SJR 13-AK NATIVE ON PACIFIC SALMON COMMISSION CHAIRMAN HALFORD announced SJR 13 to be up for consideration. SENATOR WARD, sponsor, explained that as an Athabascan Native he had never voted to give up rights. Mr. Mike Williams brought it to his attention that he has never known of any Alaska Native who has been involved in a treaty. There has been a lot of talk about "have Alaska natives at the table," but when the time comes to select the voting people who are going to represent the State of Alaska, they are certainly not Alaska natives, and appear to be bureaucrats at first glance and are special interests. SENATOR WARD said he has never disputed his rights under the Constitution, but when people aren't even invited to the table to sit down in a bargaining agreement, like the Pacific Salmon Treaty that is going to affect their life, he didn't think that was right. MR. EDDIE BURKE, Aide to Representative Jerry Sanders, said a very interesting statement was given to the House Resources Committee. Mr. Dick Hoffman, President, Alaska Troller Association, said that there wasn't the caliber of Alaska Native to sit on this Board. SENATOR MACKIE asked what that private conversation had with the bill. SENATOR WARD said he thought it described a mind-set against having the people who actually consume the fish at the bargaining table. They have a position on it before the people who catch it and sell it and they are not at the table. SENATOR MACKIE said he didn't necessarily disagree with him, especially regarding the U.S./Canada Treaty. SENATOR MACKIE said he thought that Commission was representing the rights of all Alaskans, commercial, subsistence, white, and native and he asked for an example of where the people on the Commission are not doing there job. He also asked for an example where natives are being disadvantaged in the process. SENATOR WARD answered since they are closed door meetings, he couldn't say. He wanted an Alaskan Native added to it. SENATOR MACKIE asked how they added another commissioner when the make up is set by the U.S. Government. SENATOR WARD said that according to the rules, Canada would get one more seat also. SENATOR MACKIE asked where Alaska Natives have been disadvantaged by the Commission that represents Alaska. He said he fails to see where this is needed, because he feels that all Alaskans are being represented. SENATOR WARD replied if an Alaska Native had been representing subsistence on this Commission, it would have been resolved a long time ago. Number 420 SENATOR KELLY said he had a fundamental problem with this legislation, because the people of Alaska are already represented. If you add an Alaskan native, you are beginning to divide things racially. Natives own most of the private land in Alaska and their corporations have advantages far above anyone else's corporation. SENATOR WARD said he thought Alaska Natives should have a part of a treaty process that will affect them for the next hundred years. SENATOR MACKIE explained that the reason the natives in Washington state have a seat at the table is because of the treaties that involve the tribes with allocations. MR. MYLES CONWAY, Assistant Attorney General, added that the makeup of the Commission is set by federal statute. If the resolution goes forward, it should be directed to the Congress. SENATOR WARD responded that our congressional delegation told him that the request needs to come through the administration to them, because that's the way the original treaty was set up. MR. DAVID BEDFORD, Executive Director, Southeast Alaska Seiners, read Mr. Jim Bacon's testimony. Mr. Bacon is the co-chair of the Northern Panel and is a seiner in Southeast. The following is part of his letter: "I have served on the Northern Panel U.S. Section of the Pacific Salmon Commission since 1991. I currently serve as the co-chairman of that body. The Pacific Salmon Commission was created by the Pacific Salmon Treaty. The United State and Canada struggled through 15 years of difficult negotiations to produce the existing treaty. To add another commissioner to the Pacific Salmon Commission would require renegotiating provisions of the Treaty and opening contentious lengthy discussion with no certainty of success. However, I would council against pursuing SJR 13 not merely because its success is uncertain, but because we do not need it. Alaska's delegation to the Treaty fights diligently and, for the most part, successfully, on behalf of all Alaskans, native and non-native. The original treaty set management regimes for fisheries that impact salmon stocks that spawn in one nation and travel into the other nation's waters. The Commission is designed to review current arrangements and renegotiate expired annexes or management agreements. The Alaskan North Panel (there is a Canadian Northern Panel, as well) is made up of representatives from the Alaska