Legislature(2005 - 2006)CAPITOL 124
01/19/2005 08:30 AM House FISHERIES
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| Overview: Department of Fish and Game | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON FISHERIES
January 19, 2005
8:37 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Gabrielle LeDoux, Co-Chair
Representative Bill Thomas, Co-Chair
Representative Peggy Wilson
Representative John Harris
Representative Jim Elkins
Representative Mary Kapsner
Representative Woodie Salmon
MEMBERS ABSENT
All members present
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
OVERVIEW: DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND GAME
- HEARD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to record
WITNESS REGISTER
DOUG MECUM, Director
Division of Commercial Fisheries
Alaska Department of Fish and Game
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented an overview of the division
KELLY HEPLER, Director
Division of Sport Fisheries
Alaska Department of Fish and Game
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented an overview of the division
REPRESENTATIVE MIKE KELLY
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Posed questions to the directors
ACTION NARRATIVE
CO-CHAIR GABRIELLE LEDOUX called the House Special Committee on
Fisheries meeting to order at 8:37:00 AM. Representatives
LeDoux, Thomas, Wilson, Harris and Elkins were present at the
call to order. Representatives Kapsner and Salmon arrived as
the meeting was in progress.
^OVERVIEW: DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND GAME
8:38:56 AM
DOUG MECUM, Director, Division of Commercial Fisheries, Alaska
Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G), presented a brief outline
of fisheries authorities, including National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of
Subsistence Management (USFWS - OSM). He explained that the
state Board of Fisheries adopts fishery management plans and
makes allocation decisions while ADF&G implements those plans
and decisions. The Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission (CFEC)
has the authority to establish moratoria or limited entry
systems for state-managed fisheries. The Department of Public
Safety [Alaska Bureau of Wildlife Enforcement] enforces ADF&G
regulations.
8:40:49 AM
MR. MECUM stated that ADF&G is the primary state fishery
authority which operates under the federal regulatory regime as
established under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and
Management Act (MFCMA). The ADF&G has an exclusive economic
zone within 200 miles of U.S. Coasts. He said that the State of
Alaska has a commissioner's seat and five other seats on the
North Pacific Fisheries Management Council (NPFMC), which adopts
regulations. This council makes decisions with respect to Bering
Sea crab, Aleutians Island crab and groundfish, Gulf of Alaska
(GOA) groundfish, and salmon and scallops. The salmon fisheries
in federal waters are managed by ADF&G under delegated
authority, as are the Bering Sea, Aleutians Island and GOA crab
fisheries, and shrimp and some rockfish species. He said that
the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) regulates
the halibut fishery; the state doesn't have management authority
for halibut in either federal or state waters. He noted that
[the State of Alaska] also has a seat on the [Pacific Salmon
Commission].
8:41:48 AM
MR. MECUM pointed out that the Division of Commercial Fisheries
is responsible for managing the commercial fisheries as well as
some personal use fisheries, and it is the primary management
authority for the subsistence fisheries. The ADF&G also
conducts research programs. The department is responsible for
the planning and permitting of fish hatcheries and mariculture
operations; and also participates extensively in the Board of
Fisheries process, the Pacific Salmon Treaty, Alaska-Yukon
Treaty negotiations, and North Pacific Fisheries Management
Council.
8:42:46 AM
MR. MECUM explained to the committee that the Division of
Commercial Fisheries has about 300 full-time and 520 seasonal
employees. The division is organized into five offices,
including the headquarters office in Juneau and the following
four regional offices: Southeast Region (Southeast Alaska and
Yakutat), Central Region (Cook Inlet, Prince William Sound, and
Bristol Bay), Artic Yukon Region (Western Alaska, Interior, and
North Slope), and Westward Region (Kodiak, Bering Sea, and
Alaska Peninsula). The division has about 40 area offices
around the state.
8:44:02 AM
MR. MECUM pointed out that, for his division, between fiscal
year 2005 (FY05) and FY06 the general fund (GF) increased by
about $1.34 million. This consists of a $900,000 increment that
the division submitted and approved to do expanded stock
assessment, genetics work, and sonar-verification in the
following areas: Copper River, Prince William Sound, Cook Inlet,
Kenai River, and Bristol Bay. He stated, "Another 500 and some-
odd thousand dollars is increased employers' costs, PERS [Public
Employees' Retirement System]. Other than that it's really a
status quo budget."
