Legislature(2017 - 2018)BUTROVICH 205
04/16/2018 03:30 PM Senate RESOURCES
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB197 | |
| HJR29 | |
| HB354 | |
| HCR23 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | HCR 23 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | HJR 29 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | HB 197 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | HB 354 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
CSHCR 23(RES)-PROTECT WILDLIFE FROM FOREIGN PATHOGENS
4:34:18 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL announced consideration of HCR 23. [CSHCR 23(RES)
was before the committee.]
4:34:42 PM
REPRESENTATIVE ANDY JOSEPHSON, Alaska State Legislature, Juneau,
Alaska, sponsor of HCR 23, explained that the impetus for this
resolution came from concerns with the Micoplasma Ovipneumoniae
(M.Ovi) bacteria, which has been identified in the last 30-40
days, principally in Unit 15 on the Kenai Peninsula and Unit 13
in the MatSu area, as having infected goats and sheep. It has
also been identified elsewhere. There are many strains of M.OVI
and the department is doing the technical and laboratory work to
find out which strain this is.
He explained that the response to the M.Ovi issue has been
"pretty dramatic." This resolution has received in the
neighborhood of 100-plus letters of support and a handful in
opposition. The concern stems from a catastrophic die-off of big
game sheep in the Rocky Mountains, and naturally, big game
guides and hunters and others don't want to see that happen
here.
REPRESENTATIVE JOSEPHSON said this resolution was caught up with
issues about domestic husbandry and domestic animals. The Board
of Game heard a couple of proposals and concluded it didn't have
jurisdiction over the matter. The State Veterinarian is very
involved and does not oppose the resolution as it is written and
wants the state to be vigilant and to keep working on this
issue. Some may believe that this has to be an either-or kind of
thing, because of alarm over a possible effort to intervene in
the putative source of the M.Ovi virus. We don't want to see a
die-off of wild game.
REPRESENTATIVE JOSEPHSON said language in the second and fifth
whereas clauses of the resolution were changed in the House
Resources Committee and uses the term "livestock" in a way that
he didn't agree with. But when it was argued on the House Floor
it was viewed as balanced. Some of the words, particularly on
lines 6 and 13 talking about science-based livestock management
attributing billions of dollars of economic value to livestock,
are not quite accurate.
CHAIR GIESSEL thanked him for taking on this issue. She said the
State Veterinarian with the Department of Environmental
Conservation (DEC) was on-line and clarified that the state has
lots of state veterinarians. ADF&G has one and the upcoming
fiscal year budget contains funding for the incorporation of a
new position of veterinarian in the DNR's Division of
Agriculture.
4:39:49 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL asked for state veterinarian questions.
SENATOR STEDMAN asked his opinion of the new finding of some of
these diseased animals.
4:40:21 PM
ROBERT GERLACH, State Veterinarian, Office of the State
Veterinarian, Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC),
Anchorage, Alaska, answered that he began a study one year ago
when the question of mycoplasma pneumonia was brought up. They
started testing livestock, both sheep and goats, across the
state to determine the prevalence of this pathogen in domestic
livestock. Right now, there is a prevalence rate of about 4-5
percent in domestic livestock. In that same time period, ADF&G
also began testing samples for mycoplasma ovipneumoniae in
different wildlife species and populations across the state and
have been doing surveillance for mycoplasma bacteria in wildlife
for a number of years and just now instituted a stronger push
toward a different testing method for it. Several press releases
on the findings on the wild sheep and goats across the state
have been put out. It has been found wild populations in the
Kenai Peninsula and up northeast of the Brooks Range.
SENATOR COGHILL thanked him for his answers. He asked what new
things would happen if this resolution passes.
MR. GERLACH answered the surveillance and understanding of the
presence of this pathogen in both domestic and wild species
across the state would continue. But what they don't know, and
ADF&G is taking a big step in doing, is not just testing wild
sheep or goats but testing other species to see if they are
affected by it or if they could be carriers and transmitters.
SENATOR COGHILL said he appreciates that and asked if the
resolution speeds them along in the right direction.
MR. GERLACH answered what DEC and ADF&G have been coordinating
work on it and on a number of different diseases, as well like
chronic wasting disease surveillance, influenza, rabies, and
others, in the same manner.
4:45:03 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL noted that language on page 2, lines 1-2, says,
"Whereas wildlife of the state is under continuous and
increasing threat from foreign pathogens, infectious diseases,
and non-endemic parasites..." and asked if he as the DEC State
Veterinarian considered M.Ovi pathogen a threat.
