[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 32 (Tuesday, March 2, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S2109]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. MURKOWSKI (for himself and Mr. Stevens):
  S. 501. A bill to address resource management issues in Glacier Bay 
National Park, Alaska; to the Committee on Energy and Natural 
Resources.


                       glacier bay fisheries act

  Mr. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I am today introducing--together with 
my good friend Senator Stevens--new legislation to ensure that the 
marine waters of Glacier Bay National Park remain open to the fisheries 
that have been conducted there for many, many years.
  For a number of years, the Park Service has attempted to seize 
authority over fisheries management in Glacier Bay from the State of 
Alaska, which holds title to the marine waters and submerged lands 
within Glacier Bay National Park. This is an infringement of the 
State's sovereignty under the constitutional doctrine of equal footing, 
as confirmed by Congress in the Submerged Lands Act, and the Alaska 
Statehood Act.
  As my colleagues should all be aware, commercial fisheries have been 
conducted in these waters for well over 100 years, since long before 
the federal government became interested in them. Subsistence fishing 
and gathering by local residents has been practiced for up to 9,000 
years, and perhaps longer.
  Yet today, officials of the National Park Service want Glacier Bay 
off limits to those who have depended on it for their sustenance and 
livelihoods for generations.
  Most recently, agents of the Park Service harassed a number of 
commercial crab fishermen who were fishing in areas which have always 
been open to them. Some of these were areas which may be closed under 
legislation adopted last year, but for which the Park Service has not 
yet promulgated regulations to effect the closure.
  Although Park Service officials now say they merely asked for 
voluntary compliance and attempted to educate fishermen about their 
plans, the fishermen tell a different, and more sinister, story.
  This particular crab fishery is only six days long, with the first 
two days being crucial to a fisherman's financial success. Because of 
this, fishermen must work literally around the clock for the first 48 
to 72 hours. After the first two days, their earning potential--even 
for a top fisherman--drops from almost $60,000 per day to less than 
$20,000.
  It is important to note that these are not large scale fisheries. We 
are talking about a small handful of fishermen, some working solely 
with their families.
  Out of the 14 vessels working in the Bay during the recent fishery, 
11 were boarded--right in the middle of those crucial first two days--
by armed and intimidating Park Service agents. Many were either told 
they were in closed waters, or threatened that if they did not move, 
they would be prosecuted. Needless to say, these fishermen are law-
abiding members of society, so they pulled up their fishing gear and 
moved, taking very serious financial losses as a result.
   Mr. President, let me ask you how difficult it would have been to 
write a letter before the season opened and send it to these 14 
fishermen? How hard would it be to send a letter to 20 fishermen? or to 
50? In other words, Mr. President, how hard would it have been to avoid 
such confrontational and damaging tactics?
  It would not have been hard at all, Mr. President, and the fact that 
the agency did not choose to do so is just one more example of how 
unfairly the Park Service has behaved to those who live and work in 
Alaska.
  It is time for this to stop, and to ensure that it does, I am today 
offering a simple, clean solution. First, the bill authorizes 
subsistence fishing and gathering under the existing federal governing 
authority for such activities. Second, the bill authorizes the State of 
Alaska to conduct its marine fisheries without interference, except a 
fishery for Dungeness crab, for which a compensation plan has already 
been adopted. And third, the bill authorizes the use of up to 
$2,000,000 per year--which the Park Service is already collecting but 
which it has failed to use for the purpose intended by Congress--to be 
used to pay damages to fishermen who were unfairly harmed.
   Mr. President, this is a matter of simple fairness. These are not 
new fisheries, but old ones--fisheries which throughout their long 
history have never caused a problem, and are today more tightly 
controlled than ever by State of Alaska law and regulation.
  Fishermen have caused no harm here. The only harm has been caused 
either by the arrogant demands of those who want the park to 
themselves, or those who are well-meaning but ignorant of the facts. It 
is time the former become better neighbors, and time for the latter to 
learn the truth.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of our legislation be printed 
in the Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                 S. 501

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Glacier Bay Fisheries Act''.

     SAEC. 2. RESOURCE HARVESTING.

       (a) In Glacier Bay National Park, the Secretary of the 
     Interior shall accommodate--
       (1) the conduct of subsistence fishing and gathering under 
     Title VIII of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation 
     Act (16 U.S.C. 3111 et. seq.); and
       (2) the conduct by the State of Alaska, in accordance with 
     the principles of sustained yield, of marine commercial 
     fisheries, except fishing for Dungeness crab in the waters of 
     the Beardslee Islands and upper Dundas Bay.

     SEC. 3. CLAIMS FOR LOST EARNINGS.

       Section 3(g) of Public Law 91-383 (16 U.S.C. 1a-2(g)) is 
     amended--
       (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ``and'' at the end'
       (2) in paragraph (2), by striking the period at the end and 
     inserting ``; and''; and
       (3) by inserting after paragraph (2) the following:
       ``(3) to pay an aggregate of not more than $2,000,000 per 
     fiscal year in actual and punitive damages to persons that, 
     at any time after January 1, 1999, suffered or suffer a loss 
     in earnings from commercial fisheries legally conducted in 
     the marine waters of Glacier Bay National Park, due to any 
     action by an officer, employee, or agent of any Federal 
     department or agency, that interferes with any person legally 
     fishing or attempting to fish in such commercial fisheries.
                                 ______