ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
SENATE RESOURCES STANDING COMMITTEE
February 16, 2015
3:29 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Cathy Giessel, Chair
Senator Mia Costello, Vice Chair
Senator John Coghill
Senator Peter Micciche
Senator Bert Stedman
Senator Bill Stoltze
Senator Bill Wielechowski
MEMBERS ABSENT
All members present
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
CONFIRMATION HEARING
Board of Fisheries
Dr. Roland Maw
- HEARD AND HELD
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 9
Urging the United States Congress to pass legislation to open
the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil
and gas development; urging the United States Department of the
Interior to recognize the private property rights of owners of
land in and adjacent to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge;
relating to oil and gas exploration, development, production,
and royalties; and relating to renewable and alternative energy
technologies.
- MOVED SCS HJR 9(RES) OUT OF COMMITTEE
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
BILL: HJR 9
SHORT TITLE: ENDORSING ANWR LEASING
SPONSOR(s): REPRESENTATIVE(s) TALERICO
01/23/15 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
01/23/15 (H) RES
02/02/15 (H) RES AT 1:00 PM BARNES 124
02/02/15 (H) Moved HJR 9 Out of Committee
02/02/15 (H) MINUTE(RES)
02/04/15 (H) RES RPT 7DP 1NR
02/04/15 (H) DP: HERRON, JOSEPHSON, JOHNSON, OLSON,
SEATON, HAWKER, TALERICO
02/04/15 (H) NR: TARR
02/04/15 (H) SUSTAINED RULING OF CHAIR Y29 N10 E1
02/09/15 (H) TRANSMITTED TO (S)
02/09/15 (H) VERSION: HJR 9
02/11/15 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
02/11/15 (S) RES
02/16/15 (S) RES AT 3:30 PM BUTROVICH 205
WITNESS REGISTER
REPRESENTATIVE DAVID TALERICO
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Sponsor of HJR 9; said he approved of the
changes in the committee (CS) and was available for questions.
ROBERTA HIGHLAND, representing herself
Homer, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Strongly opposed HJR 9.
ROLAND MAW
Kasilof, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Board of Fisheries appointee.
PAUL SHADURA
South K-Beach Independent Fishermen's Association
Soldotna, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported Mr. Maw's confirmation to the
Board of Fisheries.
ARNI THOMPSON, Executive Director
Alaska Salmon Alliance
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported Mr. Maw's confirmation to the
Board of Fisheries.
CHRIS GARCIA, representing himself
Kenai, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported Mr. Maw's confirmation to the
Board of Fisheries.
GARY STEVENS, Alaska Outdoor Council (AOC)
Chugiak, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed Mr. Maw's confirmation to the Board
of Fisheries, because he wants to involve the federal government
in management of the state's natural resources.
WES HUMBYRD, representing himself
Homer, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported Mr. Maw's confirmation to the
Board of Fisheries.
GEORGE PIERCE, representing himself
Kasilof, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported Mr. Maw's confirmation to the
Board of Fisheries.
JOE CONNORS, representing himself
Sterling, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed Mr. Maw's confirmation to the Board
of Fisheries.
DAN ANDERSON, representing himself
Homer, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported Mr. Maw's confirmation to the
Board of Fisheries.
MONTE ROBERTS, representing himself
Soldotna, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed Mr. Maw's confirmation to the Board
of Fisheries.
GARLAND BLANCHARD, representing himself
Homer, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported Mr. Maw's confirmation to the
Board of Fisheries.
FRED STURMAN, representing himself
Soldotna, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported Mr. Maw's confirmation to the
Board of Fisheries.
TEAGUE VANECK, representing himself
Homer and Ninilchik, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported Mr. Maw's confirmation to the
Board of Fisheries.
JEFF BEAUDOIN, representing himself
Kasilof, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported Mr. Maw's confirmation to the
Board of Fisheries.
IAN PITZMAN, representing himself
Homer, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported Mr. Maw's confirmation to the
Board of Fisheries.
DAVE MARTIN, representing himself
Clam Gulch, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported Mr. Maw's confirmation to the
Board of Fisheries.
ACTION NARRATIVE
3:29:49 PM
CHAIR CATHY GIESSEL called the Senate Resources Standing
Committee meeting to order at 3:29 p.m. Present at the call to
order were Senators Costello, Wielechowski, Coghill, Stedman,
and Chair Giessel.
