00HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 24                                                                                           
01 Relating to reduction of wanton waste in North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea                                             
02 fisheries.                                                                                                              
03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
04  WHEREAS more fish were discarded in the federally managed fisheries of the North                                       
05 Pacific Ocean than were landed by American fishermen in the North Atlantic Ocean in 1992;                               
06 and                                                                                                                     
07  WHEREAS over 740,000,000 pounds of fishery resources were dumped overboard in                                          
08 the Bering Sea and North Pacific Ocean, including 16,000,000 pounds of halibut, 1,000,000                               
09 pounds of herring; and                                                                                                  
10  WHEREAS over 16,000,000 crab were discarded by fisheries in the North Pacific                                          
11 Ocean and the Bering Sea; and                                                                                           
12  WHEREAS, in 1993, over 370,000 salmon were harvested in groundfish fisheries of                                        
13 the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea; and                                                                             
14  WHEREAS these discarded herring, crab, and salmon are resources managed by the                                         

01 State of Alaska that were intercepted in offshore federal waters; and                                                   
02  WHEREAS these resources are the economic and cultural life blood for many                                              
03 Alaskans who depend on the sea for their livelihoods and subsistence; and                                               
04  WHEREAS this continued wanton waste undermines any long-term management                                                
05 strategy for sustained commercial, subsistence, and recreational fisheries, and places the rural                        
06 communities of Alaska at risk; and                                                                                      
07  WHEREAS marine wildlife species in Alaska marine waters that depend on fish for                                        
08 food are faced with declining populations and potential listing as endangered species; and                              
09  WHEREAS minimizing the catch of undersized fish and reducing wanton waste will                                         
10 conserve fisheries resources for present and future generations of subsistence users,                                   
11 commercial and recreational fishermen, seafood industries, coastal communities, consumers,                              
12 and the nation; and                                                                                                     
13  WHEREAS fisheries can technically or operationally reduce waste or the incidental                                      
14 taking of nontarget species if given economic incentives or through appropriate regulatory                              
15 measures;                                                                                                               
16  BE IT RESOLVED by the Alaska State Legislature that the wanton waste now                                               
17 occurring in federal fisheries of the North Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea is of utmost                               
18 importance ecologically, socially, and economically; and be it                                                          
19  FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully urges the                                              
20 Congress to amend the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act, or to enact                                     
21 other legislation, encompassing a broad range of measures to reduce wanton waste in North                               
22 Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea fisheries, including harvest priority incentives for clean fishing                         
23 practices and other management tools.                                                                                   
24  COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Ron Brown, Secretary of the                                   
25 United States Department of Commerce; the Honorable Richard B. Lauber, chair of the North                               
26 Pacific Fishery Management Council; and to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable                                  
27 Frank Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative,                                       
28 members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.