Pro-fish Peltola defeated

Alaska Democratic Congresswoman Mary Peltola, who made fish a focal point of her campaign, has lost her bid for a second term.

Republican challenger Nick Begich is the winner.

More BBRSDA news

The election closes today for salmon setnetters voting on whether to join the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association.

We're told, however, that it might be some days or even weeks before the mail-in ballots are counted and we have results.

Anyone care to predict the outcome?

Are they in or out?

Setnet permit holders will vote by mail in October on whether to pay a landings tax to join the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association.

More details in this notice of election.

Bristol Bay setnet election in sight

Bristol Bay setnetters will vote in September on whether to join the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association.

So says the BBRSDA's new annual report (PDF Page 15).

Alaska's new congresswoman

Mary Peltola has won the special election to finish out the late Congressman Don Young's term.

Looking back on the election

Here are a couple of observations from last week's general election.

First, it appears state Rep. Bill Thomas, who calls himself the only commercial fisherman in the Alaska Legislature, might have lost his seat.

The Haines Republican currently stands 43 votes behind Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, Democrat from Sitka.

State election officials still must tally absentee and question ballots.

Even if Thomas somehow rallies past his young challenger, he won't keep his powerful post as co-chair of the House Finance Committee. That's because the House majority leadership on Thursday installed Rep. Alan Austerman, R-Kodiak, as committee co-chair, with Rep. Bill Stoltze, R-Chugiak, continuing as the other co-chair.

In other action, Alaska voters handily approved a $453 million bond issue for port and other transportation projects statewide.

The bonding package includes $10 million toward a proposed expansion of the Seward Marine Industrial Center.

This is of great interest to Coastal Villages Region Fund, a fishing company operating under the federal Community Development Quota program.

Coastal has amassed quite a fleet of fishing vessels, from salmon tenders right up to the 341-foot factory trawler Northern Hawk.

Coastal wants to "Alaskanize" its operations, which would involve basing its vessels not in Seattle but in an Alaska port, specifically Seward.

But $10 million doesn't get the job done. Recent studies have shown it would take several times that much to expand Seward's port sufficiently to accommodate Coastal's full fleet.

It would appear Coastal is working to woo as large a public subsidy as possible for its fleet relocation.

And why does Deckboss make such a remark?

Here's a press release from Coastal, issued on election day last week, that includes supportive comments from Alaska's entire congressional delegation, as well as state Rep. Paul Seaton, R-Homer.

Some election afterthoughts

Another election in the can. Deckboss photo

While we wait for state officials to tally all those write-in and absentee ballots from Alaska's oddball U.S. Senate race, here are a few election notes you might have missed:

• State Rep. Alan Austerman, R-Kodiak, bagged 2,227 votes or nearly 67 percent of the total to crush Democratic challenger Terry Haines, who received 1,099 votes or 33 percent. Austerman, you might recall, was state fisheries adviser to former Gov. Frank Murkowski. Haines is a commercial fisherman and former Kodiak City Council member.

• Staying on Kodiak, looks like some major construction is coming thanks to passage of Proposition B, which asked Alaska voters whether the state should issue $397 million in bonds for a bunch of educational projects. The project list includes a new $20 million Department of Fish and Game research facility on Kodiak's Near Island.

• In Washington state, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat, narrowly won election to a fourth term, turning back Republican businessman Dino Rossi. Like Alaska's Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Murray drew hefty campaign contributions from top fishing industry players in Seattle.

Alaska's big three incumbents look like winners

Murkowski, right, sitting pretty election night. Deckboss photo

Alaska's incumbent Gov. Sean Parnell and longtime Congressman Don Young, both Republicans, cruised to apparent victory Tuesday night.

The numbers also looked favorable for U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who was forced to run as a write-in candidate after losing the Republican primary to Joe Miller.

With nearly 99 percent of precincts reporting, the write-in votes stood at 81,876 or 41 percent of the total, compared to 68,288 or 34.2 percent for Miller and 47,414 or 23.7 percent for Democrat Scott McAdams.

Barring a reversal of fortune, or a successful legal challenge from Miller, Murkowski appears to have pulled off the very rare feat of winning a Senate seat as a write-in.

McAdams goes fishing for U.S. Senate seat

All the hubbub over the still undecided Republican primary battle between Sen. Lisa Murkowski and challenger Joe Miller has overshadowed the winner among Democrats, Scott McAdams.

So who is Scott McAdams?

He's mayor of the City and Borough of Sitka. And not surprisingly for a coastal Alaskan, he's had a hand in commercial fishing.

From his website: "Scott spent his elementary years in Petersburg, and spent his young adult years working as a commercial fishing deckhand around the state. He credits these years as instilling an appreciation for hard work, as well as a deep admiration for Alaska's commercial fishing heritage."

Will Southeast gillnetters go for marketing magic?

Salmon fishermen in two parts of the state, Bristol Bay and the Copper River and Prince William Sound, have self-imposed 1 percent landings taxes to pay for regional marketing associations.

Now the 475 gillnetters in Southeast Alaska are voting on whether to also fund a regional marketing effort under the banner Rainforest Wild.

You might recall the Southeast gillnetters held an election in 2006, but the vote failed.

Rainforest Wild organizers figure each gillnetter would pay an average of $373 a year to the marketing association.

Mail-in ballots must be postmarked by June 16, so we should know shortly thereafter if the Southeast fleet goes for a marketing association this time around.

Two people who think it should are Bob Waldrop and Beth Poole, who head the Bristol Bay and Copper River/Prince William Sound marketing groups.

They wrote this essay on why regional seafood development associations make sense.