Juneau -- Representative Bill Hudson (R-Juneau) is opposing portions of a federal proposal that includes harvest reductions for Southeast Alaska's sport and commercial king salmon fisheries. The proposal is part of a series of recommendations to recover endangered salmon stocks in the Columbia Basin.

"Alaskans have already done more than our fair share to recover endangered and threatened species in Washington and Oregon, our fisheries are not the problem and we will not accept additional restrictions." said Hudson.

The Federal Caucus, a nine agency federal task force, recommended harvest reductions of 50% to 75% in Southeast Alaska king salmon fisheries for a period of up to ten years. This could essentially eliminate both the commercial troll fishery and the sport fishery for wild king salmon in Southeast.

"When you consider that the federal dams are allowed to kill up to 99% of juvenile fish and up to 30% of returning adults while Alaska's fisheries are responsible for only about one-quarter of one per cent of human-induced mortality, you realize that these proposals are just misguided." Hudson said.

Representative Hudson has drafted comments in opposition to the harvest proposal and is encouraging other Southeast legislators to sign on to his letter. Hudson plans to submit his comments to the Federal Agencies during an open meeting to be held in Juneau on March 8th at Centennial Hall.

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