HJR 9-ENDORSING ANWR LEASING
3:30:58 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL announced HJR 9 to be up for consideration.
3:31:08 PM
SENATOR COSTELLO moved to bring SCS HJR 9(RES), version 29-
LS0408\H, before the committee as the working document.
CHAIR GIESSEL objected for discussion purposes. She said there
are two changes. The first change was on page 1, lines 8-11, to
more specifically cite the provisions of the Alaska National
Interest Lands Conservation Act. The second change was also on
page 1, lines 12-14, that specifically cites the status and
purpose of the Coastal Plain in ANILCA.
3:32:18 PM
SENATOR MICCICHE joined the committee.
SENATOR STOLTZE joined the committee.
REPRESENTATIVE TALERICO, Sponsor of HJR 9, said he approved of
the changes in the committee substitute (CS) and was available
for questions.
CHAIR GIESSEL removed her objection and SCS HJR 9(RES), version
29-LS0408\H, was adopted.
3:33:36 PM
ROBERTA HIGHLAND, representing herself, Homer, Alaska started
with the following quote from John Schwieder:
Wild Alaska's continued existence is at the
discretion, grace, and humility of humans. I pray
Alaska remains a beacon, a geography of hope, not only
for wild-eyed wilderness seekers, but for the future
generations as proof that humans truly believe that
all living creatures are connected.
She urged them to show the leadership that is needed to get out
of the crisis the state is in. Thousands of Alaskans continue to
want to have the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) remain a
refuge.
3:36:27 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL, finding no further comments, closed public
testimony.
3:36:40 PM
SENATOR COGHILL said there is a wildlife refuge and a wilderness
refuge and the wilderness refuge is overtaking the wildlife
refuge. It's only reasonable that the federal government would
allow the 1002 area to be at least looked at with some degree of
exploration.
3:38:03 PM
SENATOR COSTELLO moved to report SCS HJR 9 (RES) from committee
with individual recommendations and attached zero fiscal note.
There were no objections and it was so ordered.
3:38:34 PM
At ease from 3:38 to 3:39 p.m.
3:39:55 PM
^CONFIRMATION HEARING: Board of Fisheries, Dr. Roland Maw
CONFIRMATION HEARING
Board of Fisheries
3:40:01 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL called the meeting back to order and invited Dr.
Maw to the table and asked him to relate his qualifications for
this position and why he wanted to continue serving on the Board
of Fisheries.
She reviewed the boards and commissions fact sheet on the Board
of Fisheries appointments. They require legislative confirmation
and financial disclosure. The board is made up of seven members
that are appointed on the basis of interest in public affairs,
good judgment, knowledge and the ability in the fields of action
of the board and with a view to providing diversity of interests
and points of view in the membership. They have to be residents
of the state and are appointed without regard to political
affiliation. The appointments typically begin on July 1; this
appointment is for the remainder of a previous board member's
term (now until July 30) as well as a new three-year term
starting on July 1. The members of the Board of Fisheries
receive standard travel and per diem reimbursement.
3:41:28 PM
ROLAND MAW, Board of Fisheries appointee, Kasilof, Alaska, said
he started on the academic side as a pre-med student and changed
to getting a combination degree in zoology and botany. He spent
a year of graduate studies at Utah State University in wildlife
management and was ranked in the top three or four students in a
class of 80. He went on to Brigham Young University and finished
with a Masters of Education. After teaching for a while in
colleges and universities, he decided to do a Doctorate and was
accepted at the University of Alberta in Canada that required
spending two years in residency taking courses, but he was
allowed to do it in one, because he was on just a one-year
sabbatical. He graduated with a 3.95 grade point average. He did
his doctoral dissertation on the management of black and grizzly
bears in the national parks of Canada.
MR. MAW said his business side includes having lived "the Alaska
dream." He came to Alaska as a young man and started unloading
salmon on the slime line, went to managing the dock and then
being a part-owner in a boat, then owner of a couple of boats,
buying a permit and buying another permit for his son. He
currently owns two boats and his granddaughter has the permit.
He said he was not here to destroy the Alaska dream for anybody.
3:46:26 PM
MR. MAW said Alaska has done five things right:
1. From the very beginning the state practiced escapement goal
management that hopefully leads to high sustained yields.
2. Passing the Magnuson Stevens Act of 1976 that took the
foreign bottoms that were catching large numbers of returning
salmon in U.S. water and let those fish come back, which
provided the basis for establishing escapement goals.
