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Alaska Fisheries

The Fiscal Year 2002 budget request for National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) totals $734.2 million, including $598.0 million for research and management programs and $136.2 million in associated funding. The requested funding provides important new investments critical to the long-term stewardship of the Nation’s living marine resources, including $25.3 million in new funding to enhance and modernize NOAA Fisheries’ activities that support Alaska.

Alaska's Bountiful Living Marine Resources

Alaska's coastal and marine ecosystems support an abundance of fish, shellfish, marine mammals, and seabirds. The State's commercial marine fisheries are world- renowned for their productivity. Supported by 34,000 miles of tidal marine coastline and about 70% of the total U.S. continental shelf, Alaska’s marine fisheries contributed nearly one- half of the total U.S. landings in 1999. The commercial fishing industry is the largest private- sector employer in Alaska, providing almost one- half of basic employment. Similarly, recreational fisheries are important to Alaska residents and visitors. Each year, recreational fishermen spend millions of days fishing for Pacific halibut, Alaska’s five species of salmon, and other species. Alaska’s marine and coastal waters also support a wide variety of marine mammals and other sea life.

Our Management Partners

In total, fisheries in Alaska are among the most well managed and sustainably harvested in the world. This successful management occurs under Federal fishery management plans designed by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council and implemented by NOAA Fisheries that protect the resource and maintain healthy stocks important to commercial, recreational, and subsistence fisheries. Supported by funding for implementation of the Magnuson- Stevens Act, NOAA Fisheries’ Alaska Region and Science Center work in partnership with the Council, conducting the scientific research and analyses on which to develop management strategies, and advising the Council on the fisheries under its jurisdiction. NOAA Fisheries manages the largest Individual Fishing Quota program (sablefish and halibut) in the Nation, and a unique Community Development Quota program for coastal communities. These programs, as well as the new cooperative programs established under the American Fisheries Act, successfully attain benefits of a market- based allocation scheme while protecting the interests of small- scale fishermen and coastal fishing communities. NOAA Fisheries and the Council are currently working on conservation of Steller sea lions by time/ area management of the pollock fishery, implementation of the American Fisheries Act, launching of the License Limitation Program, annual approval of research priorities, and designating habitat areas of particular concern. The FY 2002 request provides additional funding to the Council to enhance its critical role in the management process.

Protecting and Recovering Our Marine Species and Habitats

NOAA Fisheries is responsible for protecting several species of marine mammals and all marine fish species listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. We are effectively using co- management agreements with Native groups to conserve

Alaska’s Marine Mammals and Their Habitats

We are cooperatively developing a national plan for reducing seabird mortality in commercial longline fisheries. Potential adverse impacts on essential fish habitat are continually being mitigated and additional funding is requested in FY 2002 to address this issue. We are conducting research critical to understanding the causes of severe declines in Steller sea lion populations, while monitoring the effectiveness of management plans implemented to protect Stellar sea lions and allow commercial fishing activities to co- exist. The request contains over $40 million in funding for research and recovery actions related to Steller sea lions. Lastly, Alaska is key to implementing the Pacific Salmon Treaty to restore and enhance salmon habitat and stocks in both the U. S. and Canada. The FY 2002 request will provide an additional $10 million for the Northern fund to implement responsibilities under the Treaty. Additional resources from the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund will be provided to support cooperative initiatives with the State.

Future Challenges

The responsibility of managing Alaska’s living marine resources is growing more and more complex each year with ever increasing demands for the scientific data necessary to implement existing statutes. Managers and scientists are struggling with significant data gaps in several areas, including ecosystem structure and function, socio- economic impacts, ocean floor mapping, and effects on competing species. The FY 2002 request answers these needs by seeking funding for additional stock assessments, more observer programs and coverage, and the fisheries and the environment or “FATE” program designed to improve stock predictions by determining the effects of decadal- scale climate variability on fish stocks. For the first time, funding for the Alaska Fisheries Information Network or “AKFIN” program is included in the request to continue gathering the data needed for effective management. The National Fisheries Information System will act in concert with AKFIN and be an integrated, WEB- enabled information system by which fishers, scientists, and managers can collect and exchange information in a timely manner and improve management decisions. New funding is needed to expand current enforcement programs in Alaska and speed the implementation of vessel management systems that employ the latest satellite technology to better track vessels to ensure compliance with regulations and improve safety at sea.

Modernizing Our Infrastructure

As it is doing Nationwide, NOAA Fisheries is modernizing its facilities in Alaska to keep pace with new technologies and maintain its research capabilities. An additional $11.7 million is requested for the construction of a new state- of- the- art research facility at Lena Point near Juneau which promises to be a focal point for cooperative marine science partnerships in the North Pacific. Finally, increased funding is needed to operate the new NOAA Fisheries laboratory in Kodiak to ensure it can continue to estimate the distribution and abundance of king and Tanner crabs in the eastern Bering Sea and of other commercial shellfish resources in Alaska.

Alaska Increases

Funding for other important programs and activities

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