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Other Ocean Voices>>Remembering Former U.S. Senator Ted StevensA Legacy for Fisheries, Alaska and Beyond
Former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, along with four other passengers, perished in a plane crash in Alaska on August 9, 2010. After playing a pivotal role in establishing Alaska's statehood, Stevens served for more than 40 years in the U.S. Senate, making him the longest serving Republican Senator in U.S. history. He was known for his tireless, and often fierce, dedication to ocean issues. In particular, he is recognized for his efforts to ensure the reauthorization of what became known as the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, one of the U.S.’s primary fishery management policies that was first sponsored by former Washington State Senator Warren G. Magnuson. SeaWeb spoke to one of Stevens’ colleagues, University of Alaska Anchorage Chancellor Fran Ulmer, about his legacy, not only for fisheries but from his lifetime of service for Alaska and the United States. Prior to becoming chancellor, Ulmer worked to shape public and environmental policy in Alaska and nationally for more than 30 years.
SeaWeb: What were your interactions with Senator Stevens? Did you work with him directly? Ulmer: Over the years, I had the opportunity to talk to Senator Stevens on many issues, including fisheries issues … several times. During the 1980s, drift nets created a tremendous conservation challenge to nations that were concerned about the health of species of the North Pacific. Senator Stevens was actively involved in both national and international efforts to ban high seas drift nets. His and others efforts were successful in getting the United Nations’ treaty adopted in 1992 that bans drift net fishing. A Commission was created to oversee the ban on drift net fishing and also to coordinate research among the member nations, which were Russia, Japan, Canada and the United States. I was appointed to that Commission in 1994 and served for 10 years. For a number of years, those of us who were concerned about the health of anadromous fish and concerned about the importance of science-based decision spoke with Senator Stevens and with his staff about ways that his efforts were helping research projects and funding for research initiatives. He was just passionately committed to this. Another one of his many efforts to protect fisheries was his work with the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which was adopted first 1976 and then reauthorized in 1996. The Act was designed to protect fisheries, reduce overfishing and reduce bycatch. Senator Stevens worked to phase out foreign fishing and to promote science-based decision-making. He helped create the Regional Fishery Management Councils, which were very focused on sustainability and balancing allocation and fish businesses with fish management and fish conservation. I can’t say enough about the way Senator Stevens contributed to sustainable fisheries, not only for the United States but also working with international efforts to assure sustainability of fishing for many countries. I just want to express my personal as well as professional support for recognizing Senator Stevens as a leader in conservation and someone who has been absolutely essential for the long-term well-being of not only anadromous fish but fisheries in general. SeaWeb: Are there any personal stories that you would like to share about the benefits of his work in your state?
Ulmer: I’d like to give you two more examples of very important work Senator Stevens accomplished. First is the idea of community development quotas and the second is incorporating science-based decision making into how choices are made about whether to open fisheries or not. The communities development quota for local communities, particularly in western Alaska, [allowed] fairly poor regions that previously did not engage in the pollock fisheries and other fisheries [to have greater access to these fisheries] that primarily were foreign fisheries. Senator Stevens and his supporters in the Senate adopted this notion of providing a portion of the fisheries for communities through a community development quota. Through this they have empowered people and provided education, job opportunities and business and training opportunities for western Alaska communities that were previously simply not able to be part of these fisheries. It has been transformational. A second example is in the area of research. Clearly to make good science-based decisions in managing fisheries, one has to have the research capacity to get the information, not only about the trends in species but also about how to best manage the fisheries—how you can contribute to the rebounding of the fisheries from where there has been overfishing; how you can protect those stocks; and also how timing the harvesting affects those stocks. Senator Stevens has contributed dramatically to our research capacity. For example, there is the Ted Stevens Marine Research Institute in Juneau. That was one of his priorities because he understood that in order for NOAA to do this kind of research about fisheries and fish stocks and the whole ecosystem health, it needed on-the-ground capacity to do sampling and to have long-term monitoring of species’ health. The NOAA facility now in Juneau has this kind of capacity because Senator Stevens knew how important it was for local scientists to have local knowledge in order to