3. They asked that the local area management biologists to make
the decisions and have the boots on the ground. Regional
advisory committees were established.
4. Developed management plans that are right for the fish and
right for society. Balancing those two is what occurs at the
Board of Fisheries.
5. Development of private, non-profit hatcheries across the
state. He has heard that about 25 percent of the salmon harvest
currently comes from these hatcheries.
MR. MAW said he has no intention of upsetting any of these five
items. The seafood harvest of all species including crab in 2013
amounted to $4.5 billion, not including the recreational sector
that represents maybe another billion or so. It's important for
Alaska that all segments of that industry be strong and healthy.
SENATOR COGHILL thanked him for saying "okay" to the governor
when he asked him to serve, and said Mr. Maw had been a very
tenacious supporter of the Cook Inlet fish world, especially the
commercial aspect of it and his several lawsuits will become his
entire focus in life. Some of his constituents were worried
about how those lawsuits will affect decisions he will make on
the Northern end and he asked him to comment on that.
MR. MAW explained that his former employer, United Cook Inlet
Drift Association (UCIDA), is a [non-profit] corporation [He
originally said for-profit, but corrected it later in the
meeting]. It is organized with nine people on the board elected
by the membership who are permit holders. The board elects its
own officers. At no time was he an officer or director of that
corporation. He was its employee; he didn't have a vote on any
issue, but he participated. Had he not had that employment it
wouldn't be an issue. He used his past experience, even while
employed by UCIDA, to work in internationally protecting
Alaska's rights and fish on the high seas.
MR. MAW said the only requirement he had in the original
interview with UCIDA was that he wasn't going to do anything
that wasn't biologically sound. If anything went outside of that
parameter, he wasn't going to do it, and he pretty well held
true to that. His personal comments have always been founded in
science.
SENATOR COGHILL asked, based on what he knew and learned from
the world that has to live up-river from all the commercial
fishing guys, if Mr. Maw could stand up for them. Their concerns
are escapement and personal use, and to some degree, subsistence
use - just the fish getting up there.
3:55:40 PM
MR. MAW responded that an allocation issue is one kind of
argument, but he has always been dedicated to appropriate
escapement goal management. For example, in 2008 in the Mat-Su
Valley the Board of Fisheries took up the stock of yield concern
for Susitna sockeye. He supported that for one reason: they
didn't have a good understanding of why those fish were
declining. A committee of members from the department and the
board was funded over $10 million to figure it out. This
included some money out of his own pocket through the
aquaculture association. He was the one who made the motion.
MR. MAW said he has a history of saying "no" to his own user
group. For instance, another big issue was spotter planes, and
in the end he went against some of his fellow fishermen then,
too.
SENATOR COGHILL thanked him for those good candid answers and
said it looks like because of the depth of his knowledge and
experience that he could recuse himself from those decisions he
is involved in.
MR. MAW responded that discussion was scheduled with the
Department of Law and Ethics on Friday of this week. He knew
that it had happened in the past.
SENATOR COGHILL said he wanted follow up on that issue.
3:59:05 PM
SENATOR STOLTZE asked Mr. Maw's position on UCIDA litigation,
both past and present, on dip net fisheries and bringing in
federal management.
MR. MAW answered that he read through the current litigation a
number of times and found no reference to personal use, dip net,
sport or guided issues in the case before the Ninth Circuit
Court.
CONFIRMATION HEARING: Board of Fisheries, Dr. Roland Maw
He explained that half of Cook Inlet is open to drift
gillnetting in what is called the federal exclusive economic
zone (EEZ) and half of it is in state waters, the result of the
"Gerhard Shroeder line" case that the State of Alaska brought
against the federal government over oil and gas issues as to
where federal waters end and state waters begin (12 miles or 3
miles). The Supreme Court decided that south of a line that runs
roughly from Ninilchik over toward the bottom of Kalgan Island
is federal waters to be managed under the Magnuson Stevens Act).
The area north of that line is managed as state waters. His
understanding of this case was that UCIDA was asking the federal
government to just help with some of the management issues in
Cook Inlet.
4:02:35 PM
Part of the discussion dealt with some allegations that folks
out of the Kodiak area and other places were catching "our" fish
and UCIDA asked the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council
to do a genetic analysis of the fish being caught to see where
their streams of origin were. That's all they asked for. They
found that less than 10 percent of those fish were of Cook Inlet
origin. So, now people don't know what is causing the king
salmon decline and all UCIDA was asking for was a hand in trying
to understand those problems. No management was asked for or
anticipated.
