KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska
The fishing community got a chance this week to weigh in on how Kodiak will appear in an updated profile being prepared by NOAA for use in fisheries management. KMXT’s Jacob Resneck reports.
Community profiles are largely based on census data. The last profile was completed in 2005 and based on the 2000 census. At the meeting, fishermen like Stormy Stutes said they were concerned with the increasing difficulty of younger generation’s ability to get into fishing.
(stutes1)
And old debates resurfaced with fishermen arguing the North Pacific Fishery Management Council is skewed toward industry with too little emphasis on conservation.
That was also a point Stutes made during Monday’s session.
(stutes2)
But NOAA Fisheries economist Scott Miller said that rationalization was necessary for economic and safety reasons.
(miller1)
He also said that limited entry permits are necessary as too many fishermen can make a fishery unprofitable.
(miller2)
That argument was rejected by Kodiak City Councilman Terry Haines, himself a commercial fisherman. He said that the allocation of quotas to permit holders puts too much money and influence into the hands of the few.
(haines1)
Outside the meeting state Representative Alan Austerman said the effects of radical changes like rationalization should be taken into account when NOAA compiles its updated community profile.
(austerman1)
Austerman said he agreed that the North Pacific Fishery Council members often have professional conflicts-of-interests in the management decisions they’re tasked to make.
(austerman2)
The updated profile which will describe the size of Kodiak’s fleet, number of permits and commercial fisheries, will be based on the 2010 census expected to be released in the spring. The updated fishing community profile is expected in the next two to three years.
