04/04/2012 03:30 PM Senate RESOURCES

                  HJR 26-SEA OTTER MANAGEMENT                                                                               
                                                                                                                                
4:44:51 PM                                                                                                                    
CO-CHAIR  WAGONER  announced  consideration   of  HJR  26  [CSHJR
(RES)am was before the committee].                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                
CO-CHAIR PASKVAN moved  to bring CSHJR 26(RES),  \D.A, before the                                                               
committee for purposes of discussion.                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
CO-CHAIR WAGONER objected.                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
4:45:20 PM                                                                                                                    
REPRESENTATIVE  PEGGY WILSON,  sponsor  of HJR  26, Alaska  State                                                               
Legislature,  said  she could  answer  questions  but her  intern                                                               
would explain the resolution.                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
ARTHUR  MARTIN, intern  for Representative  Peggy Wilson,  Alaska                                                               
State  Legislature, Juneau,  AK, explained  that during  the 18th                                                               
and  19th century  because  of  the fur  trade,  sea otters  were                                                               
almost completely wiped  out on the North  American continent. In                                                               
the years between 1965 and  1969 efforts were made to reintroduce                                                               
sea  otters  back  to  their  historic  regions  and  the  Alaska                                                               
Department of  Fish and  Game (ADF&G)  reintroduced approximately                                                               
400  sea otters  into Southeast  Alaska. In  1972 the  management                                                               
responsibility for  them was  transferred from  the state  to the                                                               
federal  government under  the Marine  Mammal  Protection Act  of                                                               
1972.                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
The  issue  Alaska  has  struggled   with  is  that  the  federal                                                               
government has no viable long  term management plan for them. The                                                               
US Fish and  Wildlife Service created a management  plan in 1994,                                                               
but  it hasn't  been revised  since  then. In  the meantime,  sea                                                               
otters  in Southeast  are flourishing  and  their population  has                                                               
grown  to such  a level  that they  are actually  threatening the                                                               
balance of the eco system,  which is hurting the Southeast Alaska                                                               
economy.                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
MR. MARTIN  said that Southeast  Alaska has a population  of some                                                               
20,000 sea  otters and their number  grows by about 12  percent a                                                               
year.  They eat  approximately 23  percent of  their body  weight                                                               
each  day in  crabs, abalone  and clams.  Together with  the dive                                                               
fisheries, they consume about 253,000  pounds of food in a single                                                               
day. According  to a  McDowell Report,  dated November  2011, sea                                                               
otter predation  on the red  sea cucumber, geoduck clam,  red sea                                                               
urchin  and  Dungeness crab  fisheries  have  already caused  the                                                               
Southeast Alaska  economy $28.3  million directly  and indirectly                                                               
since 1995. To put this in  perspective, last year sea otters ate                                                               
an estimated 7  million pounds of commercial  species whereas the                                                               
entire 2010 Southeast  Alaska harvest in dive  and Dungeness crab                                                               
fisheries was  about 6 million  pounds. If this  trend continues,                                                               
Southeast Alaska will no longer  have a viable dive fish economy.                                                               
The  McDowell  Report said  that  commercial  dive fisheries  and                                                               
large  populations of  sea  otters cannot  co-exist  in the  same                                                               
waters.                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
4:48:07 PM                                                                                                                    
He  explained that  related to  the sea  otter population  is the                                                               
issue  that  although  Alaska  Native  peoples  may  harvest  sea                                                               
otters,  they   are  limited  only   to  selling   authentic  and                                                               
traditional   Native   handicrafts   under  the   Marine   Mammal                                                               
Protection Act.  This resolution is asking  that while discussing                                                               
the  sea   otter  management  issue  the   terms  "authentic  and                                                               
traditional"  be   replaced  with  "Alaska  Native   articles  of                                                               
handicraft" to  expand a cottage  or niche industry and  to clear                                                               
up any legal gray area.                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
He  said with  the Marine  Mammal Protection  Act being  40 years                                                               
old,  things have  honestly changed.  Sea otter  populations have                                                               
grown at  an impressive  rate and  it's time  to consider  a long                                                               
term  management  plan  as  well   as  broadening  the  scope  of                                                               
allowable uses for sea otters in Alaska Native handicrafts.                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI  asked how  sea otters, crabs,  sea urchins,                                                               
cucumbers  and  abalones  co-existed ecologically  before  humans                                                               
were around to manage them.                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
MR. MARTIN replied that he didn't  know if research had been done                                                               
on  that issue,  but theory  suggests  that while  the sea  otter                                                               
populations  were  relative  large  before  the  fur  trade,  the                                                               
populations of dive  fisheries - sea urchins and  sea cucumbers -                                                               
were relatively small. After the  fur harvest of the 19th century                                                               
the sea  otter populations  decreased and  so the  dive fisheries                                                               
began to  flourish, which created  an economy here. Now  that the                                                               
sea  otters  are  beginning  to  rebound,  they  clash  with  the                                                               
Southeast economy and current ecology.                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR FRENCH  asked where the  23 percent of their  body weight                                                               
each  day came  from.  Is that  the upper  limit  or the  average                                                               
number?                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
MR. MARTIN replied that it came  from the McDowell Report as well                                                               
