CSSJR 29(CRA): Requesting the Alaska Congressional delegation to introduce and seek passage of an amendment to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to create four new voting seats on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to be filled by appointment of members of federally recognized tribes or Alaska Native organizations who are not employed by a community development quota program or other industrial or commercial fishing interest.
00 CS FOR SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 29(CRA) 01 Requesting the Alaska Congressional delegation to introduce and seek passage of an 02 amendment to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to 03 create four new voting seats on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to be 04 filled by appointment of members of federally recognized tribes or Alaska Native 05 organizations who are not employed by a community development quota program or 06 other industrial or commercial fishing interest. 07 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 08 WHEREAS thousands of individuals and families in the Alaska Native community 09 have a vested interest in and are dependent on the success of the state's diverse fisheries, 10 especially the salmon fisheries; and 11 WHEREAS Native individuals and families have participated in traditional harvesting 12 of Alaska's fisheries for millennia; and 13 WHEREAS, in contemporary times, Alaska Natives have participated in the state's 14 commercial fisheries with skill, determination, and economic motivation at a level that
01 matches any user group in the industry; and 02 WHEREAS, through the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management 03 Act and the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, the State of Alaska and the United 04 States of America provide management oversight, regulatory control, and policy development 05 affecting the state's offshore fisheries; and 06 WHEREAS the composition of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council is 07 dominated by state and industry voices that do not advocate or represent the subsistence needs 08 of Alaska's rural tribal peoples; and 09 WHEREAS the state's federally recognized tribes and Alaska Native organizations 10 need to be engaged in the management of the salmon stocks and ecosystems of the state, for it 11 is on those stocks and ecosystems that the people depend for subsistence and, in some cases, 12 for their economic livelihood; and 13 WHEREAS the discretionary powers of the governor to make recommendations for 14 appointment to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council do not provide for consistent 15 participation by members of federally recognized tribes and Alaska Native organizations; and 16 WHEREAS the establishment of tribally designated voting seats filled by 17 representatives without ties to community development quota programs or other industrial or 18 commercial fishing interest would serve to ensure fairness and subdue potential conflicts; 19 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature requests the Alaska 20 Congressional delegation to introduce and seek passage of an amendment to the Magnuson- 21 Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to create four new voting seats on the 22 North Pacific Fishery Management Council to be filled by appointment of members, 23 recommended by the governor, of federally recognized tribes in Alaska or Alaska Native 24 organizations who are not employed by a community development quota program or other 25 industrial or commercial fishing interest. 26 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the 27 Honorable Mark Begich, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, 28 members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.