S-3236               _______________________________________________

                                   SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 8424

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              50th Legislature                              1988 Regular Session

By Senators Metcalf, Smith and Rasmussen

Read first time 1/14/88 and referred to Committee on Environment & Natural Resources.

WHEREAS, Washington has an active interest in marine resources and ocean policy, a heightened awareness of the importance of the marine environment, and a belief that a strong, coherent, and scientifically based policy towards our marine environment is in the best interests of economic development and environmental management; and

          WHEREAS, The marine sector plays a vital role in Washington's economy through commercial and sports fishing; public and private aquaculture; seafood processing; recreation; beaches and resorts; boating and marinas; shipping; shipbuilding; port-related enterprise; technology development; marine trades; support services; law; banking and insurance; marine research; and resource management and consulting, which all depend, whether totally or in part, on the richness of our marine resources and its health; and

          WHEREAS, Washington's marine interests extend far beyond state waters and agency jurisdictions, and some of the activities taking place, or planned to take place outside of state waters may affect communities and private and public interests within Washington; and

          WHEREAS, A strong research, education, and information base is vital to maintaining and improving existing marine enterprises and to enhancing opportunities for development of new ones, and is essential to the legislature to deal effectively with the many complex problems associated with the marine environment; and

          WHEREAS, The legislature has created the Joint Select Committee on Marine and Ocean Resources which will coordinate the exchange of information among states and the Pacific Fisheries Legislative Task Force will serve as a means of exchanging information among legislators from the states affected by management of Pacific Ocean resources;

          NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, By the Senate of the state of Washington, the House of Representatives concurring, That the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, joining with the presiding officers of the other jurisdictions shall appoint, respectively, two senators and two representatives to represent Washington on the Pacific Fisheries Legislative Task Force, which shall operate as a clearinghouse for opinions from all the various interests involved in Pacific fishing, and which shall include among its duties the duty to report to the legislatures of the participating jurisdictions, and to the state delegations in the United States Congress concerning means of protecting and fostering Pacific fishing in the participating jurisdictions:  PROVIDED, That representatives of the state of Washington shall attend no more than four meetings annually and shall report to the Joint Select Committee on Marine and Ocean Resources; and

          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution shall be sent to the presiding officers of the legislatures of Alaska, California, Idaho, and Oregon.