Native Brotherhood, the recreational fishing community, the commercial gear groups, and fisheries managers from Alaska Department of Fish and Game. We discuss the issues relevant to the negotiations and work toward a consensus to present to the Alaska Commissioner and alternate commissioner who act as our chief negotiators in the discussions with Canada and the Southern United States. Alaska's greatest strength has been our ability to work together..." SENATOR MACKIE interrupted to ask if Mr. Andy Ebono was on our Northern Panel serving native interests. CHAIRMAN HALFORD indicated he was and noted that it was just an advisory panel. MR. BEDFORD added that the Panel drives the issues as far as they can get them, then the Commission takes them "for the final lap." "with all affected interests and the State of Alaska to protect Alaska's interests. While other delegations insist on circling the wagons and shooting inward, Alaskans consistently work together to serve all of our interests. Alaskan fisheries of relevance to the Treaty are the Southeast Alaska Chinook Fishery, both recreational and personal, the District 104 purse seine fishery (Noise Island Fishery), the District 101 gillnet(Tree Point) Fishery, and the Trans Boundary River Fisheries of the Taku and Stikine Rivers. The Commission also shares information about the Alsek River fishery. A separate body deals with Yukon River issues. The Pacific Salmon Treaty does not deal with any subsistence fisheries in Alaskan waters. Our subsistence fisheries are primarily in fresh water and intertidal marine waters near the terminal areas and, therefore, do not fit the criteria for Treaty or Commission involvement. Thus the decisions of the Pacific Salmon Commission do not affect subsistence harvests. The fishery of greatest importance to my fleet (I am a purse seiner) is the Noise Island fishery. Tlingit and Haida peoples of the west coast of Prince of Wales pioneered that fishery and served the first cannery built in Alaska in the late eighteen hundreds. To this day there is no distinction between native and non-native fishermen's interests with respect to negotiations with Canada. Our interest is the same, to protect Alaska's right to harvest salmon in the sovereign waters of Alaska. I am concerned with any approach which would either directly or indirectly divide or dilute Alaska's message or provide our adversaries with the ability to exploit potential perceived political differences. As I stated earlier, our unity is our strength. I believe that the current makeup of the Northern Panel, along with the Alaskan Commissioners serve all of Alaskan's interests well. I would urge the committee to not pass SJR 13." MR. JEV SHELTON, Southeast Alaska Gillnetter, said he is also Alaska's alternate commissioner on the Pacific Salmon Commission. He has been involved in the Pacific Salmon Treaty since 1974. He endorsed everything in Mr. Bacon's statement. He said that native fishermen are integral to all the fisheries in Southeast Alaska. They are leaders in the industry and are well respected. There is nothing that excludes them implicitly or explicitly. The record will show that they have been very much involved in the Treaty issues. Right now would be a bad time to insert this kind of an issue in front of the federal government. Alaska needs support and help on treaty related issues; it doesn't need anything that would indicate a split that might be exploited. The suggestion that this could be divided along subsistence lines is bad and the suggestion that it be divided along racial lines is hugely unfortunate. Adding members would take a lot of maneuvering to even accomplish. Each country has four commissioners and each country decides its own makeup. MR. SHELTON said he had dealt with many native fishermen and no one had expressed any dissatisfaction about the way their interests are being represented in this. He reiterated that subsistence is not an issue within the Treaty. How fish are allocated is up to the Board of Fisheries. The Pacific Salmon Treaty is concerned most with the Dixon Entrance and the troll fishery along the outer coast. TAPE 15, SIDE B Number 590 The streams up by Yakutat are completely out of bounds as far as the Canadians are concerned and never enter into discussions within the Treaty. The job of the Alaska delegation is to get the best possible allocation for Alaska and then the issue remains to be dealt with internally. SENATOR MACKIE asked who our four representatives are. MR. SHELTON said Dave Benton, Jim Pitman (non-voting federal representative), Curt Smitch (Advisor to Governor Lock), representing both Washington and Oregon, and Ron Allen who represents the 24 treaty tribes in Washington and Oregon. SENATOR MACKIE noted that adding another Alaskan would be two from Alaska and only one from Washington and Oregon and one from the federal government.