Kodiak’s annual commercial fisheries trade show, the longest running of its kind in the state, is set for this week. KMXT’s news staff have a breakdown of the three-day schedule for this year’s Comfish:
Davis Hovey, KMXT: So Brian, this will be your third Comfish. What presentations or people stand out to you on this year’s schedule?
Brian Venua, KMXT: One of the first things to stand out to me is that we have two thirds of our federal delegation in Kodiak for their presentations this week. Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Rep. Nick Begich both have talks on Tuesday and Wednesday at 12:15 p.m. respectively. Sen. Dan Sullivan came last year – he’s not coming in person this year, but he is scheduled for a forum via zoom on Tuesday before Murkowski.
They’re not the only ones representing the federal government though – Bob Foy and Mike Litzow both have presentations on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Alaska Department of Fish and Game Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang and Alaska Senate President Gary Stevens have talks again representing the state government. We also can’t forget the talks hosted by locals like Nick Mangini about mariculture, Kodiak’s Harbormaster Dave Johnson giving his annual update, or Andy Schroeder talking about Ocean Plastics Recovery.
Hovey: In previous years it seems Comfish has had some sort of central theme or a specific focus for a majority of its sessions, but this year it seems like the three-day forum sessions will cover a range of topics.
Venua: Yeah – going back to that first question again – I’m really surprised there’s two members from the federal delegation here. I think that speaks a lot both on how important fisheries are for the state’s economy and how many problems the industry is facing.
One of the biggest elephants in the room I’m sure is going to be the Trump administration's new policies. NOAA representatives have been pretty hesitant to talk to me since the firings, and I’m curious to see what Litzow and Foy have to say.
Tariffs are likely going to be another topic. So much of the state’s commercial harvest ends up abroad one way or another and no one seems to know how exactly fisheries will be affected.
Hovey: Following up on that, I’ll just add that I’m sure the Farm Bill will be highlighted again this year, with emphasis on including Alaska fishermen in that bill. You’ve seen Sen. Sullivan and Sen. Murkowski both talk about that before right?
Venua: Yeah, it’s definitely been something they’ve been nagging people about. Back in August 2023 they brought the ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee to Kodiak. Sullivan brought it up again at ComFish last year, and having that extra federal support would bring a lot of stability to the industry after it took $1.8 billion hit in 2023 compared to 2022.
But during the Alaska Municipal League conference in Kodiak in August last year, Murkowski didn’t seem very hopeful about fisheries getting included when it’s renewed. We’ll see if she has any updates.
Hovey: And who knows when that bill will be passed. Aside from the forum portion of Comfish, there will of course be exhibitors and various booths set up in the Marketplace all three days. Looks like just over 45 booths signed up according to the exhibitor list online. Anything you’d like to highlight from that list?
Venua: I didn’t see any processors on the list this year. In the past I’ve seen some like Silver Bay have some information available. A lot of them had to reshuffle ownership of their plants – Trident finalized buyers for the four plants it listed for sale in late 2023, and Silver Bay just bought a huge interest in OBI’s plants. There’s a lot going on, so I’m not sure why they’re not promoting themselves like they did in the past.
Overall though the Chamber of Commerce still has a lot of booths for associations like the Alaska Pollock Fishery Alliance or Commercial Fishermen for Bristol Bay. There’s also finance booths for banks like Global Credit Union and equipment providers like Cummins and Kodiak Diesel.
Editor's note: a previous version of this article used older photos.
