Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Peterson, Laukitis named to North Pacific Council

Alaska Gov. Bill Walker has nominated Theresa Peterson, of Kodiak, and Michael "Buck" Laukitis, of Homer, for seats on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council.

More details here.

If confirmed, Peterson and Laukitis will replace Duncan Fields, of Kodiak, and David Long, of Wasilla.

Fields has served his limit of three consecutive terms, while Long has served only one term.

A Walker spokeswoman tells Deckboss that while Long has done a good job and was considered for reappointment, the administration elected to go in a different direction with Laukitis.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Heard That the ADFG comissioner cotton asked each candidate if they would vote as he instructed even if they disagreed, and every candidate who said "no" got the boot. So lets all welcome Cottons new lackies.

Anonymous said...

Completely inaccurate statement. Commissioner Cotten asked no such thing. you "Heard" wrong.

Anonymous said...

Buckaroo who? Save the whale Peterson? Where does the Governor find these folks? Oh, Seatonville and Stutestown. Is this to sooth the expected changes on the BOF?

Anonymous said...

Two awesome nominations

Anonymous said...

2 more tools for Commissar Cotton to use in his Central Planning scheme to seize private investment and give it to the State. Long was probably acting a little too independently for the Commissar's liking so he got the boot, replaced with Michael Buchanan Laukitis, The Arizona guy who dresses up in grubby fishermen clothes and fly's up from his golf course estate in "Carefree AZ" every couple months to stand in front of the Council, call himself "Buck" and pretend he's an Alaskan who still fishes, stands ready to do exactly what Commissar Cotton instructs. And expect Commissar Cotton to use these new tools to proceed with his plan to wipe out the gulf of Alaska fishery and private investment in favor of his social engineering agenda. "Take the private investment and give to the state to distribute to the Alaskan people" is the agenda. Sound Familiar, like "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need?" Anyone wonder why you never see Cotton and Fidel Castro in the same picture?

Anonymous said...

No. I heard the same thing from an insider.

Anonymous said...

Walker adiministrarion is clueless. Choosing Cotten as commish was the first blunder. He just listens to Clem and Duncan Fields. Walker is going to be a one and done Governor and leave the council in a mess, sadly. I highly doubt Stutes was for Theresa "Linda Benken pawn" Peterson considering her husbands long time skippering of a trawl vessel.
Watch and wait as the oil budget crisis worsens and the council gets nothing done. 2018 can't come soon enough to throw Walker out the door.

Anonymous said...

@9:23 always nice the read comments from someone who knows "what's really going on". Like you obviously do. Btw...its spelled Cotten.

Anonymous said...

Expect a further squeeze on the GOA trawlers. At a minimum they are going to have to get off of the bottom.

They really have been ineffective at defending themselves, but there is an overwhelming block against them.

ND

Anonymous said...

Sam Cotton = Communist/Barack Obama/Bernie Sanders lover. He is trying to get himself a position in the Sanders administration. I bet this guy also secretly supported the ACA and donates to Planned Parenthood. Please stay far away from Wasilla.

Anonymous said...

March 11, 2016 at 9:23 AM, what a molluscan view you have from under your private rock. Obviously you have ardhon, as diminutive as it may be in the round, so to speak, for the candidates but the Buck I know has ample creds and will work for Alaska and Alaskans. That Ballard might be displeased, pleases me!

Mark Ervice
Homer.

Anonymous said...

@9:23......it is unlikely Cotten wants to seize private investment or even dilute what exists. But let us hope his agenda is to prevent the further privatization of the trawl fisheries by awarding fish in the water to individuals. This creates instant wealth through the give away of a public resource. Keep in mind that this give away will greatly benefit a single company through their direct ownership of Gulf trawlers and their indirect ownership through family affiliation.

Now, it would be nice to rationalize the trawl fisheries in a way that minimizes by catch and allows 100 percent TAC harvest. But surely this can be done without stealing from the public to benefit a few. I think this is on Cottens mind.

Anonymous said...

March 12, 2016 at 5:03 PM, and getting off the bottom is bad because why? I hope I live long enough to see an international ban on bottom trawling.

Mark E.
Homer

Anonymous said...

Wow, Carefree AZ, isn't that where ex BOF chair Johnstone lives? The fix is already in for the GOA. No doubt about it. Just what advantage is there to place a raving, unreasonable Kodiak socialist on the Council? Ridiculous! About as affective as putting Bob Penney onboard to justify sport fishing interests from state waters. Peterson is to myopic and it will be hard for her to tote the Alaska line (or net). This is a wild card who will throw the Council into more of a circus; social engineering instead of science reasoning and full utilization of the available resources. Question? How long will it take to unwind the damage that a one time Governor wreaks on our fishery management regimes?

Anonymous said...

Squeeze on GOA trawlers? What, are they going to make them eat top sirloin instead of t bones when they send a pool boat to go harvest their black cod "bycatch" with a bottom trawl. Yup, they are really getting squeezed.

Anonymous said...

Great choices.

As specified in Magnuson, preference is being given to active fishermen. Both are on the water fishermen, Alaskan's with years in the fisheries and not paid lobbists, lawyers, or politicians. They will learn quickly as everyone before them has.

Yes there are some changes coming to the Gulf Trawl fleet but nothing is being forced down their throats. There are only options being analyzed right now. A broad range of options. Also specified by law.

They will continue to make millions trawling for decades to come. They will have to do so more responsibly and maybe they will make less money, everyone else is already making less than the best of times. They will end up just fine, those fish need to be caught.

This Governor and this council is trying to solve problems that have been decades in the making. I am sure they will leave the resource better than they found it.

Anonymous said...

March 12, 2016 at 6:47 PM, I propose a Wassila bypass so the sane can minimize getting cooties (or worse) while traveling north.

Anonymous said...

Seasoned fishers? Buck yes, Peterson... I guess you are not from Kodiak. Let see how truthful... Cotten, a well seasoned(to much salt) politician. Walker... an attorney and politician(even though he says he is not actions speak louder). The lobbyists are in the wings(Fields and Bakon). The point is that the... decades in making... will not have limited success with appointees that are limited in scope and a Governor who is very challenged when it comes to the seafood industry. He relies on Cotten and that is questionable. I wonder what some ex Council folks say about working with Cotten? Can somebody answer to whether he was effective? What did he bring forward to the Council on his own? No secrets here...

Anonymous said...

What about the Amendment 80 pubic cooties 8:20, no secrets there 8:02.

"The law says you're supposed to be charging them what the value is. We haven't been doing that," Cotten said in a phone interview Friday. "They've enjoyed the undervaluation for years, and so we want to correct that."

http://www.adn.com/article/20160319/walker-administration-says-loophole-costs-14m-taxes-big-fishing-boats

Anonymous said...

The council needs members that can stand against the effort to bestow huge wealth on a privledged few trawlers. They cannot repeat the mistakes made in the Bering Sea trawl fisheries and in the statewide hook and line fisheries. In tbose, they took a public resource and privatized it. They closed off new entry and in the case of Bering Sea pollock, created an exclusive club of processors. Make no mistake, the wealth that would be created for individual trawlers in the Gulf would be multiple times any limited entry permit in value.