Legislature(1993 - 1994)
03/03/1993 08:30 AM House FSH
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
HB 140: FEES FOR NONRESIDENT KING SALMON TAG CHAIRMAN CARL MOSES called the meeting to order at 8:40 a.m. He noted members in attendance, advised them that HB 140 and HB 123 were on the agenda and noted the meeting was being teleconferenced. He asked Royce Weller of Representative Bill Hudson's office to give an overview of HB 140, related to the king salmon tag fee. Number 037 ROYCE WELLER, LEGISLATIVE AIDE TO REPRESENTATIVE BILL HUDSON, PRIME SPONSOR of HB 140, noted four amendments proposed by the Alaska Department of Fish & Game (ADF&G) had been inserted into members' packets. He claimed the sponsor, Representative Hudson, had no objections to the amendments, the first of which changed the effective date to January 1, 1994. The second and third amendments distinguished between river and land-locked king salmon. The fourth amendment clarified the non-resident military king salmon tag would remain at $20. MR. WELLER stated the committee had discussed adopting a $5 or $10 fee for a one day tag, and the fiscal notes detailed the impact of those fees. The sponsor, Representative Hudson, had no objection to those fees, he added. MIKE MILLAR, CHARTER BOAT OPERATOR IN JUNEAU, testified in opposition to the $20 king salmon stamp. He exclaimed that he must have nine different licenses on board to operate his boat, including a radio station license, charter boat license, business license, life-skills license, transporter license and a Coast Guard license. He said there were one and three day licenses to attract tourists to go fishing which cost $10 and $15, respectively. He believed to increase these fees decreased the opportunity for non- residents to fish, and drove more and more people into British Columbia where the bag limit was four king salmon, whereas the limit in Alaska has been one, and might be two this year (1993). MR. MILLAR claimed 80% of his license sales were the one and three day licenses. Further, he claimed the state was planning to place $700,000 projected revenue into hiring more creel census-takers. He claimed there were enough creel census-takers in past years to count the 41,000 fish that got sport fishermen and commercial fishermen into disputes years ago. He did not have a problem with the enhancement of hatchery stocks because fishermen got more fish through the quota from the hatchery stocks; on the other hand, enhancement of wild stocks did no good, he believed. REPRESENTATIVE CLIFF DAVIDSON asked if more people were vying for more fish or if there was a market situation forcing Alaskan fishermen to become more competitive because there were fewer fish. He also asked if the lower prices of fish in Canada was an advantage to people who fished there. Further, he asked how many king salmon Mr. Millar's operation took and what amount of money was paid to the state for the privilege of getting those salmon for his customers. MR. MILLAR advised that fishermen were going to British Columbia (BC) because the limit there was four sport king salmon. Through the International Treaty, Alaska got 260,000 king salmon while BC got 880,000 king salmon. In parts of BC, like the west side of Vancouver Island, sport- caught king salmon were not charged against their quota. The ADF&G has calculated that a sport-caught king salmon is worth well over $900. MR. MILLAR said he paid nothing to the state except for the licenses; the revenue he generated helped hotels, gift shops, bed & breakfasts and other tourist attractions, he added. Number 240 MIKE DOBSON, CHARTER BOAT OPERATOR IN JUNEAU, stated that 78% of his clientele were nonresidents and the price was really becoming prohibitive. A maximum catch of one to two king salmon per day was not as attractive as the limit in BC. The $20 fee was also to count the king salmon, of which one million to 1.2 million were projected per year. One- half million of that was to hire 14 census takers. The state boasted the ADF&G had an extremely accurate count of how many king salmon were caught. When the Board of Fisheries mandated 17%, or 41,000 kings had been caught, the ADF&G then admitted they did not know how to count the fish. MR. DOBSON alleged the ADF&G then claimed 14 additional census takers; the other half million