SJR 27-FED. FUNDING: DOMESTIC SEAFOOD MARKETING  3:34:26 PM CO-CHAIR BILL WIELECHOWSKI announced SJR 27 to be up for consideration. 3:34:54 PM SENATOR CHARLIE HUGGINS joined the committee. 3:35:03 PM SENATOR DENNIS EGAN, sponsor of SJR 27, testified that this resolution urges Congress to use a portion of federal revenues to market American seafood. Seafood producers struggle with the same challenges as other producers, yet are not given the same support. Specifically, seafood producers do not receive any funds for domestic marketing and product development. They face competition from foreign products that require vigorous and innovative promotions. He said that currently, over 80 percent of the fish consumed annually by American families is the product of foreign countries. The seafood industry is vital to Alaska's economy and culture. 3:36:23 PM SENATOR STEVENS moved conceptual Amendment 1 to delete "50" and insert "80" on page 1, line 5. There were no objections and it was so ordered. CO-CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI opened public testimony. 3:36:52 PM JULIE DECKER, Project Leader, National Seafood Marketing Coalition, said this is the United Fishermen of Alaska's (UFA) new initiative to fund a national program to market domestic seafood in the United States. She introduced Bruce Wallace, another team member. She explained that the UFA formed this coalition partly because Alaska is uniquely positioned to lead this project since it is the national leader in the production, management, and marketing of seafood. The idea is to invest a portion of import duties that are already collected on fish and fish products in a domestic seafood marketing program. They propose creating nine regional boards throughout the country that would receive the money and determine how to direct it into marketing activities like product development, advertising, infrastructure, and research and development. The idea is to increase the value of the products and increase competitiveness against foreign competition, and growing the economy with resource that is already harvested and producing more jobs in that area. MS. DECKER said the State of Alaska has seen return on its investment in seafood marketing and they want to see that continued on a nation-wide basis. The Coalition had already seen interest in their one trip "Back East" and have received one letter of support so far. They will continue the coalition building throughout the year. She said the reason the Legislature's support is important is because it is an example to other communities and organizations across the nation as to what they can do to help with the initiative. 3:40:11 PM SENATOR FRENCH commented that he didn't know the duties and tariffs generate approximately $280 million annually for the U.S. Treasury in reference to the first "Whereas" clause on page 2. He asked if the second "Whereas" clause that says "revenue from anti-dumping and countervailing duties on imported fish...total hundreds of millions of dollars annually;" was a separate category and asked her how the duties work. MS. DECKER answered these are two distinct pots of money. The anti-dumping and countervailing duties are what the U.S. levies to try to level the playing field for other countries who may subsidize their industries. For instance farmed fish - it keeps them from selling their product in the U.S at below-market costs. 3:41:36 PM BRUCE WALLACE, member, National Seafood Marketing Coalition, United Fishermen of Alaska (UFA), noted that the State of Alaska has worked well with industry on numerous levels for a number of years. They find that is not necessarily true around the U.S. So, if this is successful it will build a number of bridges between maritime states. 3:43:05 PM CO-CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI closed public testimony and SJR 27 would be held.