[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 32 (Tuesday, March 2, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E314-E315]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




LEGISLATION THAT ALLOWS COMMERCIAL AND SUBSISTENCE FISHING TO CONTINUE 
                      IN GLACIER BAY NATIONAL PARK

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. DON YOUNG

                               of alaska

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, March 2, 1999

  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing legislation, 
along with identical legislation being introduced in the Senate by 
Senators Murkowski and Stevens, to allow commercial and subsistence 
fishing to continue in Glacier Bay National Park.
  In 1978, the National Park Service made a determination that 
commercial fishing activities were incompatible with National Park 
Service resources and would be permitted only when specifically 
authorized by law. Because of this broad determination, the National 
Park Service developed a rule outlawing commercial and subsistence 
fishing within the waters of Glacier Bay National Park in 1997.
  This broad determination by the National Park Service ignores the 
fact that commercial fishing has taken place in the waters of Glacier 
Bay even before the National Park Service took control of the Bay in 
1925. Alaskan Natives have fished in this Bay since the 1700's. Non-
Native commercial fishing began in the 1880's. In addition, under the 
Glacier Bay National Park General Management Plan, put into place in 
1984, commercial fishing was allowed. Why has the Park Service suddenly 
now determined that there is some threat to Park resources?
  Both the salmon and crab fisheries found off the coast of Alaska and 
in Glacier Bay National Park, even in Federal waters, are managed by 
the State of Alaska not the Federal government. There is no resource 
problem in these fisheries or within the boundaries of the Park. The 
halibut resource in this area is managed through an international 
treaty and scientists with both the North Pacific Fishery Management 
Council and the International Halibut Commission have found that there 
is no problem with the halibut resource in this area. In 1990, the 
Alaska Wildlife Alliance sued the National Park Service claiming that 
commercial fishing was statutorily prohibited within the Park. In March 
1997, the Federal appeals court (U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals) 
ruled that commercial fishing was not statutorily prohibited in the 
Park, except for in wilderness areas. If there is no resource problem 
within the Glacier Bay National Park boundaries, then commercial and 
subsistence fishing activities should not be prohibited by broad 
National Park Service policies drafted in Washington, D.C.
  The determination banning commercial and subsistence fishing within 
Glacier Bay National Park made no sense and was a political decision 
that will take away the livelihood of a large number of fishermen and 
will affect the well being of a number of communities which rely on the 
fishing industry. A ban on commercial fishing will affect not only 
fishermen, but will also have a huge effect on processing companies 
including a Native owned and operated processing plant in Kake, which 
buys much of its seafood from vessels which fish in Glacier Bay. A ban 
on commercial fishing in Glacier Bay will affect 416 crew and permit 
holders from Gustavus, Elfin Cove, Hoonah, and Pelican and affect 
employment opportunities for 613 employed in the seafood industry in 
these four towns alone. This ban will have a huge economic effect on 
this region. All of the fishing operations in the Park boundaries are 
small businesses--there are no large fishing vessels fishing in the 
Park and no factory trawlers fish here.
  Last year, a group of stakeholders including commercial fishing 
industry representatives, Alaskan Natives, local processing companies, 
local and national environmental representatives, the State of Alaska, 
and Park Service personnel met to work out details of an agreement 
which would allow commercial fishing to continue. The stakeholders had 
not come to a resolution and because there was no resolution, language 
was put in the Interior Appropriations legislation to prevent the 
National Park Service from publishing final rules until the stakeholder 
group could reach an agreement; however, the National Park Service and 
national environmental groups made this a national environmental 
priority and prevented the stakeholder process from concluding.
  Mr. Speaker, this legislation will reverse this unjust and 
unscientific National Park Service policy and allow commercial and 
subsistence fishing to continue in the non-wilderness waters of Glacier 
Bay National Park. It clarifies that the State of Alaska will continue 
to manage marine fishery resources within the Park's

[[Page E315]]

boundaries. It will also provide compensation to those who have been 
displaced by any closures within the Park or by actions of any Federal 
agency which interferes with any person legally fishing in Park waters.
  Even with commercial fisheries operating in the Park, Glacier Bay 
National Park was the number one destination in the National Park 
Service system last year. Commercial fishing poses no threat to the 
``park experience'' and in fact many visitors consider seeing fishing 
vessels as a positive experience in the Park.
  Mr. Speaker, there is no fishery resource problem in the Park and 
there is no justification for a complete closure of Glacier Bay 
National Park to commercial or subsistence fishing. This legislation 
will right a wrong and continue to allow these practices to continue in 
Glacier Bay National Park in a well managed and sustainable manner.

                          ____________________