MR. MECUM explained that the value of salmon has gone up in the
last couple of years due to the abundance of sockeye, a higher
value species, and some improvement in prices. He stated that
harvests continue to be very high; over the past 15 years salmon
fisheries have been at record levels.
8:45:35 AM
MR. MECUM pointed out that salmon made up 15 percent of the
total 2004 Alaska Commercial Fisheries Harvest; halibut,
shellfish and herring each made up 1 percent; and groundfish
made up 83 percent.
MR. MECUM explained that, even though halibut made up only 1
percent of the landed catch, it made up almost 17 percent of the
value. Similarly, the shellfish made up a small percent of the
landed catch, but made up 13 percent of the value.
REPRESENTATIVE HARRIS asked MR. MECUM what his biggest
challenges were this year.
8:47:12 AM
MR. MECUM replied that salmon fisheries are in a state of
distress around the state. The ADF&G is working with a salmon
restructuring panel that is an extension of the Joint
Legislative Salmon Industry Task Force. This panel is currently
working on some options for restructuring fisheries. He
explained that, in the federal fisheries, "rationalization, for
lack of a better term, is something that's been going on, that's
going to continue to go on". He stated that the division will
work with the various policy makers, the legislature, the Board
of Fisheries, and the council process to restructure the
fisheries to make them more economically viable and to try to
eliminate the race for fish, for safer fishing conditions.
MR. MECUM noted that the Division of Commercial Fisheries has a
GF budget of about $23 million, which, in real terms, is less
than the budget of 1975. He said that the division has made up
a lot of that with federal funds, but while the budget has
remained static, the division's responsibilities over the past
15 years have increased dramatically.
8:49:17 AM
CO-CHAIR THOMAS asked Mr. Mecum if ADF&G planned to weigh in on
the Tulsequah Mine, which he believes will have a major impact
on the gillnet fishery.
MR. MECUM deferred to the director of the Division of Sport
Fisheries, which is responsible for habitat management
permitting.
KELLY HEPLER, Director, Division of Sport Fisheries, answered
that ADF&G is involved and working with the Canadians. He said
that Ron "Rocky" Holmes, Regional Supervisor, ADF&G, is
representing the department and making sure that the fisheries
concerns are met.
8:50:27 AM
REPRESENTATIVE WILSON stated that when the Canadians open a mine
they do a fairly good job bringing in all the stakeholders at
the beginning. She said that usually the First Nations and the
environmentalists are involved, so that everyone gets their say.
She asked if [the State of Alaska] has been included in that
process.
MR. HEPLER responded in the affirmative, adding that Mr. Holmes
will be attending another meeting in about a month -and-a-half.
8:51:28 AM
MR. HEPLER, in response to a question from Representative
Kapsner, said that there are two hatcheries in Anchorage, one
located on Elmendorf Air Force Base and one at Fort Richardson
Army Base. The hatcheries are about 30 years old and have
failing infrastructures. Furthermore, there have been some
heating concerns; "we've been getting some hot water out of the
bases to raise some fish, particularly Rainbow Trout. We're
losing those heating sources." These two hatcheries represent a
lot of sport fishing opportunities through the Railbelt area.
He noted that fish from these hatcheries have been shipped to
Juneau and Kodiak. Mr. Hepler stated that these hatcheries are
currently producing 25-30 percent of the sport fishing
opportunities, but the hatchery production is falling. Within
the next two years, he said, "We're going to lose it down, maybe
50-60 percent of the productions coming out of those hatcheries
is going to go away." He informed the committee that the ADF&G
received funds to perform an engineering review, which concluded
that the department needs to build two new hatcheries, one in
Fairbanks and one in Anchorage, and raze the current hatcheries.
MR. HEPLER said that the cost of building two new hatcheries
would be about $60 million. Additionally, he said that he had a
meeting a year ago to ask "private nonprofits" in Southeast
Alaska "what are the needs facing Southeast...particularly on
the sport fishing side, not so much commercial production...and
tell us what your needs are. So, in combination of those two,
there's around $63 million need."
MR. HEPLER stated that, ideally, he'd like to get that money
from a bank account, from the GF or from U.S. Senator Ted
Stevens, "but there's a lot of competing needs right now." He
said, "The only way we could think of to realistically be able
to ... build those hatcheries in the time frame that makes sense
is to go back and bond these things out. So we ask, if we need
$63 million, what's it take to pay a $20 million bond off, and
it comes to $5.3 million." In order to raise the $5.3 million,
the department has proposed the license increases.
