CSHR 8(FSH): Encouraging the Department of Fish and Game to adopt a bycatch policy and certain regulations relating to fisheries bycatch.
00 CS FOR HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 8(FSH) 01 Encouraging the Department of Fish and Game to adopt a bycatch policy and certain 02 regulations relating to fisheries bycatch. 03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: 04 WHEREAS the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act 05 authorizes the state to have a majority of six seats on the 11-member North Pacific Fishery 06 Management Council; and 07 WHEREAS the North Pacific Fishery Management Council is given authority to 08 manage fisheries in the Arctic Ocean, Bering Sea, and Pacific Ocean seaward of the state; and 09 WHEREAS all fisheries managed by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council 10 have bycatch, which the Magnuson-Stevens Act defines as "fish which are harvested in a 11 fishery, but which are not sold or kept for personal use, [including] economic discards and 12 regulatory discards"; and 13 WHEREAS National Standard 9 of the Magnuson-Stevens Act provides that 14 fisheries-related conservation and management measures must, to the extent practicable, 15 minimize bycatch and, to the extent bycatch cannot be avoided, minimize the mortality of 16 such bycatch; and
01 WHEREAS current conservation and management measures implemented by the 02 North Pacific Fishery Management Council, while allowing for the harvest of hundreds of 03 millions of pounds of seafood, also annually result in tens of millions of pounds of bycatch in 04 the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska waters seaward of the state; and 05 WHEREAS virtually all bycatch is currently discarded as dead fish; and 06 WHEREAS many of the species discarded as bycatch are species that are commonly 07 sold, processed, and consumed as marine protein, yet these fish are discarded as bycatch 08 because they have been caught with the wrong gear, at the wrong time, or outside what the 09 existing regulatory structure permits; and 10 WHEREAS Governor Dunleavy established the Alaska Bycatch Review Task Force 11 and commissioned the task force for the purpose of "exploring the issue of bycatch and 12 providing recommendations to policy makers with the goal of improving the health and 13 sustainability of Alaska's fisheries, and protecting Alaska's record as a leader of fisheries' 14 conservation and sustainability"; and 15 WHEREAS the Alaska Bycatch Advisory Council, established by the commissioner 16 of fish and game, is charged with advising the Department of Fish and Game on 17 implementing the recommendations contained in the final report of the Alaska Bycatch 18 Review Task Force, which includes a recommendation to develop a state bycatch policy; 19 BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives encourages the commissioner 20 of fish and game, through the commissioner's seat on the North Pacific Fishery Management 21 Council, to ensure that the public has an opportunity to provide to the council information on 22 issues relating to bycatch and to direct the council to fund and conduct research on limiting 23 bycatch to protect the state's fisheries resources for the benefit of all residents of the state; and 24 be it 25 FURTHER RESOLVED that the House of Representatives encourages the 26 Department of Fish and Game, through the department's regulatory authority, to develop a 27 bycatch policy for the state that, through implementation of the principles of resource 28 conservation and sustained yield, will protect the state's fisheries resources for the benefit of 29 all residents of the state; and be it 30 FURTHER RESOLVED that the House of Representatives encourages the 31 Department of Fish and Game, in developing a state bycatch policy, to engage concerned state
01 residents, partner with entities willing to fund or conduct related research and work 02 collaboratively with the department, establish research priorities using input from the public, 03 local governments, Alaska Native tribes, commercial fishers, and the fishing industry, make 04 information and resources related to bycatch available to the public in a manner that is easily 05 understood and accessible, and implement management priorities that avoid or reduce bycatch 06 in all fisheries; and be it 07 FURTHER RESOLVED that the House of Representatives encourages the 08 Department of Fish and Game, in adopting regulations implementing a state bycatch policy, to 09 include regulations that provide for genetic reporting on the composition of Western Alaska 10 salmon taken as bycatch so that the pollock fishery may be managed in a manner that avoids 11 taking Western Alaska salmon in the Bering Sea as bycatch, that reduces chum salmon 12 bycatch in the Bering Sea pollock fishery, and that facilitates departmental cooperation with 13 commercial fishers and the fishing industry to better track and reduce bycatch and associated 14 mortality.