Legislature(2003 - 2004)
03/31/2004 01:05 PM House RES
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
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+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
HJR 44-SEA OTTER RESEARCH/ENDANGERED SPECIES CO-CHAIR DAHLSTROM announced that the final order of business would be HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 44, Relating to research into the decline of the Southwest Alaska population of the Northern Sea Otter in the western Gulf of Alaska. Number 2699 REPRESENTATIVE DAN OGG, Alaska State Legislature, sponsor of HJR 44, testified that he represents District 36, and said: I'm here today presenting a resolution number 44 that relates to the Northern sea otter in the Western Gulf of Alaska. ... They are a voracious animal; they eat lots of shellfish; they eat many times their weight in seafood every day. What the problem here, isn't that, and it's not that they are cuddly. It's that their numbers have been declining since the 1970s, as much as 65 percent in a section of the state that goes from about the tip of the Kenai Peninsula and heads out into the Aleutian Islands ... That would include the southern coast of the Alaska Peninsula, Kodiak Island, and then the islands as they go out into quite an extensive area. What the resolution is addressing is saying that the Fish and wildlife service has recognized this decline and that they have noticed them for being listed as a threatened species. The impact of being a threatened species is that potential to shut down the commercial fisheries in that area. What this resolution says is that we would like to urge the Federal Government, through [the] U.S. Congress, to provide some funding into the research on these fuzzy, cuddly creatures so we can find out exactly what was going on with them. Why we're doing it this time is to try to be proactive. The last creature that went into threatened status and endangered was the Steller sea lion in the same area. We were not proactive, we were reactive, and some of our fisheries were shut down because we didn't have the research on these particular animals, the sea lion. In talks with [U.S.] Senator Stevens' staff who funded the Steller sea lion research close to $100,000,000 over a recent period of time. They would like to have some documentation as to what it would take to get a research program up and going before we get into that period where [we are] being reactive. We talked with folks with the FITC in Kodiak, which is the Fishery Industrial Technology [Center] arm for the University of Alaska and they indicated certain areas where work could be done and should be done. We have included their recommendations in the resolution and, with a sum of about $5,000,000 per year that would be spread out for five years. Research would be centered around FITC; they would coordinate it. It would stretch from the southern end of the Kenai Peninsula out into the Aleutians. Number 2535 REPRESENTATIVE STEPOVICH asked if Representative Ogg had already identified the source for the money in the federal budget. REPRESENTATIVE OGG replied that Senator Stevens' staff had requested a proposal that would justify the funding. He said: We did the background work, put a resolution together, and gave them a document they could put on the table and say, "Here's a reason, and here's some numbers that justify it, and here's a research program that would work out there." It would be through the Fish and wildlife service. REPRESENTATIVE MASEK asked how much funding was spent on Steller sea lion [research] and whether this funding could be used for [research] on northern sea otters. REPRESENTATIVE OGG replied that there has been research done in an eco-system model, regarding relationships between the fishing industry and the sea lion, between sea lions and their prey, and between the sea lions and their predators. They did not focus on the sea otter, except in a peripheral manner. This resolution aims at a better understanding of the sea otter's ecosystem. Number 2420 REPRESENTATIVE WOLF said he wondered how many sea lions and sea otters were being killed by Orcas. REPRESENTATIVE OGG replied that tags from sea lion pups have been found in the bellies of Orcas that washed up on beaches in Prince William Sound. He noted that it is difficult to "follow a pod of Orcas around" to gather information. REPRESENTATIVE WOLF indicated that sea lions are a favorite food of Orcas. He was concerned that environmental groups were blaming the fishing industry as being the killers of sea lions and sea otters. He feels that the growing population of Orcas is responsible. He said: These environmental groups are making a tremendous amount of money from selling the idea that these horrible commercial fishermen are the reason [for] the decline. It's not a natural predator like the Orca. REPRESENTATIVE OGG replied: You're exactly right. That's exactly what this aims at. When we did the sea lion one the groups went to federal court and they said, "It's declining, it's the fishing industry." There was no empirical evidence or scientific evidence to say yes or no. We're dealing in a situation where people just dealt with innuendo. The court in that situation says, "I'm not going to take a chance here. I'm going to err on the conservative side, like our fisheries managers always do, if you don't have the answer you err." So, they just created big zones around our work areas. Which, once we got the fishing research money through the federal government, those things started closing down, because, after you got the research you found out no, it wasn't fishing that was causing the problem, it's something in the environment and that nature. That's why we're pushing this. We want to be ahead of the curve this time, instead of being in court under innuendo. We want to help our fishing industry. Number 2221 REPRESENTATIVE GATTO wondered if it was fair for the people doing the research to also be the people living in the communities affected. He asked if the researchers should come from the inland, since the coastal community stood to gain the most as well as receiving the research monies. REPRESENTATIVE STEPOVICH noted that $25,000,000 is a lot of money, and he wondered if the money could be used for other projects as well. REPRESENTATIVE OGG replied: If Senator Stevens decides, and the fish and wildlife service decides, that this is an appropriate place to put the money, it will run through the fish and wildlife service and then they will determine, usually by grants, ... where these funds will be expended. I can tell you that the sea lion research ... was done by the University of Alaska, some done by British Columbia, through a consortium university, and folks going out on charter, but mostly into scientists and in the field research. Some into charters for getting people onto these rookeries and off of them. It's not like they are going to drop $5,000,000 in Kodiak. It's just that's the area we want to center. There are programs going on there. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is involved right now in the Steller sea lion one and they'll probably track along with that and use economies. They needed a number and a period of time. This is a lot smaller number than the Steller sea lion number. They may adjust it when they have comments with fish and wildlife. Number 2066 REPRESENTATIVE LYNN asked how it was decided to request $5 million per year. REPRESENTATIVE OGG replied: Those numbers came from the folks at FITC. ... The person working on the sea lions, working with fish and wildlife service, said, "Here's how a program could work. This would address the problems, and here's the amount of money [we] think that would cover it." ... This will end up on Senator Stevens' desk, Senator Murkowski's desk, and they'll make the appropriate relationships. Then fish and wildlife "circle" will come in and maybe they'll say, "$5,000,000 is too much; we can do it for $4,000,000," but you have to put something out. Number 2005 REPRESENTATIVE GUTTENBERG turned attention to page 2, and asked if the sponsor wished to add the appropriations' chair or the resource committee chairs to the copies distribution. REPRESENTATIVE OGG noted that he had no objection to this. REPRESENTATIVE GUTTENBERG moved Conceptual Amendment 1 that would include the chairs of the resource committees in the House and Senate of the United States Congress. Number 1941 CO-CHAIR DAHLSTROM noted there were no objections and Conceptual Amendment 1 was adopted. CO-CHAIR MASEK REPRESENTATIVE moved to report HJR 44 as amended out of committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal notes. There being no objections, CSHJR 44(RES) was reported out of the House Resources Standing Committee.
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