HJR 32-LABELING OF SALMON FOOD PRODUCTS CHAIR ANDERSON announced that the final order of business would be HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 32, Relating to the labeling of salmon and salmon food products. [Before the committee was CSHJR 32(FSH).] Number 1288 REPRESENTATIVE BETH KERTTULA, Alaska State Legislature, sponsor of HJR 32, expressed appreciation to the committee and turned testimony over to her aide. Number 1270 AURORA HAUKE, Staff to Representative Beth Kerttula, introduced HJR 32, saying it supports the timely labeling of fish because people have the right to know what's in fish, where it's from, and how it's raised. She remarked, "We all know that wild salmon and other fish taste better and it's better for you. Lately, more and more Americans have been catching on to this. And because fish is just such an important part of our economy, we need to take advantage of this awareness and support labeling." REPRESENTATIVE GATTO asked if this resolution would help fishermen demand a higher price. MS. HAWK replied that she believed so, although not directly. REPRESENTATIVE GATTO commented: I've tried to make this argument a hundred times: we have a Timex and we have a Rolex. We are selling our Rolexes at Timex prices because we're trying to compete on price. We've got this amazing product that is only available -- if you want to sell an Alaskan wild salmon, you can't substitute it. I'm trying to find some sort of a way to say we can charge 10 times more than a farmed fish for this fish. Number 1164 REPRESENTATIVE DAHLSTROM, cosponsor, commented that it is important to provide accurate information to consumers who are increasingly better educated about diet. She said, "I think this is a great bill and support it 100 percent." REPRESENTATIVE LYNN, cosponsor, asked why wild salmon taste so much better and are better nutritionally. REPRESENTATIVE KERTTULA offered her belief that the primary reason is what wild fish eat - wild food. Number 0995 MARK VINSEL, Executive Director, United Fishermen of Alaska (UFA), testified that UFA supports HJR 32, specifically, country-of-origin and farmed-versus-wild labeling for seafood in all product forms. He advocated for the bill to move quickly, saying the U.S. Department of Agriculture deadline for comments on the proposed rule - which includes labeling of wild and farmed, and country of origin, in all product forms - is February 27. With regard to the different taste of wild fish, he shared his belief that it's partly from diet and not being subjected to chemicals, but also because it's "free-range" and thus the quality of the tissue is better because of increased exercise. REPRESENTATIVE GATTO asked if there was any definition of "letter size" attached to the labeling requirements in this resolution. MR. VINSEL replied that he believed it was addressed in the proposed rule. REPRESENTATIVE GATTO told of a pig he once bought that tasted like fish because it had been fed fish. He likened this to the case of farmed salmon. [A motion to report the bill from committee was made but then removed at the request of the chair in order to adopt CSHJR 32(FSH).] REPRESENTATIVE DAHLSTROM moved to adopt CSHJR 32(FSH), labeled 23-LS1508\I. [No objection was stated.] Number 0788 REPRESENTATIVE DAHLSTROM moved to report CSHJR 32(FSH) out of committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal notes. There being no objection, CSHJR 32(FSH) was reported from the House Labor and Commerce Standing Committee.