HOUSE BILL NO. 80 "An Act establishing the sport fishing hatchery facilities account; establishing the sport fishing facility surcharge; and providing for an effective date." 1:47:59 PM Co-Chair Merrick OPENED public testimony. 1:48:23 PM RON SOMERVILLE, TERRITORIAL SPORTSMEN, JUNEAU (via teleconference), spoke in strong support of HB 80. He shared that the Territorial Sportsmen had supported the surcharge in the past, which greatly helped the local fishery. He stated it was a situation where the users were willing to pay for the extra benefits. He noted that the king salmon fisheries had been abysmal in recent years, except for fish from the hatchery program supported by funds from the surcharge. He highlighted there had been virtually no complaints about the surcharge over the years. He mentioned the original reason for the surcharge. He stated the surcharge was a win-win for everyone; it did not take anything out of the General Fund and was user supported. 1:50:30 PM DAVID LANDIS, GENERAL MANAGER, SOUTHERN SOUTHEAST REGIONAL AQUACULTURE ASSOCIATION (SSRAA), KETCHIKAN (via teleconference), spoke in support of HB 80. He understood the bulk of the projected revenue would go to the William Jack Hernandez hatchery in Anchorage and the Ruth Burnett hatchery in Fairbanks. He pointed out that the Crystal Lake hatchery in Petersburg was also owned by the state and operated by SSRAA. He relayed that a portion of the operational funding for Crystal Lake was funded through the surcharge and the funding was critical to the continued operation of the hatchery. He relayed that fish produced at Crystal Lake with the funding were primarily king salmon. The fish were paid for by the surcharge in combination with Dingle Johnson funds. He highlighted that SSRAA also produced an equivalent number of kings transported and released in other Southeast locations. The fish were caught in large numbers by sport fishers. He stressed the importance of the operational and maintenance funding for Crystal Lake. He read from a fact sheet generated by the Department of Fish and Game. He stated that the user pays system was fair and appropriate. The organization supported the passage of the bill. 1:53:10 PM SUSANNE DOHERTY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, SOUTHEAST ALASKA SEINERS ASSOCIATION, KETCHIKAN (via teleconference), spoke in support of the legislation. She stated that the hundreds of millions of dollars in the sportfish hatchery infrastructure needed to be maintained and upgraded as appropriate. She stressed the importance of additional revenues to Southeast Alaska to support king salmon. She stated a revenue source was needed and reenacting the surcharge in some form had been a proven method of generating capital. 1:54:30 PM BEN MOHR, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, KENAI RIVER SPORT FISHING ASSOCIATION, SOLDOTNA (via teleconference), spoke in support of the governor's version of HB 80. The association did not support the changes made in the House Fisheries Committee that added an additional $2.50 to the surcharge. He explained that the surcharge had fallen off the previous year because bonds issued for sportfish hatcheries had been repaid early. He stated that the hunting and fishing communities had supported the user pays model for fish and game conservation and management. He relayed that the sport fishery directly benefitted from Alaska's sportfish hatcheries. The governor's bill introduced a surcharge on sportfish licenses and dedicated the funds to supporting sportfish activities. Mr. Mohr stated it was critical for the funds generated from sportfish licenses to stay with the users. The organization opposed some of the language in amendments that essentially poured money into the department and were fairly vague in terms of how the money would be used. He requested for the excess money to go towards access and opportunity, specifically to the construction or maintenance of capital improvements that directly supported sportfishing access or activities that were not authorized under the hatchery program. Under the governor's proposal, the average Alaska fisherman would see a net $5 reduction in licenses between last year and the coming year, while maintaining services provided by the department. He thanked the committee for considering the bill. 1:56:58 PM Vice-Chair Ortiz thought there had been testimony that the added surcharge was to partially help address the invasive species issue. He asked if the organization saw any benefit from trying to address invasive species. Mr. Mohr responded that the organization saw the benefit of managing Alaska's invasive species problem. The issue the association had with the bill was the $2.50 surcharge. He stated the organization had been supportive of legislative efforts to take care of invasive species in Alaska. He stated that the organization's issue with the $2.50 surcharge, which included invasive species management, was not specific about how it would impact invasive species within the sportfishing community. He highlighted that invasives impacted all users of the resource, not just sport fishermen. 1:58:16 PM ROD ARNO, POLICY DIRECTOR, ALASKA OUTDOOR COUNCIL, PALMER (via teleconference), supported the governor's proposal of HB 80. He stated that the Outdoor Council had been present when a Fairbanks Senator got the bond package together to get the two sportfish hatcheries in operation. There had been a number of people concerned that when the bonds were paid off, the fees would go away. He shared that the membership was supportive of changing the Sportfish Enterprise Account (primarily about constructing the two hatcheries) to the Sportfish Enhancement Account. The outdoor community was supportive of helping to pay for management of resources they personally benefit from. 2:00:38 PM KATIE HARMS, DOUGLAS ISLAND PINK AND CHUM (DIPAC), JUNEAU (via teleconference), supported HB 80. She provided details about the DIPAC hatchery and its mission. She provided a brief history of the sportfishing programs operating through funds from the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) that were currently almost 90 percent supported by the sportfish license fee surcharge. She shared that DIPAC had received just over $300,000 annually for the sportfish enhancement program. She shared that without the outside funds, the chinook program would never have started at DIPAC. The program had become a staple sport fishery in Juneau for residents and nonresidents. She highlighted that with the decline in wild chinook stocks in Southeast Alaska, the opportunity to catch hatchery raised chinook salmon was more important than ever. She shared that due to financial uncertainty associated with poor salmon returns in Southeast Alaska, the DIPAC chinook program would likely be greatly reduced in the upcoming year if no surcharge license state revenues were established in the current session. 2:02:41 PM Co-Chair Merrick CLOSED public testimony. Co-Chair Merrick indicated Amendments were due in her office by the end of Saturday, April 17, 2021. HB 80 was HEARD and HELD in committee for further consideration.