Fisheries Enhancement
Dear Editor: Last week the Sitka Assembly awarded Fisheries Enhancement Funds to the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association to support our COVID-19 outreach to fishermen and our young fishermen programs. We will leverage this support, as we have in the past, to bring outside dollars into Sitka and to reassure fishermen that the City of Sitka recognizes the value of the commercial fishing fleet. ALFA staff and members deeply appreciate this investment in our work.
The FEF support ensures that ALFA will continue to keep local fishermen up-to-date and well informed of COVID-related federal and state mandates, relief programs and emerging legislation relevant to commercial fisheries. Our website COVID page: http://www.alfafish.org/alfacovid19 is updated weekly, if not more often, as requirements and opportunities shift. Our goal is to keep our essential industry working through this pandemic and to assist fishermen in accessing relief and stimulus funds so our fisheries emerge stronger than ever.
Through our Community Supported Fisheries Program Alaskans Own, we are also working with project partners to provide seafood to both local and non-local families in need and we have distributed over 1,000 pounds of seafood to Sitka households and food banks since March. If you or someone you know would like to be added to the seafood distribution list, please make that request through Sitka Mutual Aid. We are making weekly deliveries and happy to add households at any time.
Finally, with our partners at the Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust, ALFA continues to support next-generation fishermen with entry-level loans, jobs and training. There are crew openings in the Sitka fleet this summer with skippers willing to hire both experienced and “green” crew. If you are interested, please call the ALFA office at 747-3400.
In sum, we are grateful to the City of Sitka for the support and we will continue to enhance Sitka’s fisheries through programs that address both short- and long-term challenges and create new opportunities.
We are fortunate to be part of a community that pulls together when the going gets tough!
Linda Behnken,
Willow Moore-Olbrych,
Dan Falvey, Allison Martin,
Paul Olson, Hahlen Barkhau,
Alaska Longline
Fishermen’s Association