Sen. Murkowski Wins Change To Allow Visas For Japanese Roe Technicians, Says Decision Should Save Salmon Season
Washington, D.C. - After weeks of effort, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski won final passage of an amendment to grant temporary visas to roe technicians, a change that should allow the workers to quickly gain visas to process this summer's salmon run. Murkowski said the amendment should be in time to assist this summer's salmon season for Alaska fishermen and state salmon processors.
Murkowski, who has led the effort to win either a legislative fix or administrative ruling to grant visas for Japanese roe technicians, today succeeded in adding an amendment to the Defense Appropriations bill for FY'05 that passed the House and later the Senate. The change allows the Department of Homeland Security to grant extra visas for fish roe processors, technicians and fish roe processing supervisors, and only for those workers.
Murkowski had been using a dual-track approach, trying to win an administrative interpretation so roe technicians would qualify under the H-2A agricultural visa program, while also trying to win passage of legislation to hike the number of H-2B visas for this year by 40,000 or to "grandfather" the roe workers who have worked in Alaska in previous years so they would not have counted against this year's visa quota.
The visa issue became a serious problem late this spring when for the first time, the quota for temporary foreign guest workers under the H-2B program - a quota of 66,000 foreign workers annually - was reached in March before summer industries could apply for their usual visas. Companies are able to apply for the visas only 120-days prior to when workers are needed. Under Senator Murkowski's amendment, H-2B visas issued to fish roe processors, technicians or supervisors would not count against the 66,000 numerical limitation.
"Japanese buyers traditionally have been extremely reluctant to purchase our salmon roe unless it had been graded and inspected and processed under the supervision of their own experts. The absence of visas for Japanese roe experts to enter the country threatened the ability of some salmon processors to process salmon this season because the profits from roe are an important part of the economics of fish processing in general.
"By adding this amendment we have cleared the legal hurdles for getting roe technicians their visas just as the salmon season is entering its busiest period. It is good news for many in the industry and thus for Alaska fishermen that we were finally able to break the logjam and pass this provision," said Murkowski after the amendment was added at her urging to the Senate-House conference report on the Defense Appropriations bill, clearing its way for speedy passage and signature by the President.
Salmon processors annually bring in hundreds of Japanese "supervisor technicians" to oversee the grading and processing of expensive salmon roe (eggs) that usually are sold directly to Japanese buyers. Buyers usually will not buy the Alaska roe unless the grading is overseen by seasoned experts. And since roe sales are vital to the economics of processing some types of salmon, some processors might have been forced to close for the year if they had been denied the profits from roe sales threatening the state's $200 million salmon industry. In some cases, the value of the roe is greater than from the flesh of the fish.
Murkowski said she has been in frequent contact with the Bush Administration and agencies that now must expedite issuance of visas for the workers and is hopeful that the visas will be granted quickly as soon as the President signs the important spending bill. The Senator April 7 had first petitioned the Bush Administration to proceed with planning so it could speed processing of the vital visa applications, once a resolution to the cap issue had been achieved.
"The passage of this provision shows the importance of urgent persistence. I certainly thank President Bush for encouraging his Departments to come together to find an administrative fix. I thank congressional leadership for accepting my pleas, breaking the roadblocks and finally allowing this to happen before the start of the congressional recess. If it had not happened now, Alaska's salmon industry could have been devastated later this summer," said Murkowski, who noted that the state is expecting an harvest of 196 million salmon this summer - one of the five best harvests on record.
The bill passed the Senate, 96-0 as part of the Defense Appropriations bill (H.R. 4613) and now heads to the President for signature.