Subsistence News-5/6/94

To   Subsistence 2

From:      Larry Roberts:R10F02A

Postmark:  May 05,94  9:11 AM          Delivered: May 06,94 10:02 AM

Status:    Previously read

Subject: Subsistence News-5/6/94

—————————————————————————–

Message:

*In a May 2nd letter to Governor Walter Hickel, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt has reaffirmed the need for the state of Alaska this year to amend the state constitution to recognize a rural subsistence preference.

*Babbitt made it very clear that the federal government would like to return subsistence fish and game management responsibility to the state.

*The Secretary also advised the governor that if no constitutional amendment on subsistence is passed before the general public this November, there will not be another opportunity for the state until November 1996.

*At the same time, the Secretary directed the Federal Subsistence Board (FSB) to start work on studies that could lead to federal management of subsistence fishing in the state’s navigable waters.

*These studies will entail outlining…”the steps and resources necessary to assume management of all fisheries in the navigable waters of Alaska to safeguard a rural subsistence priority.” A preliminary report is due to the Secretary by August 31, 1994.