SENATOR STOLTZE said the court case he read the document on
began with: "I, Roland Maw, attest as the litigant..." and he
was surprised that Mr. Maw couldn't relate more about it.
4:05:01 PM
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI said the complaint in paragraph 66 on page
18 was of the lawsuit that Senator Stoltze was just referring to
said: "State management in Cook Inlet has destabilized the
fishery."
Paragraph 67 of the lawsuit says:
Some of these declines are attributable to allocation
issues. Most are the result of long term declines in
total salmon runs to the Inlet or management decisions
that allow a significant harvestable surplus to go
unharvested.
Then paragraph 68 says:
One such management decision is a growing trend
towards terminalizing the drift fishery that is
directing fishing near to shore and near to the mouth
of the rivers.
He said that decision was made by the Alaska Department of Fish
and Game (ADF&G) and the Board of Fisheries over the years to
help out dip netters, and he asked Mr. Maw if that was a fair
statement.
MR. MAW responded that he would not characterize it that way.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked Mr. Maw if he stated he wasn't going
to do anything that is not biologically sound at UCIDA.
MR. MAW answered yes.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked if he agreed that all the UCIDA
proposals put forward while he was there were all biologically
sound.
MR. MAW answered no; some were "straight allocative."
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked him to explain the rationale for
proposal 174 in 2011 to allow non-residents to participate in
the Upper Cook Inlet personal use fishery.
MR. MAW answered in just about every other aspect of
recreational fishing there is a provision for non-resident
participation with a higher fee structure, permits, or drawings,
except for the personal use one. The board had an opportunity to
look at that and it chose not to.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked if he thinks it's appropriate to
allow non-residents to participate in the Upper Cook Inlet
personal use fishery. He has a lot of constituents who are dip
net, personal use and sport fishermen, and he was very concerned
about a proposal that allows non-residents to dip net and take
fish that would otherwise go to Alaskans.
4:09:25 PM
MR. MAW explained that when the dip net fishery first appeared
in the Kenai years ago, UCIDA was told it was only to be
practiced to hold the escapements range down. But since then,
many court and board decisions and laws have been made about how
these fish are to be managed. The legal construct of what a
personal use fishery is has changed over time, but in its
present format, no, he would not open it up to non-residents.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked him to talk about his rationale for
Proposal 179 in 2011, which would only open the Kenai and
Kasilof dip net fisheries after the lower limit of the
escapement goals is achieved.
4:10:55 PM
MR. MAW responded that even though he was aware of those
proposals, ultimately it's the board of directors and membership
that put them forward, and he does not support that proposal.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked him to talk about Proposal 187 in
2011 where UCIDA proposed to reduce the number of fish that a
household could take from 25-plus 10 fish for each additional
household member down to 10 total.
MR. MAW answered that Kenai River sockeyes are managed
differently than just about any other river in the state in that
there are three tiers. The tiers are based on the run size. If
the Kenai return is less than 2.3 million (small), there is one
set of management strategies; between 2.3 million and 4.6
million there is a different set of management strategies and
then from 4.6 and above there is a different strategy. In
today's context, if the Kenai return is less than 2.3 million,
that is basically telling them this run is starting to get into
trouble. At that point, it's appropriate for everyone to lower
their expectations. If the run is in the middle tier, then
everything is fine, and that is where most of the runs occur.
When the return is 8 or 9 million fish, then all user groups
need to be able to increase their harvest. It's a conservation
issue.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI said Proposal 187 wasn't a conservation
issue, because in it he said that most personal use individuals
do not harvest anywhere near the maximum number of fish
currently allowed, and he recommendation reducing the annual
limit to 10 salmon per household annually. If nothing was done
he said, "Present annual limits encourage excessive harvest
beyond actual food needs." He doesn't talk about conserving the
fish; he was just concerned about people taking more fish than
they need.
MR. MAW responded that that concept had two or three proposals
around it and one was on the concept of conservation. The
average household harvest of Kenai sockeye is around 12 or 13
fish. If that was the average people were taking, the proposal
simply suggested making that the limit for the middle tier.
4:15:08 PM
SENATOR MICCICHE asked why he believed the fishery was
terminalized.
MR. MAW recalled that the action was to provide for passage of
fish into the Mat-Su (the corridor concept); it didn't have to
do with personal use or dip netting.
