Question for Assembly
Dear Editor: I would like our Assembly members to explain why bars are open and schools are closed.
Pete Roddy, Sitka
Fishermen’s Expo
Dear Editor: Building on the success of past Fishermen’s Expos, the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association and Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust hosted our first virtual Fishermen’s Expo last week to provide educational workshops to local fishermen. Due to the COVID pandemic, no in-person trainings or workshops were available this year, but many participants and presenters from outside of Sitka were able to participate as a result. Thanks to our sponsors, all events were free and open to the public.
Fishermen had the opportunity to attend trainings on hybrid energy and fuel efficiency, ergonomics of fishing, introduction to mariculture, hydraulic requirements for fishing with longline pots, and an overview of current fishing policy and management. There were also several presentations by groundfish and slinky pot manufacturers that are used in longline fishing as well as the opportunity to hear from a few fishermen who are using this gear currently while fishing. An open forum with NOAA enforcement and our director, Linda Behnken, provided an opportunity to hear about current pot gear regulations and discuss how to move towards coexistence of different gear types on the grounds.
Providing resources and educational opportunities for local fishermen, especially young fishermen, is part of ALFA’s mission. In the future, we hope to build on this successful model with support from the Young Fishermen’s Development Fund, a fund proposed by Congress that will support similar workshops, trainings, and programs for young fishermen across the country. Legislation to establish the fund is pending, and already has broad bipartisan support.
On behalf of ALFA’s staff and membership, we would like to thank our Fall Virtual Expo sponsors and partners for their generous support: LFS Marine Supplies, Delta Western, Petro Marine, CodCoil Longline Pots, Sitka Sound Seafoods, Seafood Producers Cooperative, Pioneer Bar, Daily Sitka Sentinel, KCAW, and KIFW.
We look forward to hosting more events like this in the future, and invite anyone who is interested in ALFA’s work to visit our website at alfafish.org.
Natalie Sattler, Program Director, ALFA and ASFT,
Linda Behnken,
Executive Director, ALFA
Willow Moore, Executive Director, ASFT
