00HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 8                                                                                                  
01 Relating to Cook Inlet fisheries enhancement projects on Tustumena Lake on the                                          
02 Kenai National Wildlife Refuge.                                                                                         
03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:                                                                         
04  WHEREAS the United States Fish and Wildlife Service is preparing an environmental                                      
05 assessment of the Tustumena Lake sockeye salmon fisheries enhancement project; and                                      
06  WHEREAS future permits for this project from the United States Fish and Wildlife                                       
07 Service are dependent on the outcome of this environmental assessment process; and                                      
08  WHEREAS the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and, more recently, the Cook                                            
09 Inlet Aquaculture Association have operated a sockeye salmon fisheries enhancement program                              
10 on Tustumena Lake since 1976; and                                                                                       
11  WHEREAS, in the last 20 years, the project has developed components that provide                                       
12 sockeye salmon to fisheries in Upper Cook Inlet, Kamishak Bay, Kachemak Bay, and                                        
13 Resurrection Bay; and                                                                                                   
14  WHEREAS the sockeye salmon fisheries enhancement program on Tustumena Lake                                             

01 has resulted in an increase in production of sockeye salmon in Cook Inlet without negative                              
02 results on wild stocks or the rearing environment; and                                                                  
03  WHEREAS the salmon produced through this project benefit the common property                                           
04 fisheries including commercial, sport, and personal use fisheries; and                                                  
05  WHEREAS the program continues to operate under the technical scrutiny of the                                           
06 Alaska Department of Fish and Game through its permitting authority;                                                    
07  BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives respectfully requests that the                                        
08 United States Fish and Wildlife Service allow this sockeye salmon fisheries enhancement                                 
09 project to continue by permitting the stocking of fish and the enhancement of the fishery                               
10 resources within Cook Inlet and Tustumena Lake on the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge.                                   
11  COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Bill Clinton, President of the                                
12 United States; the Honorable Al Gore, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and President                            
13 of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Bruce Babbitt, Secretary of the Interior; the Honorable John                          
14 Rogers, Acting Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Dave Allen, Regional Director,                           
15 Alaska Region, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; to the Co-Chairs of the Alaska Land Use                                  
16 Council; and to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S.                                       
17 Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska                                       
18 delegation in Congress.