as other reports.  Male sea otters can grow up  to 100 pounds and                                                               
females can  grow up  to 80  pounds, so  they took  a statistical                                                               
average and came up with 23 percent.                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR FRENCH asked  if there is an average number  given in the                                                               
report.                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE P. WILSON  said one of the reasons  sea otters eat                                                               
so  much is  because they  don't retain  body fat.  They have  to                                                               
constantly eat to stay warm and keep from losing weight.                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
MR. MARTIN  noted that page  8 of  the McDowell Report  said that                                                               
the animals have  a high metabolism and require  large amounts of                                                               
food, and  in captivity will  consume up  to 25 percent  of their                                                               
body weight per day (from the US Fish and Wildlife Service).                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CO-CHAIR WAGONER said he had  seen them eat just about everything                                                               
in the  salt water;  90 percent of  the time when  you see  a sea                                                               
otter it'll be on its back with something on its chest to eat.                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
4:54:02 PM                                                                                                                    
CO-CHAIR PASKVAN  said to  a certain extent  they are  calling on                                                               
the federal  government to do  certain things and asked  what the                                                               
state is  doing currently with respect  to cooperative agreements                                                               
and working with  Alaskans to establish strategies  and plans for                                                               
sustainable management.                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
MR.  MARTIN replied  that the  US  Fish and  Wildlife Service  is                                                               
trying to  do some things in  that Alaska Native peoples  are the                                                               
only group  allowed to harvest sea  otters. One of the  issues is                                                               
that  a  legal gray  area  exists  in defining  "traditional  and                                                               
authentic" under  the Marine Mammal  Protection Act and  they are                                                               
working  on   getting  more  public  comment   to  rewrite  their                                                               
definitions. But beyond that, the  federal government hasn't done                                                               
anything. They just  let sea otters grow and  the 1994 management                                                               
plan  hopes   sea  otters  will  reach   an  optimal  sustainable                                                               
population range and at some  point they will just start shooting                                                               
them, but there is no other plan.                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                
CO-CHAIR WAGONER  said they need  to remember that the  state and                                                               
private  investors are  spending  millions of  dollars trying  to                                                               
establish  a shellfish  industry and  there has  to be  a balance                                                               
some place.                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR  WIELECHOWSKI said  it's  always a  little bit  dangerous                                                               
when mankind plays  around with ecological balances  and asked if                                                               
there are any  studies about the ramifications  of possible over-                                                               
managing the sea otter population - to sea kelp, for instance.                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE P. WILSON  replied that they didn't have  a way to                                                               
know except  when they were  becoming extinct and there  wasn't a                                                               
sea kelp crisis during that time. Nothing crashed at that time.                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
She said  the third paragraph  of the sponsor statement  said the                                                               
1994 conservation  plan for the  sea otter in Alaska  stated that                                                               
although an optimum sustainable  population had not been defined,                                                               
the  stock was  believed to  be within  that range.  That was  18                                                               
years ago  and the plan was  to be reviewed annually  and revised                                                               
at least every three to five years, and that hasn't happened.                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
CO-CHAIR WAGONER  remarked that Southeast  is not the  only place                                                               
being  affected  by  sea  otters.  They  decimated  the  prolific                                                               
steamer calm beds in Kachemak Bay that were always very rich.                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR FRENCH  referenced a "Wikipedia"  page talking  about the                                                               
economic impact of sea otters that said:                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
     Some of  their preferred prey species  - abalone, crab,                                                                    
     clam - are also food  sources for humans in some areas.                                                                    
     Massive  declines  in   shellfish  harvests  have  been                                                                    
     blamed on the sea otter,  and intense public debate has                                                                    
     taken place over how to  manage the competitive between                                                                    
     humans  and   sea  otters  for   seafood.  But   it  is                                                                    
     complicated  by the  fact that  sea  otters have  often                                                                    
     been  held responsible  for clam  and shellfish  stocks                                                                    
     that were more likely  caused by overfishing by humans,                                                                    
     disease,  pollution  and  seismic  activity.  Shellfish                                                                    
     declines have also occurred in  many parts of the North                                                                    
     American Pacific Coast, but do  not have sea otters and                                                                    
     conservationists sometimes  note that the  existence of                                                                    
     large  concentrations of  shellfish on  the coast  is a                                                                    
     recent development resulting from  the fur trades' near                                                                    
     extirpation  of the  sea otter.  Although many  factors                                                                    
     affect  shellfish  stocks,   sea  otter  predation  can                                                                    
     deplete  a fishery  to the  point that  it's no  longer                                                                    
     commercially  viable.   There  is  a   consensus  among                                                                    
     scientists  that  sea   otters  and  abalone  fisheries                                                                    
     cannot  co-exist  in the  same  area  and the  same  is                                                                    
     likely true of for other types of shellfish, as well.                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
CO-CHAIR WAGONER said he would hold HJR 26 until Friday.