CITY OF HOMER

HOMER, ALASKA

Yourkowski

RESOLUTION 04-26

A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF HOMER, ALASKA, URGING THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION TO REGULATE BALLAST WATER DISCHARGES TO PROTECT THE ECONOMIES AND ECOSYSTEMS OF KACHEMAK BAY FROM NONINDIGENOUS (INVASIVE) SPECIES.

WHEREAS, Kachemak Bay is a State-designated critical habitat area and a National Estuarine Research Reserve; it is widely touted as one of the richest and most productive marine ecosystems in the world; and

WHEREAS, Kachemak Bay supports a broad array of economic activities which are intertwined with the biological health of the region, including fishing, mariculture, marine transportation and tourism; and

WHEREAS, the U.S. Coast Guard has found that "the unintentional introduction of nonindigenous species into U.S. waters via the discharge of vessels' ballast water has had significant impacts on the nation's marine and freshwater resources, biological diversity, and coastal infrastructures;" and

WHEREAS, researchers from the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center found over a dozen alien species in Kachemak Bay in 2000; and

WHEREAS, ballast water discharges threaten to increase the number and diversity of invasive species in Kachemak Bay, and such increases threaten economic and biological well being of the Lower Kenai Peninsula Community.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the City Council of Homer, Alaska does Hereby request the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation to promulgate regulations to control ballast water discharges and to control the unintentional introduction of invasive species into Kachemak Bay.

PASSED AND ADOPTED by the Homer City Council this 8th day of March, 2004.

CITY OF HOMER

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ATTEST: JACK CUSHING, MAYOR

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MARY L. CALHOUN, CMC, CITY CLERK

Fiscal Note: NA