00SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 13                                                                                        
01 Relating to the membership of the Pacific Salmon Commission.                                                            
02 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                              
03  WHEREAS the Pacific Salmon Commission was established to implement the treaty                                        
04 between the United States and Canada concerning Pacific salmon; and                                                     
05  WHEREAS the State of Alaska supports the goals of the Pacific Salmon Treaty and                                      
06 the efforts of the Pacific Salmon Commission; and                                                                       
07  WHEREAS the commission is composed of four United States members and four                                            
08 Canadian members; and                                                                                                   
09  WHEREAS the four United States members of the commission consist of one official                                     
10 of the United States government who is a nonvoting member, one resident of Alaska, one                                  
11 resident of Washington or Oregon, and one member who is nominated by the treaty tribes of                               
12 Idaho, Washington, and Oregon; and                                                                                      
13  WHEREAS four alternate commissioners are appointed to serve on the commission                                        
14 in the absence of a commissioner, and the alternate commissioners are appointed in                                      

01 accordance with the same criteria as the primary members of the commission; and                                         
02  WHEREAS Alaska Natives are important members of the fishing community in the                                         
03 United States and are dependent upon Pacific salmon for financial, subsistence, and cultural                            
04 purposes; and                                                                                                           
05  WHEREAS a large portion of Alaska is Alaska Native land, and the Annette Island                                      
06 Indian Reservation in Southeast Alaska is Indian country; and                                                           
07  WHEREAS there is not a position on the commission for an Alaska Native                                               
08 commissioner and alternate commissioner; and                                                                            
09  WHEREAS the interests of Alaska Natives are not represented by a commissioner                                        
10 who is nominated by the treaty tribes of Idaho, Washington, and Oregon; and                                             
11  WHEREAS the appointment of an Alaska Native commissioner and alternate                                               
12 commissioner to the commission would provide more equal representation of the interests of                              
13 Alaska Natives and the treaty tribes; and                                                                               
14  WHEREAS the goals and effectiveness of the Pacific Salmon Treaty would be                                            
15 advanced by adding an Alaska Native commissioner and alternate commissioner to the Pacific                              
16 Salmon Commission;                                                                                                      
17  BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests the                                           
18 President of the United States to take the necessary steps, including renegotiation of the                              
19 Pacific Salmon Treaty and restructuring of the United States membership of the Pacific                                  
20 Salmon Commission, as appropriate, to provide for an Alaska Native commissioner and                                     
21 alternate commissioner on the commission.                                                                               
22  COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Bill Clinton, President of the                              
23 United States; the Honorable Madeleine K. Albright, U.S. Secretary of State; the Honorable                              
24 Bruce Babbitt, U.S. Secretary of the Interior; and to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the                                 
25 Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S.                                             
26 Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.