was to go into salmon enhancement. If the money went into a hatchery, fishermen could not catch the salmon because it was not counted against the treaty. If the money went into re-stocking streams, then it went against the International Treaty, which does fishermen no good. The other argument was that re-stocking gave fishermen another issue to negotiate with the Canadians to increase the treaty. MR. DOBSON continued by commenting that the Canadians were not going to let Alaskans catch more fish. In his view, the money going into hatcheries was doing Alaskan fishermen no good anymore. Therefore, to help the Alaskan fishermen, the tag price for the one and three day fishermen should be reduced, he concluded. Number 296 REPRESENTATIVE DAVIDSON claimed the committee should come up with some ideas and more information that would be fair to all user groups. WILLIAM FOSTER, PRESIDENT OF A 40 MEMBER GROUP OF SITKA CHARTER BOAT OPERATORS, testified via teleconference. He expressed his concern with the non-resident salmon tag fee since last fall. The $20 non-resident fee was excessive for a short-term angler and he felt there was no public input to the legislature prior to passage of the bill that set the fees. MR. FOSTER preferred the fee structure in HB 140, and felt the committee should address non-resident anglers, under 16 years of age, who currently required no license, but needed a tag at the cost of $20. He noted over 50% of the clients were not rich and were charged by the cruise ships for fishing trips. These fees charged by the cruise ships were out of the control of fishermen, he added. ANN CHADWICK, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE SITKA CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU, testified via teleconference that the originally proposed $20 tag fee was too high for short-term, nonresident anglers. A study by the McDowell Group showed a southeast Alaska visitor profile which documented that one in five visitors fished while in Alaska. These visitors have moderate household incomes and cannot afford higher fees, she declared, and added that the Sitka Visitors Bureau supported HB 130, with the $5, $10, and $20 graduated fee schedule. MERLE WOLFORD, REPRESENTATIVE OF HOMER CHARTER ASSOCIATION AND THE SOUTH PENINSULA SPORTSMAN'S ASSOCIATION, testified from Homer that his groups favored a king salmon stamp, but not for anglers under 16 years old. Further, he said the state should not try to gouge those visitors who come to Alaska and spend their money here. TOM RAMISKEY, PRESIDENT, KETCHIKAN MARINE CHARTERS ASSOCIATION, testified via teleconference from Ketchikan, in support of the concept of a graduated fee schedule for a nonresident king salmon tag, and in opposition to specific fees as provided for in HB 140. He recommended a 14 day tag at a cost of no more than $20 and a $50 annual tag. DAN MCQUEEN a KETCHIKAN CHARTER BOAT OPERATOR, speaking from Ketchikan, stated he would support HB 140, if amended to make the 14 day tag $20 and the one year tag $50. Nonresident children, 16 years and under should not be included, he believed, and added that these amendments should be adopted immediately rather than in 1994. WILLIAM PATTISON, a KETCHIKAN RESIDENT AND CHARTER BOAT OPERATOR, testified via teleconference. He supported HB 140 but suggested the three day, $15 dollar tag be increased to four days. Additionally, the 14 day, $30 fee should only cost $20 and an annual fee should be $50, he said. DONALD WESTLUND, a KETCHIKAN RESIDENT AND CHARTER BOAT OPERATOR testified from Ketchikan. He favored the salmon stamp concept, but liked HB 130 better than HB 140. The nonresident child should not have to buy a stamp, he believed. DENNIS KETCHUM, a KETCHIKAN RESIDENT speaking from Ketchikan, advised of his support for HB 130 and the graduated fee schedule. LEE PUTMAN, REPRESENTATIVE OF THE KETCHIKAN SPORTS & WILDLIFE CLUB spoke to the committee from Ketchikan. He felt any salmon stamp was unnecessary, however if a fee was passed, they should be lower. CHAIRMAN MOSES asked if anyone else wanted to testify, in person or via teleconference on HB 140. He then clarified resident anglers under age 16 were exempt. HB 140 WAS HELD IN COMMITTEE AWAITING FURTHER AMENDMENTS FROM REPRESENTATIVE HUDSON.
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