00                      HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 27                                                                     
01 Supporting the relocation of the home port of the Coastal Villages Region Fund fishing                                  
02 fleet from Seattle to Alaska.                                                                                           
03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
04       WHEREAS the State of Alaska worked tirelessly within the framework of the                                       
05 Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to transition from a federal                                   
06 fishery dominated by foreign fishing vessels to a fishery fully utilized by Americans; and                              
07       WHEREAS, in the 1990s, the state worked in partnership with the state's                                     
08 Congressional delegation to promote the community development quota (CDQ) initiative in                                 
09 the Bering Sea, which provided residents of the villages located on and around the Bering Sea                           
10 fisheries a stake in the fishing industry; and                                                                          
11       WHEREAS many past leaders of the state have shared a longstanding goal of                                       
12 Alaskanizing ownership of the fishing fleets serving the CDQ groups and home-porting those                              
13 fleets in the state; and                                                                                                
14       WHEREAS the Coastal Villages Region Fund, one of six CDQ groups and the largest                                 
15 Alaskan-owned and Alaska-based seafood company in the state's 100-year history of                                       
16 commercial fisheries, holds either 100 percent sole ownership of its fishing fleet or ownership                         

01 in partnership with another CDQ group; and                                                                              
02       WHEREAS the Coastal Villages Region Fund is projected to make $75,000,000 in                                    
03 seafood sales in 2011; and                                                                                              
04       WHEREAS the Coastal Villages Region Fund has become so big and successful that                                  
05 it costs $2,000,000 to fill up the fuel tanks of its fishing fleet just one time, spends                                
06 approximately $20,000,000 annually in Seattle for moorage, vendor support, and                                          
07 maintenance, and spends approximately $2,000,000 each year to fly crews between Alaska                                  
08 and Seattle; and                                                                                                      
09       WHEREAS the money spent by the Coastal Villages Region Fund in Seattle is                                       
10 money that could be spent in the state; and                                                                             
11       WHEREAS the legislation establishing the CDQ groups requires that the earnings of                               
12 those groups be reinvested in the Bering Sea area; and                                                                  
13       WHEREAS no locations within the Bering Sea area meet the home-porting                                           
14 requirements of the large fishing and processing vessels owned by the Coastal Villages                                  
15 Region Fund; and                                                                                                        
16       WHEREAS the Coastal Villages Region Fund desires to relocate its home port from                                 
17 Seattle to a port in Alaska that has the following characteristics: (1) a year-round ice-free deep                      
18 water port; (2) road, rail, and air access; (3) available space on the water and upland for                             
19 development; (4) major ship repair capabilities; and (5) maritime training and licensing; and                           
20       WHEREAS, after a statewide review, the Coastal Villages Region Fund has                                         
21 determined that the City of Seward is the only community in the state that meets all of its                             
22 requirements; and                                                                                                       
23       WHEREAS the president and board of directors of the Coastal Villages Region Fund                                
24 have proposed that Seward become the home port for its growing fishing and processing fleet;                            
25 and                                                                                                                     
26       WHEREAS the Coastal Villages Region Fund requires a half-mile of dock space to                                  
27 dock its fishing vessels, 20,000 square feet of warehouse space, 5,000 square feet of office                            
28 space, and five to 10 acres of fenced yard for equipment and staging; and                                               
29       WHEREAS the relocation of the Coastal Villages Region Fund to Seward will                                       
30 encourage and facilitate the relocation of the remaining five CDQ groups to the state; and                              
31       WHEREAS the home-porting of the largest CDQ group in Seward will begin the                                      

01 transition of hiring vendors from inside the state to repair propellers and vessels, weld and                           
02 paint, service electronics, mend fishing gear, repair diesel engines, supply packaging, provide                         
03 fuel and groceries, and provide marine safety training; and                                                             
04       WHEREAS, with the relocation of the home port to Seward, the money earned by the                                
05 Coastal Villages Region Fund in the Bering Sea fisheries will ripple through the state's                                
06 economy; and                                                                                                            
07       WHEREAS the Alaska District of the United States Army Corps of Engineers has                                    
08 made a preliminary finding that the relocation of the Coastal Villages Region Fund fishing                              
09 fleet to Seward is economically feasible; and                                                                           
10       WHEREAS the infrastructure for home-porting the Coastal Villages Region Fund                                    
11 fishing fleet in Seward will build on the $70,000,000 in existing infrastructure at the Seward                          
12 Marine Industrial Center that was constructed in the 1980s; and                                                       
13       WHEREAS the City of Seward has paid for the initial engineering analysis to home-                               
14 port the Coastal Villages Region Fund in Seward; and                                                                    
15        WHEREAS construction of the infrastructure to support home-porting the Coastal                                 
16 Villages Region Fund in Seward may be completed by December 15, 2014;                                                   
17       BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature fully supports the relocation of                               
18 the home port of the Coastal Villages Region Fund fishing fleet from Seattle to Alaska.                                 
19       COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the                                 
20 Honorable Mark Begich, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative,                                 
21 members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.