MR. HEPLER, in response to a request from Representative
Kapsner, re-explained the background on the Anchorage hatcheries
and the license increases. He said that the two hatcheries are
producing a lot of fish, adding up to about 15 percent of the
sport fishing opportunity in the Southcentral area. He stated
that there is an immediate need for these to be replaced. By
increasing licenses to pay for the new hatcheries, he said,
"It's hatchery production and it's going to be primarily born on
the backs of the anglers."
MR. HEPLER stated that he can't find any information about when
the resident license fees were last raised, but the licenses
have remained $15 for more than 25 years.
8:58:11 AM
REPRESENTATIVE KAPSNER expressed concern for people in remote
parts of the state who will not benefit from the hatcheries but
will be putting money into them [by paying for licenses]. She
stated that some parts of the state are philosophically opposed
to sport fishing and find the name itself offensive. She
expressed further concern for the economically depressed parts
of the state.
MR. HEPLER pointed out that the department is not raising the
low-income license for people who are economically depressed,
which he thinks is defined as having a salary of less than
$15,000. In further response, Mr. Hepler stated that ADF&G
still has programs for stock assessment in rural areas that
benefit rural communities. If ADF&G cannot raise money through
license increases, it may need to consider whether it can afford
to keep area offices open in rural areas and perform stock
assessment. He said, "If we keep people fishing in Railbelt
areas, they're not going to go back in your backyard and go
fishing."
MR. HEPLER stated that people may view this as a tax, but ADF&G
will be able to show a direct benefit from this in sport fishing
opportunities.
9:01:39 AM
MR. MECUM, in response to Representative Salmon, explained that
the False Pass fishery, like all other fisheries around the
state, is regulated by the Board of Fisheries. At the last
meeting, the fisheries board increased fishing time considerably
in the Area M fishery, which has raised a lot of concern because
many of the stocks in the Yukon and Kuskokwim drainages,
particularly the summer run chum and the fall chum salmon, have
fallen below historical levels for a few years. The fisheries
are regulated under management plans that are adopted by the
board while ADF&G implements those plans and ensures the
conservation of the stocks through the emergency order
authority. MR. MECUM noted that this year, the first year of
the new management regime that was established by the board,
ADF&G was able to meet its escapement goals. In fact, many runs
have improved, chum in particular.
9:03:34 AM
CO-CHAIR LEDOUX asked if the Kodiak tanner crab stock is
expected to continue increasing.
MR. MECUM answered that he thinks so, in the short term, but no
one can really say what will happen several years out, although
one can look at the recruitment information from the surveys to
gauge the health of the stock. He said, " ... the quota was
doubled from what is was before; it's a real shot in the arm to
the Kodiak economy and to the state ... ."
9:04:24 AM
CO-CHAIR LEDOUX inquired as to the type of research being
conducted regarding regime shifts.
MR. MECUM explained that the term "regime shift" refers to a
change from a cold-water/cold-temperature regime in the ocean to
a warm-water/warm-temperature regime. He said that through most
of the 1960s and 1970s, there was a cold-water regime and there
was a higher abundance of shrimp and crab species. However, now
there is a warm regime, and there is an increase in cod and
pollock populations, which prey on crab larvae. The shift in
the ocean-temperature regime results in a shift in the ecosystem
and the predator-prey relationship. He informed the committee
that there is not a lot of research that allows one to predict
[ocean temperatures]. The North Pacific Research Board is
funding research projects in the northern Pacific Ocean. He
said that most of ADF&G's research is directly tied to managing
the fisheries, not long-term research. He noted that ADF&G has
been conducting a trawl survey for shrimp in the GOA, which is
indicating that shrimp populations are continuing to increase,
as are some other species of forage fish.
9:07:55 AM
MR. MECUM, in response to Co-Chair LeDoux, said that regime
shifts are being tracked in several ways, including mass balance
studies on glaciers. Still, it is difficult to tie this
information back to predictive models for managed stocks like
cod or crab.
9:08:41 AM
MR. MECUM, in response to Co-Chair Thomas, stated that the
hatchery contributions are more than 20 percent of the total
statewide commercial harvest. The major pink salmon hatchery
production is centered in Prince William Sound. In Southeast
there is a large chum salmon hatchery program. He said that the
cost recovery harvest is included as part of the commercial
harvest on the graph [see handout, page 10; "Statewide
Fisheries"]. He explained that the percentage of salmon taken
by the hatcheries for cost recovery can be anywhere between 20
and 70 percent.