take ecosystem management and fisheries management to a level of sustainability. Those are kinds of things that we can look at today and say if Senator Stevens hadn’t been such a passionate supporter for conservation, for research and for wise fish management, we wouldn’t have that kind of legacy and that kind of confidence in the sustainability of our fisheries.SeaWeb: You have served as a Commissioner on the Aspen Institute’s Dialogue and Commission on Arctic Climate Change. Do you know if Senator Stevens supported the North Pacific Fishery Management Council’s recommendations to refrain from expanding commercial fishing in the Arctic until further scientific data could be gathered? Ulmer: I am not aware of any statement on Senator Steven’s part that he was not supportive. It is very consistent with the kind of science-based decision making that he hoped that the Council would be able to establish. It was really interesting how much support there was from the commercial fishing industry as well as from the state, recognizing that unless you had been doing biological surveys and had more science-based capacity to make decisions, that one could put at risk an important future resource. I think that’s a real testament to the confidence the industry, the people of the state and, frankly, the federal agencies have, particularly in the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council. The Council has done a good job of having conservation-based choices in their decisions as opposed to simply saying "Let’s run with it and take a risk." They definitely had a cautious approach to these kinds of new fisheries. And I think the response from the community at large to that kind of precautionary approach to Arctic fisheries is very consistent with and based on a long record of good decision making by the Council.
SeaWeb: Stevens began working on behalf of Alaska even before it became a state. In looking at your state today, how has it changed as a result of his efforts? Ulmer: There is a very long list, of course, of the ways in which he supported education and supported more particularly the University of Alaska. I’ll give you a great example: our Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program. He was very supportive of empowering Alaska natives to be leaders, decision makers, business owners. The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, which was adopted in 1971 and for which one must credit Senator Stevens as being one of the influential fathers of the Act, was built on the premise that Alaska Native people could be and should be part of the growing the economy as well as growing the communities of Alaska. So, providing education and training in ways that would empower Alaska Natives to be leaders was an important part of his vision and certainly an important part of the university’s mission. The University of Alaska's Native Science and Engineering Program, which we call ANSEP for short, was one of his favorites. I can remember a number of times when we would have an ANSEP banquet or an ANSEP award ceremony celebrating the success of our students, thanking our community partners, that Senator Stevens would be there personally. Even though it would be late on a Saturday night and I’m sure he would have preferred to be home with his family, he would be there shaking hands with the Alaska Native students, telling them that he was proud of them and encouraging them. He would support ANSEP financially, he would support it with his physical presence and he often spoke about this program as an example of how the government and the private sector and the Native corporations were coming together to support a university program that was empowering young Alaskan Natives to be successful—as engineers, as fisheries biologists and as leaders in their communities. It is just one of what could be dozens of examples of things that he took personal interest in to shape and improve our state.SeaWeb: As a chancellor of Alaska’s largest university, what would you tell your students is Senator’s Steven’s legacy? Ulmer: He had a bold vision developing a state that had very few people and a lot of resources, but not the kind of infrastructure that enabled the resources to be developed or enabled the people who lived here to use those resources to build an economy. Over many years, through many pieces of legislation, through appropriations, through his personal bully pulpit of bringing attention to important issues in Alaska, he was not only able to shape public policy, build programs, build buildings, roads and bridges, but also to provide hope and inspiration to Alaskans that has really created the state that we are today.
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Fran Ulmer is chancellor of Alaska’s largest public university, the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA). In addition to serving as UAA’s Chancellor, Ulmer was appointed by President Barack Obama in June 2010 to the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. The commission is charged with investigating the causes of the explosion and oil spill, and recommending changes to prevent future disasters from occurring. Prior to her appointment to the oil spill commission, Ulmer was a member of the Aspen Institute's Commission on Arctic Climate Change and held Board positions with the Alaska Nature Conservancy, the National Parks Conservation Association and the Union of Concerned Scientists.
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