Legislature(2003 - 2004)
04/14/2004 03:30 PM Senate RES
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
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CSHJR 44(FSH)-SEA OTTER RESEARCH/ENDANGERED SPECIES
CHAIR SCOTT OGAN called the Senate Resources Standing Committee
meeting to order at 3:30 p.m. Present were Senators Thomas
Wagoner, Fred Dyson, Ralph Seekins and Chair Scott Ogan. Senator
Ben Stevens arrived at 5:15. The first order of business to come
before the committee was CSHJR 44(FSH).
REPRESENTATIVE DAN OGG, sponsor, of HJR 44, said the Southwest
Alaska population of Northern Sea Otters has declines as much as
65 percent since the mid-1970s. In responds to this precipitous
decline, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service recently
proposed listing the sea otters in the Southwest region as
threatened under the Endangered Species Act. This bill
recognizes that drop. Studies funded by the federal government
have found that the of another species, the Stellar Sea lion's
decline is not necessarily related to commercial fisheries. This
resolution asks the federal government to put $5 million aside
each year over the next five years to study this animal over a
period in the area of Kodiak.
CHAIR OGAN asked how many sea otters were going to get studied
for $25 million. "That's a lot of money!"
REPRESENTATIVE OGG replied that he didn't know their numbers.
SENATOR RALPH SEEKINS asked for an estimate of economic damages
that could potentially happen if the reasons for the sea otter
decline were not studied.
REPRESENTATIVE OGG replied Kodiak Island salmon fishery,
presently valued at $25 million, could go away if information
didn't show there was no connection between commercial fishing
and the decline in sea otters. The Kenai Peninsula has another
salmon fishery that the same thing could happen to. Possibly
crab fisheries could be taken out. It could all add up to $200
million to $300 million. Pollock fisheries might be affected,
because they are farther out, but impacts to the coastal
communities that are struggling already could become very
serious.
SENATOR SEEKINS remarked that he thought the money for a sea
otter study would be well spent.
CHAIR OGAN asked if sea otters are listed as threatened now.
REPRESENTATIVE OGG replied that the Wildlife Service is going to
list them as threatened and that is why public comment is being
taken on it at this point. It can't be said for certain that
commercial fishing doesn't have an impact until information is
gathered.
They started putting large circles around where the
Stellar sea lions live and they'll do the same thing
with the sea otters.... It knocked out incredible
portions of fisheries and we had to fight to get them
back.
SENATOR SEEKINS urged that a study seemed to be a much better
way of dealing with the decline than the shotgun approach.
REPRESENTATIVE OGG explained that the people who studied the
Stellar sea lions suggested that $5 million every year for five
years would provide enough data for a sea otter study. The study
on Stellar sea lions cost $100 million.
CHAIR OGAN asked if he envisioned the study being done as
government research.
REPRESENTATIVE OGG answered that usually the money is funneled
through one of the government agencies. The Stellar sea lions
study is presently done through the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS) in the Department of Commerce. Contracts are
usually picked up by universities. This one would go through the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which would decide on the
program. Kodiak already has research facilities from the Stellar
sea lion study.
CHAIR OGAN exclaimed, "There seems to be more money, sometimes,
in researching why fishing isn't good than there is in fishing!"
REPRESENTATIVE OGG said it seemed like that, but in today's
reality, people in the fishing industry understand that without
the research they won't be able to fish.
CHAIR OGAN said he was concerned about specifying an amount to
be spent and would feel more comfortable with language like,
"Congress will provide adequate or sufficient funding." He
wanted to know if there were other considerations behind
focusing the study in Kodiak.
REPRESENTATIVE OGG replied that the sea otter population starts
at the tip of the Kenai Peninsula and goes down the Alaska
Peninsula including Kodiak Island and goes out the chain. One
needs to look for research facilities that exist in that area
and scientists who work in that field. Those are found in
Kodiak; those are the scientists he talked to about what was
needed to accomplish this type of study.
CHAIR OGAN asked if anyone knew how many sea otters were taken
for subsistence hunting.
REPRESENTATIVE OGG replied he didn't really know and that those
products can't be sold.
SENATOR THOMAS WAGONER informed them that the finished products
made from sea otter pelts can be bartered or sold, but he said
there had been very little hunting of sea otters in Kachemak Bay
for several years. He thought Kodiak was a perfect area in which
to conduct this research.
MS. JULIE DECKER, Executive Director, Southeast Alaska Regional
Dive Fisheries Association (SARDFA), said she had submitted
written comments in support of HJR 44. Research would not only
indicate why there is a decline, but the extent of it as well.
She suggested adding three whereas clauses that contain language
from the Federal Register noticing the proposed listing as
threatened as follows:
1. On page 2, line 1, insert: "Whereas information from
monitoring programs administered by NMFS indicates that
interactions between sea otters and commercial fisheries
result in less than one instance of mortality per year
within the Southwest Alaska distinct population segment;
and"
2. After the above, insert: "Whereas information from the MTRP
estimates the subsistence harvest of sea otters from the
Southwest Alaska distinct population segment (DPS) averaged
less than 100 sea otters per year during the 1990s and the
impacts of the subsistence harvest is negligible; and"
3. On page 2, line 4, insert: "Whereas the cause of the
decline in abundance of the Southwest Alaska population of
the Northern Sea Otter is unknown, although the weight of
evidence of available information suggests that predation
by killer whales may be the most likely cause of the sea
otter decline in the Aleutian Islands; and"
4. On page 2, line 18, insert "and be it further resolved that
the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests the
United States Fish and Wildlife Service not list the
Southwest Alaska sea otter as threatened until the amount
of decline and cause of decline is better understood
through intensive research."
REPRESENTATIVE OGG responded that Ms. Decker is addressing the
Southwest population where the Fish and Wildlife Service has
done preliminary studies noticing the 65 percent decline. That's
the reason they put up the public notice. He didn't know if the
resolution could ask them to not list them as threatened as that
is a scientific determination. That is why he is asking for
money to get the scientific determination. He wanted to leave
the resolution the way it is.
CHAIR OGAN asked if this is a decline from an all-time high or
from an average number.
REPRESENTATIVE OGG couldn't answer that definitively. Some
thought the reason for the Stellar sea lion decline is because
of extensive whale hunting in the 30s and 40s - that it knocked
out a whole segment of prey and the sea lion population filled
that void by the 1970s. He speculated that maybe the 1970s was
an all-time high of recovery.
SENATOR THOMAS WAGONER moved to pass CSHJR 44(FSH) from
committee with a zero fiscal note. There were no objections and
it was so ordered.
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