HJR 35: Urging federal fisheries managers to reduce trawl bycatch, maintain existing bycatch limits, and strengthen enforcement; and supporting federal efforts aimed at reducing bycatch and benthic habitat contact.
00 HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 35 01 Urging federal fisheries managers to reduce trawl bycatch, maintain existing bycatch 02 limits, and strengthen enforcement; and supporting federal efforts aimed at reducing 03 bycatch and benthic habitat contact. 04 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 05 WHEREAS the state's salmon species are central to the state's identity, economy, 06 food security, and cultural traditions, and support commercial, subsistence, and sport fisheries 07 across urban and rural communities alike; and 08 WHEREAS bottom dwelling species, such as crab, halibut, and other groundfish, 09 play an essential role in the marine ecosystem and contribute to habitat structure, biodiversity, 10 and long-term ecosystem resilience; and 11 WHEREAS trawl fisheries operating in federal water off the state's coast incidentally 12 capture significant numbers of salmon and bottom dwelling species as bycatch, resulting in 13 the waste of fish that are neither retained for sale nor available to state residents for food or 14 economic benefit; and 15 WHEREAS trawl bycatch reduces harvest opportunities for the state's fishermen,
01 undermines subsistence access, and disproportionately affects coastal and river communities 02 that depend on healthy, predictable salmon returns; and 03 WHEREAS repeated bycatch of salmon and benthic species places additional stress 04 on fish populations already facing warming oceans, changing food webs, habitat disturbance, 05 and other environmental pressures; and 06 WHEREAS contact between trawl gear and the seafloor can damage marine benthic 07 habitat, disrupting nursery areas and altering ecosystem functions necessary for the durability 08 of fish stocks over time; and 09 WHEREAS federal fisheries managers have, in some instances, raised allowable 10 bycatch limits rather than requiring meaningful operational changes to reduce incidental 11 catch, eroding public confidence in fisheries management and conservation commitments; and 12 WHEREAS increased bycatch limits risk normalizing waste of public resources held 13 in trust for all residents of the state, rather than reinforcing the principle that conservation and 14 utilization must proceed together; and 15 WHEREAS improved monitoring, electronic reporting, research, and accountability 16 measures have been identified at the federal level as necessary tools to reduce bycatch and 17 habitat effects, particularly in the Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands, and Gulf of Alaska; and 18 WHEREAS the Alaska State Legislature has a long-standing interest in ensuring that 19 federal fisheries management decisions respect the state's constitutional mandate for sustained 20 yield and the needs of state communities that rely on fish for livelihoods and nutrition; 21 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the managers of federally 22 managed fisheries offshore of the state to require trawl vessels to fully process and donate all 23 salmon and other allowable bycatch for human consumption or other beneficial use to the 24 maximum extent practicable, rather than discarding bycatch at sea; and be it 25 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the North Pacific 26 Fishery Management Council and the National Marine Fisheries Service not to increase 27 bycatch limits and to ensure that existing limits are strictly enforced as true conservation caps; 28 and be it 29 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges federal fisheries 30 managers to institute significant penalties for the capture of bottom dwelling species in trawl 31 nets, reflecting the ecological value of benthic species and the long-term harm caused by
01 habitat disturbance; and be it 02 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature supports federal efforts to 03 expand research, electronic monitoring, and gear innovation aimed at reducing bycatch and 04 benthic habitat contact, and supports pairing that improved data with firm accountability and 05 enforcement. 06 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Donald J. Trump, President 07 of the United States; the Honorable Howard Lutnick, United States Secretary of Commerce; 08 the Honorable Dr. Neil Jacobs, Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere 09 and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Administrator; Angel Drobnica, Chair 10 of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council; and the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and 11 the Honorable Dan Sullivan, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Nicholas Begich, U.S. 12 Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.