MR. GERLACH replied from what they know at this time, they see
no negative impact of mycoplasma ovipneumoniae in either
domestic or wildlife species. So, the identification of this
pathogen needs to be further evaluated. The Lower 48 states and
Southern British Columbia have totally different situations with
respect to the habitat they have for their wild sheep, the
amounts of interaction they have, the stressors on those
populations, and the overall density of our domestic livestock
in comparison to what these other areas have. The two situations
are totally different and just because we have the presence of a
pathogen doesn't necessarily mean we have the disease or
pathology that results from it. He explained that if you went
out and picked up some dirt from the ground, a number of
different pathogens could get on your hands, but just because
they are there doesn't mean you are going to be sick, especially
if you take certain precautions and management procedures such
as washing hands and other things to prevent it.
In this case they have been provided a time period to go ahead
and look at the situation, work to understand what the risks
are, and then help to institute management changes if they are
needed to prevent risk to either domestic or wildlife
populations in Alaska. This is a concern for many emerging
diseases in the state, not just mycoplasma ovipneumoniae.
CHAIR GIESSEL said she appreciated his balanced response. She
said Alaska has 25 percent of the wild sheep in North America
and it could have a substantial impact on Alaska if the pathogen
proves to be deadly. She appreciated the ongoing investigation.
4:48:13 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL, finding no further questions, opened public
testimony on HCR 23.
AMY SEITZ, Executive Director, Alaska Farm Bureau, Soldotna,
Alaska, supported HCR 23. She said the Alaska Farm Bureau agrees
with the idea of encouraging Alaska's agencies to protect
wildlife and domestic animals and appreciates the amendments
added in the House Resources Committee stating that the
information needs to be gathered in order to make a science-
based decision and adding references to domestic animals and
livestock to correlate with the title that references both.
If this resolution passes, she said it is important to know if
the support is for encouraging agencies to gather the
information and make science-based management decisions with
necessary and prudent measures or if this is a revolution
pushing for action. There can be significant differences between
these two possible ways of looking at it. Especially since the
current M.Ovi issue spurred this resolution on, they believe
agencies are taking necessary and prudent steps to gather
Alaska-specific information in order to make appropriate actions
to minimize the risk of a disease outbreak.
MS. SEITZ said that enhancing efforts and taking actions before
getting the information to prevent this spread of pathogens can
be extreme and not necessarily the right approach. Had actions
been taken when this issue first came to Alaska before they had
any information, they probably wouldn't have discovered that
M.Ovi was already in our wildlife or that it's up in the Brooks
Range where it most likely didn't come from a direct contact
with domestic animal. So, it's really important to get the
information before taking action.
She said one of the points that has been brought up is that the
requestors want to go M.Ovi-free in the state, and at this point
they don't know enough about this pathogen to know how to go
M.Ovi-free or if it is even possible. Trying to eradicate a
pathogen would be extremely costly to the state and domestic
owners. We don't know if M.Ovi is endemic in our wild
populations, and there have been indications that other
ungulates can be carriers of M.Ovi, so it would be unwise to
encourage agencies to take actions before understanding what
appropriate action would be. If the sole focus is on regulating
domestic sheep and goats, we may end up missing something really
important when trying to solve this problem.
MS. SEITZ said several other countries that have wild and
domestic animals don't seem to be having the same problem that
Big Horn Sheep have had. It would be important to find out why
and why Alaska has M.OVI in its wild herds, but they still
appear to be healthy, and how long it has been in our wild
populations.
She said the agencies mentioned in this resolution do take
necessary and prudent steps to gather information in order to
make a science-based decision whether it's M.Ovi, winter tics,
or numerous other diseases they monitor. If this resolution
passes, they hope it's with the intent to encourage and support
the agencies in gathering the facts and science to justify any
actions and not as a way of pushing them into action without
information.
4:53:09 PM
TIANA THOMAS, Mutual Aide Network of Livestock Producers and
Consumers, Wasilla, Alaska, said their network receives feed
from Delta, sells meats through the Farmers Market, and eggs and
milk through Shares. She advised them to be cautious of two
words in the resolution: "enhanced" and "catastrophic." In other
states, "enhanced" measures include extirpation of any flocks
that has a single positive member. In the 2017 Fall issue of the
Wild Sheep Foundation Magazine she read an article by Dr. Besser
D.V.M. that he is no longer recommending extirpating entire
herds. Rather they look to see which animals cannot clear the
mycoplasma and it seems that only 10 percent of the Big Horns
cannot do that; the rest of them are developing the ability to
clear the mycoplasma and becoming disease resistant.
She said that domestic animals have had a longer encounter with
M.OVI and have much better clearance rates. In fact, out of all
the testing that was voluntary on domestics in the state only
one animal tested positive on all three nasal swabs and the
antibody serum detection. The rest of them had detections but
did not have the infection, and they definitely did not have
concurrent positive swabs. They are looking at having greater
cooperation with the State Veterinarian to develop M.OVI-free
source herds for pack goats that would go into Dall Sheep
habitat.
