A new report titled "The Economic Importance of the Bristol Bay Salmon Industry" is scheduled for release at 10 a.m. Thursday.
Deckboss is told that "independent researchers" at the University of Alaska's Institute of Social and Economic Research wrote the report.
The outfit releasing it, however, is an ardent opponent of — you guessed it — the Pebble mine. That would be the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association.
Thursday's planned telepress conference will feature these participants: Scott Goldsmith, an ISER economist and co-author of the report; Johnathan Hillstrand, captain of the "Deadliest Catch" crab boat Time Bandit, which doubles as a salmon tender at Bristol Bay; John Garner, vice president of top Bristol Bay processor Trident Seafoods; Katherine Carscallen, a Bristol Bay fisherman; and Bob Waldrop, executive director of the BBRSDA.
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12 comments:
I thought that we already knew that those salmon are only worth about a dollar a pound, right?
The catch-22 for the processor is that they don't really want to expose the full and truthful street/vertical value of those salmon, but, if they don't, we all stand to lose a lot more than we would otherwise.
Gotta hand it to BBRSDA for doing this...something of value.
Use my 1% to stop this Huge Open
Pit Mine from getting one drop of
clean water. Thanks to everyone that is on the side of clean water and our tasty wild salmon.
This will be a life long fight for everyone.....and generations to come....
ISER has never been independent, Gunnar Knapp, author of many papers on the salmon industry, has been in the pocket of the processors for years.
I vote to use my 1% to hire lobbyists and attorneys to attack Pebble, but unfortunately BBRSDA is only concerned with increasing the value to fisherman via quality improvements, buy-backs, etc. Raising quality is a valiant effort and benefit to all fishing families, but if Pebble plays dirty (like we know they will) and there are no fish to increase the quality of, then what? Seems to me a re-evaluation of the BBRSDA mission statement is in order. This is western Alaska's Black Swan; goals need to be adjusted.
Hey 9:08 AM, are you serious? Most of the BB-RSDA efforts have been directed at fighting Pebble. None of the 1% will go toward a buy back. The RSDA will only research the feasibility if permit holders approve it. Regarding quality improvements, that is a must if we want to compete with other sources of protein.
5:28 - If the fishery isn't profitable, then the Pebble issue will be even more attractive to those who are considering other options. So, I think the RSDA is attacking this from numerous angles. In fact the entire point of this new study is to show lower 48 Senators and Congressmen & the EPA, how important the fishery is in communities beyond Alaska.
A profitable fishery is a gold mine in and of itself, we don't need another one upstream. Get off the RSDA's back, or better yet, explain what other organization is capable of representing the fishermen to this extent?
While I don't always agree with everything they have done, I think the same can be said for all of us...so relax.
Sorry, I meant 9:08 AM
9:08 this report will be much more effective than lobbyists. Pro-Pebble folks are bragging about jobs and economic development of a mine and this report shows the same for fishing. A very serious tool for anti-Pebble efforts.
Can't use BBRSDA funds to hire lawyers or lobbyists. Read the bylaws someday.
"bylaws" are just words on paper and some corporations don't follow words on paper let alone the laws of the land.
Gunnar Knapp has no credibility and should have been run out of the state back in the 90s. If he had his way the harvesting sector of our industry would have been eliminated in order to supply the processors the cheapest salmon possible.
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