9:10:47 AM
MR. MECUM, in response to a query by Representative Salmon,
stated that there are about 36 hatcheries in Alaska. He
clarified that the State of Alaska only operates the two sport
fish hatcheries in Anchorage, although there is one federal
hatchery on Baranof Island, and all the rest are private,
nonprofit hatcheries. Mr. Mecum said he didn't know how many
people are employed by hatcheries, although the hatcheries
contribute greatly to the state's economy.
9:12:24 AM
REPRESENTATIVE WILSON asked how many of the nonprofit hatcheries
were originally funded by the state and how many have paid the
state back.
MR. MECUM explained that the state built quite a few hatcheries
"when we had lots and lots of money"; some of them were
transferred to the nonprofit organizations, some were built with
loans that are being paid off. He said that the loans were for
operating expenses and other improvements and the hatcheries are
paying off those loans.
REPRESENTATIVE WILSON asked for clarification as to why some of
the hatcheries were turned over [to private nonprofit
organizations] while some have to repay the loans.
MR. MECUM replied that, when the state began to run into fiscal
problems, it was determined to be cheaper and more efficient for
the facilities to be run by nonprofits with the operations
funded by the commercial fishermen. He explained that the sport
fish hatcheries are a different issue than the commercial fish
hatcheries, and he deferred to Mr. Hepler for further
explanation. He said, "In essence, all of the hatcheries are
paying off their loans and paying for their expenses through ...
taxes on commercial fishermen and through cost recovery on the
fish that are returning to the hatchery." He stated that the
two proposed hatcheries would be funded by the increased license
fees, so there would be no loan.
9:15:46 AM
CO-CHAIR THOMAS asked Mr. Hepler what ADF&G would do with the
fees once the hatcheries are paid off.
MR. HEPLER replied that this has not yet been decided; he
proposed that perhaps there should be a sunset clause, or maybe
in 20 years there will be a need for a new hatchery.
CO-CHAIR LEDOUX noted that, at the last Board of Fisheries
meeting in Anchorage, there was a proposal concerning fish
traps. She asked if ADF&G had any position on that.
9:17:10 AM
MR. MECUM said that the main intent of the proposal was to
establish a cooperative; the proponents were looking for a way
to pool resources to be more efficient and to harvest a better
quality product. He noted that the setnet fisheries in Kodiak
can sell their fish to some of the more high-end markets if they
can increase the quality of the fish. Some bruising and
blemishing can occur when fishing with setnets, so the fisherman
wanted to develop some sort of gear that would allow for live
harvest, and therefore a higher quality fish. He pointed out
that fish traps are banned by statute, and that the Board of
Fisheries cannot authorize a type of gear or activity that is
banned by the legislature.
9:19:02 AM
REPRESENTATIVE KELLY asked for further clarification on the
proposed Fairbanks hatchery.
MR. HEPLER clarified that the proposed hatcheries will have
backup boiler systems.
REPRESENTATIVE KELLY expressed concerns about the closure of the
Clear Hatchery in Fairbanks.
9:23:32 AM
CO-CHAIR THOMAS asked if ADF&G is trying to do anything about
overescapement.
MR. MECUM stated that he is not aware of any overescapement in
the Copper River; sometimes ADF&G has to curtail the commercial
fishery to protect the wild stocks, and that's allowed some of
the hatchery stocks to go unharvested. The department has a
sonar counter in the Copper River, but has never had an
independent verification of how well it works.
9:26:02 AM
CO-CHAIR THOMAS voiced concern about excessive catch and release
activities which he said can kill the fish.
MR. HEPLER said that ADF&G has produced a lot of literature
describing how to correctly catch and release fish.
9:29:03 AM
REPRESENTATIVE SALMON asked if there are any hatcheries on the
Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers.
MR. MECUM stated that there is some chinook hatchery production
in Canada, but it's very small. He said that there are no
hatcheries on the Yukon or the Kuskokwim Rivers, but people have
talked about rehabilitation-type programs.
9:30:27 AM
CO-CHAIR LEDOUX asked if ADF&G has done any analysis of the open
oceans aquaculture proposal by NMFS.
MR. MECUM replied that the department has commented on this. He
explained that the governor, in his comments on the U.S.
Commission on Ocean Policy, called for a five-year moratorium on
open ocean aquaculture while more impact assessments are
completed. Mr. Mecum stated that there should be a strong
public process if NMFS is going to move forward with this. He
confirmed that the [NMFS] proposal is still just a proposal.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Special Committee on Fisheries meeting was adjourned at 9:33:24
AM.
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