4:17:05 PM
SENATOR MICCICHE said most people are in Alaska because of its
outdoor opportunities, but those opportunities are different
than 30 years ago and much different than 40 years ago. The
supplies of fish and game is not keeping up with demand and
people are not coming together on these issues. He asked Mr. Maw
if he, as a Board of Fisheries member, saw any potential for
making it better.
MR. MAW answered that casting blame will almost certainly stop
getting to a better future. He did it once, but he has stopped
now and asked that others stop, too. No one is supposed to win
in the fine art of compromise.
SENATOR COSTELLO asked how his relationship is with the Board of
Fisheries.
MR. MAW answered "just fine," although he hadn't heard from two
members.
4:20:23 PM
SENATOR MICCICHE said a new user group is impacting existing
challenges on the main stem of the Kenai and that these issues
will only grow as the population of Alaska increases. He asked
Mr. Maw how those issues can be managed.
MR. MAW answered that an honest dialogue - good people setting
down and talking - is a first step. He had not done that with
the people in Ninilchik, Cooper Landing, Hope or Moose Pass.
They had some issue they felt needed to be resolved and went and
got the allocation. He didn't know how that will be worked into
the day-to-day management of the fishery, but it will have to be
figured out somehow.
4:24:14 PM
SENATOR COGHILL said he is kid of the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers
and folks have to deal with the Canadian Compact. The ocean is
the bounty for most, but people on the rivers are counting fish
in the hundreds instead of millions. No one knows what happens
to the fish when they get out there and mingle, but the counting
at the mouth of the Yukon River, with El Nino, has changed to
some degree. Is that something he has pondered? It has to do
with different species of salmon, but it also has to do with
their grayling fisheries, which people are counting on to sport
fish.
MR. MAW said he served on the North Pacific Anadromous
Commission, a treaty between Canada, the United States, Russia,
Japan and Korea, and it has three main functions: to work out
the science on high seas (beyond 200 miles), to do enforcement
out there so people don't poach, and handling the finances. He
worked on the enforcement committee and the science committee.
The science some of these other countries are doing might
embarrass the U.S., he said. Russia is developing huge
hatcheries. Their harvest one year was 500,000 metric tons, and
all of North America for that same year was 350,000 metric tons.
The Russian research actually followed those fish from the time
they left the river, during the winter time - sampling and
watching their growth - until those fish came back as adults.
They know where those fish were and what they were eating, their
diseases and their predators. The U.S. has never done anything
like that. He has often wondered that the Kuskokwim and the
Yukon have been struggling for a quarter century and they still
don't know how those fish make their living out in the ocean.
4:29:53 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL opened public testimony.
4:30:39 PM
PAUL SHADURA, South K-Beach Independent Fishermen's Association,
Soldotna, Alaska* supported Mr. Maw's appointment to the Board
of Fisheries. He said "It is the nature of the Alaskan way of
life to be passionate in how our resources are managed."
"Conservation" in the Alaska context means "controlled
utilization of a given resource." The statute governing
Board of Fisheries appointments states a need to choose
individuals who have an interest in public affairs, good
judgment, knowledgeable, an ability in the field of action of
the board and with a view of providing diversity of interest and
points of view in the membership. Clearly, Mr. Maw represents
these qualities.
He said too often the board is viewed as a chess game and
individuals are placed on it that are not skilled. But this is
not a game. The board's actions deeply affect peoples' lives.
Acknowledging a valid question and having a debate on what is
best for the successful harvestable return in which the
department is openly engage is what is important.
Mr. Maw has a firm belief in science-based resource management,
although he has a lengthy tenure as a Cook Inlet commercial
fisherman and executive director of UCIDA. He is known for
objectivity and sincere appreciation and recognition of the
importance of sport, personal use and subsistence fisheries to
Alaskans. No one had ever been better qualified than Mr. Maw to
serve on the board.
4:37:14 PM
ARNI THOMPSON, Executive Director, Alaska Salmon Alliance,
Anchorage, Alaska, supported Mr. Maw's confirmation to the Board
of Fisheries. There are over 3,000 commercial fishing families
in this region and each of those families is a small business
entity. They are an important part of Southcentral Alaska. Five
ports in this region - Cordova, Seward, Kenai, Valdez and Homer
- brought in $241 million in ex-vessel revenue alone, not
including the wholesale value of the fisheries. If all the
fisheries were combined, this region would be ranked as number
two in terms of fishing ports.