4:55:44 PM
However, she encouraged members to respect the Alaska and U.S.
Constitution and not ask private property citizens what they
would never ask of a gun owner, because those the enhanced
measures are universal registration, mandatory tests,
confiscation and destruction of those that fail the test.
Hunters would never be asked that. These are strong-arm tactics
that would obstruct and discourage open cooperation going into
the future with the State Veterinarian.
Further, Ms. Thomas said it would be financially hard for the
state to administer and definitely be a hardship for farmers.
Mandatory testing on all private properties would double the
cost of animals. She supports M.OVI-free source herds for
animals that will go out into public lands.
4:57:36 PM
MS. THOMAS said the state's food security and access is very
important and people currently outnumber caribou. While trophy
hunting is a big part of conservation, it takes the pressure off
of the young tender tasty breeding age animals. Without a
substitution from the domestic sector for those animals as a
poaching source, subsistence users could quite easily lose all
of their native animals and subsistence sources.
She understands that it's hard on guides to follow the natural
fluctuating cycles of the Big Horns in the state, but it is also
hard on the animals to artificially sustain an elevated density.
Drastic crashes and drastic peaks can be smoothed out, but it is
not wise to follow enhanced measures to keep an artificially
elevated population - although the Big Horn numbers have been
increasing wonderfully of the past couple of decades.
MS. THOMAS pointed out that pack horses have been exempted from
any scrutiny for disease transfer even though confinement
studies found that horses and goats have very nearly the same
rates of disease transfer. She asked that all animals be
included in the resolution, because domestics and wildlife are
equally valuable to the residents of the State of Alaska, but
those are being managed for the residents and not for the
resource itself.
CHAIR GIESSEL thanked Ms. Thomas for her testimony and said she
appreciated her passion on this subject. She pointed out that
the words "domestic animals and wildlife" appear balanced in
this resolution and appear with equal frequency.
4:59:47 PM
THOR STACEY, lobbyist, Alaska Wild Sheep Foundation, Juneau,
Alaska, supported HCR 23. This is a matter of conservation. It
has to do with constitutional mandates for sustained yield. Dall
sheep, mountain goats, and musk ox are clearly covered in
section 8 of the Constitution.
He said the Wild Sheep Foundation is mostly composed of hunters,
although as with other types of conservation organizations it is
aligned in its mission to preserve wildlife for non-consumptive
users. However, from a hunter's perspective, this makes an
important statement of policy: if there is a disease outbreak in
the state, the full cost of that measure would be borne by
hunters. Wildlife is clearly supported by hunting licenses and
the fees that go to the Division of Wildlife. No general fund
monies are used. There is no responsibility at all on the
domestic side if an outbreak occurs. This is unlike a forest
fire: once the originating party in a fire is identified, that
party has the responsibility to indemnify the public for the
loss of the forest and to indemnify owners of cabins or property
that gets destroyed by this event.
In the case of a disease outbreak, Mr. Stacey said there is no
responsibility on the person from which the disease outbreak
originates. So, they appreciate the effort they put into a pro-
active policy that hopefully works to minimize the burden: loss
of the resource and the costs ultimately that go to the end
users.
5:02:24 PM
MR. STACEY said secondly, this resolution brings policy in line
with the policies the legislature has put forward on fisheries
management to prevent disease transmission from aquaculture,
fish farming, ranches, and all series of projects to enhance
fisheries. The wild fish are obviously a priority in the state.
He said hopefully those changes - adding "livestock" on page 1,
lines 6 and 13, where it's not very intuitive how livestock fits
in - that are supported by the Farm Bureau and the House
represent a collaborative commitment for the agricultural side
and the wildlife side to work together on what approach to take.
CHAIR GIESSEL, finding no questions, thanked Mr. Stacey for his
testimony, and closed public testimony. She commented that Mr.
Stacey used the term "collaborative commitment" and that is what
she is also hoping for. The discussion has centered around
M.OVI, but this is a broad statement about measures to detect
the presence of infectious diseases and foreign pathogens.
Canada has barred the entry of cows into their country when
there was a mad cow outbreak and multiple pathogens exist that
could affect our wild stocks. She was pleased that at this point
the Division of Agriculture will have its own veterinarians
coming on board.
5:05:49 PM
SENATOR COGHILL commented that he didn't expect that the
enhanced efforts would be as draconian as portrayed, but those
efforts deal with both wildlife and domestic animals, and if
anything, drastic was happening, the legislature would hear
about it.
He moved to report CSHCR 23(RES), version 30-LS1434\D, from
committee with individual recommendations and attached zero
fiscal note(s). There were no objections and it was so ordered.