Juneau watch

Gov. Mike Dunleavy has vetoed Senate Bill 156 providing for a temporary state investment in the struggling Alaska Commercial Fishing and Agriculture Bank.

The bill garnered near unanimous support from legislators, and United Fishermen of Alaska also supported it.

More from Juneau

The state House has passed a bill to help fishermen form insurance cooperatives.

House Bill 116 addresses "a growing crisis in the commercial fishing sector: the soaring cost and declining availability of vessel insurance," says this press release from the Alaska House Majority Coalition. "Traditional insurers have increasingly raised premiums and refused coverage for older vessels, making it difficult for many small operators to stay in business."

Some insurance pools already operate in Alaska, but they're based in Washington state, the sponsor statement for HB 116 says.

The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration.

Juneau watch

Legislators are considering House Bill 199 to help the Alaska Commercial Fishing and Agriculture Bank better compete with the state in making loans.

This sponsor statement explains.

Juneau watch

House Bill 129, which would expand a fisheries tax credit encouraging value-added products, is up for a legislative hearing tomorrow.

The bill has attracted a number of supporters:

Canfisco Group

Pacific Seafood Processors Association

Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association

More from Juneau

Interesting bills are dropping at the request of the legislative task force evaluating the state's troubled seafood industry.

We'll update this post as bills are introduced.

House Bill 116 — Commercial fishing insurance co-ops

House Bill 117 — Set gillnet co-ops

House Bill 129 — Fisheries product development tax credit

Senate Bill 135 — Sharing of fish tax revenue with municipalities

Juneau watch

The legislative task force examining the economic crisis gripping the Alaska seafood industry has posted its final report, which makes quite a few recommendations.

Will any of these recommendations ever be implemented? Would they make a difference?

Don't be shy! Read the 21-page report and post your opinion here on Deckboss.

Legislative task force to meet again this week

Details in this press release.

Five things to watch

As we enter the new year, we're looking for big news on multiple fronts. Here's a handful of items worth tracking.

• The National Marine Fisheries Service has a Jan. 11 deadline for completing a status review of Gulf of Alaska Chinook salmon. NMFS began the review after the Wild Fish Conservancy petitioned for listing under the Endangered Species Act.

• The halibut stock is struggling, and we'll get a new read on the situation when the International Pacific Halibut Commission convenes its annual meeting Jan. 27-31 in Vancouver, B.C. "Harvest limits in Alaska will all likely be reduced in 2025," the Fishing Vessel Owners' Association reports in its most recent newsletter. Bob Alverson is association's manager and an IPHC commissioner.

• What will become of the huge King Cove processing plant? The facility was idled with the financial collapse of Peter Pan. Last we heard, a working group was considering the plant's future.

• The legislative task force evaluating the Alaska seafood industry's economic troubles has been meeting since summer. Will anything substantive come of this effort? The Alaska Legislature begins a new session on Jan. 21.

• Inauguration day for Donald Trump is Jan. 20, and a new president is always consequential for the fishing industry. We're eager to see who the administration names to lead NMFS. And Trump's vow to impose sweeping tariffs could have a major impact on the seafood business.

Seafood industry task force to meet again

Here's a press release with details.

Seafood task force to meet Wednesday, Thursday

Here are details including the lineup of speakers.

Reviewing an industry in distress

Here's a summary of this week's meeting of the legislative task force on Alaska's struggling seafood business.

Legislature to the rescue?

The legislative task force evaluating the economic troubles facing Alaska's seafood industry is meeting this week, with the second and final session set for tomorrow. Alaska Fish and Game Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang and others are scheduled to make presentations.

For more information, check out the task force website.

Task force reportedly gets to work

The legislative task force on Alaska's seafood industry has begun its work, holding its first meeting recently. That's according to one of the members, Sen. Jesse Kiehl, D-Juneau.

To our knowledge, no public notice of the meeting was given, which is disappointing.

Kiehl, in his latest newsletter, wrote the following about the task force:

Alaska's seafood industry is in crisis. That's an ugly phrase, but it's no exaggeration. Processors are closing, fishing families are paying more for fuel than the value of the fish they catch, salmon numbers are below projections, and halibut and crab stocks aren't healthy. Low prices, international competition, and poor markets all compound the problems. High interest rates make weathering the storm harder than usual.

Alaskans know how vital our fisheries are — seafood is a huge sector of our economy, a critical natural resource, and an essential part of our way of life. This year the legislature passed SCR 10, creating a task force similar to one from the early 2000s, when the salmon industry looked bleak. We had slightly different issues to work on back then, but a series of changes the task force suggested helped the state's single largest employer bounce back.

I'm proud to report Senate President Gary Stevens appointed me to the new Seafood Industry Task Force. We had our first meeting last week, where we hammered out a schedule for our work on solutions for the industry.

We'll meet with fishing families and stakeholders, communities and financial types. This effort will need all hands on deck, so if you have ideas I'd love to hear from you, too. Come next session, we want to be ready with serious, impactful legislation to help Alaska seafood businesses get back on their feet.

Legislative task force membership named

Eight state legislators have been appointed as members of a special task force established to address the "economic peril" swirling around the seafood industry.

Here's an Alaska Senate Majority press release with details.

'It is critical that we take action now'

The congressionally mandated Alaska Salmon Research Task Force has released its final report.

Juneau watch

The Alaska Senate on Friday passed a resolution establishing a Joint Legislative Seafood Industry Task Force.

The House will now take up the resolution, with a hearing set for 10 a.m. Tuesday in the Special Committee on Fisheries.

The task force would address the "economic crisis" now facing the state's seafood industry.

Fishermen are facing hardship, the resolution says, noting that "numerous seafood processing facilities are for sale, closing or planning to shut down for a portion, or all of, the 2024 fishing season."

As currently written, the resolution calls for a task force of 16 members including legislators, commercial seafood harvesters, processors, coastal community representatives and others.

The seafood industry fishes for help

Efforts in Juneau to create a Joint Legislative Seafood Industry Task Force suggest serious difficulty in the fishing business as the new salmon season approaches.

The Senate resolution establishing the task force says "considerable changes in the global salmon market in recent years have placed the state's seafood industry in economic peril."

In recent months, we've received numerous signals of industry distress not only on the salmon side but in other fisheries as well. And we've seen extraordinary actions such as companies publicly putting assets up for sale.

All these signs portend a potential price crash for commercial fishermen this year.

The task force resolution is set for a hearing at 9 a.m. Thursday in the powerful Senate Finance Committee.

Deckboss understands the task force idea has the backing of the state's two flagship industry organizations — United Fishermen of Alaska and the Pacific Seafood Processors Association.

Such a task force is reminiscent of the Joint Legislative Salmon Industry Task Force that operated from 2002 to 2004.

What is the industry looking to get out of this latest task force?

A PSPA position paper currently making the rounds suggests a number of state actions including low-interest loans and loan guarantees for seafood processors via the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority. It also suggests loan concessions for fishermen and hatcheries.

Juneau watch

A Senate resolution was introduced today establishing a Joint Legislative Seafood Industry Task Force.

NMFS announces salmon task force members

Here's the news release.

Bycatch task force report is out!

Gov. Mike Dunleavy just announced the release of the final report from his Alaska Bycatch Review Task Force.