"Bashful" is likely the last word his U.S. Senate colleagues would use to describe Mark Begich.
So when an opportunity arose to become chairman of the Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries and Coast Guard Subcommittee, the junior senator from Alaska was not shy about talking his way into the seat.
Addressing Coast Guard needs in northern Alaska will be an early priority for Begich, but the first two hearings he is working to schedule will be on updates and issues related to the MSA and on the budget for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Begich said he intends to vigorously exercise oversight as a subcommittee chairman, and he did not sound enthusiastic about two NOAA funding requests totaling nearly $100 million.
NOAA has requested $54 million to encourage the implementation of catch share fishery management programs around the country, and another $40 million to begin implementing "marine spatial planning," or, as the former Anchorage mayor Begich calls it, "ocean zoning."
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