in the groundfish and crab fisheries and the continued 25 contributions by shore-based processors to jobs, taxes, and social and economic stability of 26 coastal communities in the state; 27 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully urges the North 28 Pacific Fishery Management Council to incorporate fairness, equal rights of access, and equity 29 to the current participants in the groundfish and crab fisheries in the comprehensive 30 rationalization plan it is now considering in order to ensure the continued participation of the 31 shore-based processors in these fisheries and the continued contributions they bring to coastal
01 communities and the State of Alaska. 02 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Ron Brown, Secretary of the 03 U. S. Department of Commerce; the Honorable Richard Lauber, chair of the North Pacific 04 Fishery Management Council; and to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Frank 05 Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of 06 the Alaska delegation in Congress.