4:38:06 PM
CHRIS GARCIA, representing himself, Kenai, Alaska supported Mr.
Maw's confirmation to the Board of Fisheries.
GARY STEVENS, Alaska Outdoor Council (AOC) Chugiak, Alaska
opposed Mr. Maw's confirmation to the Board of Fisheries,
because he wants to involve the federal government in management
of the state's natural resources.
WES HUMBYRD, representing himself, Homer, Alaska* supported Mr.
Maw's confirmation to the Board of Fisheries. He said he had
known Mr. Maw for many years; he is very knowledgeable about all
aspects of the fishing industry. He holds a firm belief that
biology and science are the most important considerations in
fish management. There hasn't been a commercial fishing
representative from Cook Inlet on the board since 1980. People
are spreading false rumors about Mr. Maw. who won't be caught up
in political cronyism.
4:39:25 PM
GEORGE PIERCE, representing himself, Kasilof, Alaska, supported
Mr. Maw's confirmation to the Board of Fisheries. He said the
current BOF has created this mess and it's time for a change, he
said. Science and biologists are needed on this board, not
buddies.
4:40:32 PM
JOE CONNORS, representing himself, Sterling, Alaska, opposed Mr.
Maw's confirmation to the Board of Fisheries, citing a
commercial violation with Mr. Maw's name on it.
4:41:40 PM
DAN ANDERSON, representing himself, Homer, Alaska* supported Mr.
Maw's confirmation to the Board of Fisheries. He has known Mr.
Maw for 20 years. He is very knowledgeable on fisheries science
issues and is very well qualified to keep personal objectives
and political opinion away from his decisions. He uses the best
available science to manage any resource.
4:42:37 PM
MONTE ROBERTS, representing himself, Soldotna, Alaska, opposed
Mr. Maw's confirmation to the Board of Fisheries.
4:43:18 PM
GARLAND BLANCHARD, representing himself, Homer, Alaska supported
Mr. Maw's confirmation to the Board of Fisheries. He totally
supports maximum sustainable yield for all user groups in
Alaska.
4:43:47 PM
FRED STURMAN, representing himself, Soldotna, Alaska, supported
Mr. Maw's confirmation to the Board of Fisheries. He had known
Mr. Maw for quite a few years and thinks he will be very good on
the board.
4:44:09 PM
TEAGUE VANECK, representing himself, Homer and Ninilchik, Alaska
supported Mr. Maw's confirmation to the Board of Fisheries. He
had fished his whole life in Cook Inlet as a drift fisherman and
they have not had anyone with a commercial fishing background in
Cook Inlet on the board. He has been there many times to testify
and watch the proceedings and it is very frustrating to speak
with people that are "just clueless" about some of the issues
that area faces.
4:45:18 PM
JEFF BEAUDOIN, representing himself, Kasilof, Alaska, supported
Mr. Maw's confirmation to the Board of Fisheries. He had known
Mr. Maw since 2002. Mr. Maw has biological management
experience; he looks at the data set and knows how to construct
the issues and has an even temperament in doing it. He has a
balanced approach and understands sustainable salmon fisheries
and escapement goal policies and mixed-stock salmon fisheries.
He can elevate the discussion, as per the Alaska Constitution
and the Administrative Procedures Act, for the board's
deliberation process.
4:47:35 PM
IAN PITZMAN, representing himself, Homer, Alaska, supported Mr.
Maw's confirmation to the Board of Fisheries. He said Mr. Maw is
a man of science and the UCIDA meetings often turn into
fisheries science lectures. Mr. Maw has held that focus during
his term as UCIDA executive director and he would do so at the
Board of Fisheries. The way he sees it, Governor Walker replaced
a lawyer with a fisheries scientist, which is a step in the
right direction.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked if Mr. Maw was instrumental in
crafting most of the proposals that were forwarded by UCIDA.
MR. PITZMAN said he didn't know.
4:49:12 PM
DAVE MARTIN, representing himself, Clam Gulch, Alaska supported
Mr. Maw's confirmation to the Board of Fisheries. He always puts
science and the resource first. The Board of Fisheries criteria
are well met by Mr. Maw.
CHAIR GIESSEL thanked everyone for their comments and
acknowledged others on line; she said she will take up the
hearing again at the beginning of Friday's meeting.
4:52:05 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL adjourned the Senate Resources Committee meeting
at 4:52 p.m.