Representatives from Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan’s offices arrived in Sand Point Monday, their first stop on a multi-city tour around the region. The trip, which will include stops in King Cove and False Pass, comes ahead of a strategic plan the senators are expected to present to the Secretary of Commerce this summer.
Matthew Robinson, a legislative assistant with Murkowski’s office, and Sullivan policy advisor Carina Nichols, are meeting with community leaders, fishermen, and community members to hear about the impacts of Alaska’s fishing industry on locals.
Coastal communities along the peninsula have been hard hit in recent years; fish numbers and prices have been low, putting the squeeze on local budgets and households.
The congressional representatives are also traveling with Abby Fredrick from Silver Bay Seafoods, and they plan to fly to King Cove Monday evening, where the community is dealing with the closure of Peter Pan, the town’s only seafood processor.
King Cove has recently implemented several state-of-the-art infrastructure projects, including a hydroelectric power plant capable of supporting the large processing facility.
The group plans to fly to False Pass Tuesday, where Silver Bay recently took over the Trident plant, before ending their tour in Bristol Bay.
Sens. Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski are expected to present a strategic plan to the Secretary of Commerce sometime later this summer.
“We told them that we are fishing communities,” said Osterback. “We don’t do anything else. We don’t have anything else. Every business in our communities depends on the fisheries.”
KUCB / Andy Lusk
The mayors of Unalaska and the Aleutians East Borough traveled to Washington, D.C. last month, sounding the alarm on the challenges jeopardizing Alaska’s fisheries.
Unalaska Mayor Vince Tutiakoff Sr. and Aleutians East Borough Mayor Alvin Osterback attended an invite-only conference May 22 and 23 in the nation’s capital. There, they filled state and federal officials in on the severity of the fishing industry crash and its impact on rural communities.
“Right now they have a crisis going on in King Cove,” Tutiakoff said during an Unalaska City Council meeting in late May, referencing the recent closure of Peter Pan — King Cove’s main economic driver. “They will not have a processing plant and they will not have a salmon season. They don’t have a crab season. They’re in real dire need.”
The closure of Peter Pan and sell-offs within Trident have sent shock waves through coastal towns who rely on the fishing industry.
Tutiakoff said federal officials he spoke with were interested in the issue but weren’t aware of the whole situation.
“My comments to the Secretary of Commerce were that we need help,” he said. “We need it soon. Unlike some communities, we do have some revenues but it’s not going to carry us very long before we start to feel the impact.”
Tutiakoff said the main issue brought forward at the meeting was that Alaska’s fish can’t compete with loopholes in global markets. He said Russian-caught fish is being transferred to countries like China and then sold on the American market as an Alaska product.
He called for federal officials to close loopholes that benefit the Russian fishing industry, warning that if help didn’t come soon, “Russian fish will be on everybody’s plate.”
Osterback agreed with Tutiakoff, emphasizing the region’s reliance on the success of its fisheries.
“We told them that we are fishing communities,” said Osterback. “We don’t do anything else. We don’t have anything else. Every business in our communities depends on the fisheries.”
Osterback noted that Sen. Dan Sullivan is working to add fisheries into renewal of the Farm Bill, a set of programs that support American agriculture. Including fisheries in the bill could insulate the industry from fluctuating markets.
“Whether you’re growing crops on land or you’re harvesting in the sea, you’re still a harvester,” Osterback said. “The fishermen, the municipalities, the processors — we’re all tied together pretty tight. If one fails, we all fail.”
Sens. Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski are expected to present a strategic plan to the Secretary of Commerce this summer.
Trident Seafoods sent shock waves through the fishing industry when it announced in December it was selling several of its plants around the state — that after delaying construction of its new, flagship facility in Dutch Harbor by at least a year.
Trident CEO Joe Bundrant called the current restructuring decisions “the most difficult” decisions of his career.
Fishermen-owned Silver Bay already operates a facility in False Pass, just next to the Trident plant. Silver Bay President and CEO Cora Campbell said owning adjacent facilities would make operations more efficient, and allow them to provide more opportunities to the fleet.
Silver Bay said it will also be able to provide fuel services with the new facility.
Alaska’s fisheries are facing an unprecedented crisis. A flood of foreign fish into the market, coupled with inflation and trade sanctions, have led to a massive drop in the market value of Alaska’s fish — and coastal communities are feeling the squeeze.
Peter Pan Seafoods made the last minute decision in January not to open their King Cove facility for A season, and then announced in April they wouldn’t open at all, selling some of their plants in other parts of the state, leaving King Cove without its economic driver.
October 3, 2023 Regular Election Preliminary Results
ALEUTIANS EAST BOROUGH MAYOR
ALVIN D. OSTERBACK 183
PAUL R. GRONHOLDT 92
WRITE INS 3
ALEUTIANS EAST BOROUGH ASSEMBLY
SEAT A
WARREN WILSON 239
WRITE INS 9
SEAT F
JOSEPHINE SHANGIN 244
WRITE INS 3
ALEUTIANS EAST BOROUGH SCHOOL BOARD
SEAT C
HILLARY SMITH 229
WRITE INS 16
SEAT D
CARLA CHEBETNOY 224
WRITE INS 14
THERE ARE APPROXIMATELY 3 QUESTION BALLOTS TO BE CONSIDERED
AND APPROXIMATELY 127 ABSENTEE (includes small communities by-mail)
AND __0__ PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE BALLOTS TO BE COUNTED.
THE CANVASS COMMITTEE WILL MEET ON OCTOBER 9, 2023 AT 10:00 A.M. AT THE
BOROUGH OFFICE BUILDING IN SAND POINT.
THE PUBLIC IS WELCOME TO ATTEND Borough Clerk
Posted on: August 4th, 2023 | Author: Holden | Filed under: Sand Point
Commercial salmon fishing by set gillnet and seine gear will be allowed for 61 hours from 8:00 a.m. Monday, August 7 until 9:00 p.m. Wednesday, August 9 in the following districts and sections:
Unimak District;
Southwestern District, excluding the inside waters of the Volcano Bay Section north and west of a line from Arch Point at 55° 12.30ʹ N. lat., 161° 54.30ʹ W. long. to a point on Belkofski Peninsula at 55° 09.50ʹ N. Lat, 161° 57.80ʹ W. long. (Statistical Area 284-36), and those waters in Belkofski Bay, north of a line extending from Indian Head (55° 05.25’ N. lat., 162° 12.16’ W. long.) to Kitchen Anchorage (55° 06.77’ N. lat., 162° 08.24’ W. long.);
South Central District;
Shumagin Islands Section of the Southeastern District excluding the waters of Zachary Bay south of the latitude of 55° 22.60ʹ N. lat. (Statistical Area 282-35)
Commercial salmon fishing by drift gillnet gear will be allowed for 61 hours from 8:00 a.m. Monday, August 7 until 9:00 p.m. Wednesday, August 9 in the following districts and sections:
Unimak District
Ikatan Bay Section of the Southwestern District
Commercial Salmon fishing will be allowed in the Bechevin Bay Section of the Northwestern District from 6 am Monday, August 7 until 6 pm Thursday, August 10.
As previously announced: Commercial salmon fishing by set gillnet and seine gear will open for 132 hours from 8:00 a.m. Thursday, August 3 until 8:00 p.m. Tuesday, August 8 in Orzinski Bay, those waters northwest of a line from Elephant Point at 55o 41.92’ N. lat., 160o 03.20’ W. long. to Waterfall Point at 55o 43.18’ N. lat., 160o 01.13’ W. long.
All closed waters in the above locations will be as described in the regulation book or as adjusted by emergency order.
