Alaska Fish Board Sets New Meeting Dates; Status of New Seats Unclear Seafood News by Laine Welch - October 21, 2020 This is Alaska Fish Radio. I’m Laine Welch –The Board of Fish sets new meeting dates. More after this- The Alaska Marine Safety Education Association provides Coast Guard accepted Drill Conductor and other training for fishermen across Alaska. Learn more at amsea.org Did you know that eating wild and sustainable Alaska seafood can boost your immune system? Learn more about Alaska seafood’s many proven nutritional benefits at www.wildalaskaseafood.com. The state Board of Fisheries has set the dates for meetings bumped from later this year to next spring due to Covid virus concerns. The dates for hatchery and shellfish meetings remain the same; Prince William Sound and Southeast fish issues are moved to spring. Board director, Glenn Haight, has the breakdown - Current lineup is March 4 for the hatchery committee, March 5 – 10 statewide shellfish. Those are the same dates. The PWS meeting has been rescheduled to March 30-april 5– and SE/Yak April 17-29. The plan is to hold in person meeting including at Cordova and Ketchikan, Haight says, while carefully monitoring Covid threats that could lead to unaccounted for costs. “Probably the biggest unknown is what happens if we’re in the meetings and participants get sick. Certainly, the ones that we are accountable for- staff, board members, committee members. Those could lead to costs if a number of people are forced to quarantine in a hotel out of their own community. And it’s possible if an outbreak occurs, that the meeting is over. There are certain people we can’t conduct the meeting without and it could be that it’s all lost.” While nothing can replace meeting face to face, Haight says the response to Zoom meetings has been positive and it is easy to bring in experts from far away to participate. “It was kind of nice to see how easy it was to bring in subject matter experts out of nowhere. If you’re meeting in Anchorage, for instance, you’re not going to be able to bring in our regional subsistence expert from Fairbanks. But all of a sudden when we got to that point in the meeting, there she was available for questions if they came up. So it has some features that you can do a bit more with sometimes.” Meanwhile, four fish board seats are being warmed by people not yet approved by the Alaska legislature. The same holds true for governor appointees to 137 boards and commissions. “Our (Natural resources) attorney general Aaron Peterson provided an update. At this point they don’t have a solid answer and he was going to get back to the board on that. It’s top of mind – it’s not just BOF, it’s all of the boards and commissions appointments that have been made. It’s a lot of individuals. So it’s very concerning for the state and they are looking into it.” Haight says the Fish Board will take up 275 proposals in its upcoming meeting cycle. “Yeah, and you know what? We’re just going to see what happens with this year and hopefully things will settle down enough so we can get these proposals done.” https://www.seafoodnews.com/Story/1183438/Fish-Board-Sets-New-Meeting-Dates-Status-of-New-Seats-Unclear Environment/Science EVOSTC Considers Plan Incorporating Ecosystem Approach to Oil Spill Boundary Fishermen's News - October 21, 2020 The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council is taking public comment through Dec. 16 on four draft resolutions, including one for an ecosystem approach to address a broader spectrum of ecological impacts from the 1989 oil spill disaster in Alaska’s Prince William Sound. http://fnonlinenews.blogspot.com/2020/10/evostc-considers-plan-incorporating.html Labeling and Marketing Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute: Marketing Update Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute - October 2020 All Hands on Deck - November 10-13, 2020, Alaska Direct Marketers Survey: Complete by Nov 1., ASMI Ramps Up #Seafood Sunday Campaign for National Seafood Month, New Alaska Seafood Recipes Target Foodservice Operators, Alaska Seafood Recipes Featured in New eMise Cookbook, #SeafoodSunday with Chef Joe Sasto... https://myemail.constantcontact.com/ASMI-Update-October-2020--Register-now-for-All-Hands-On-Deck--New-Foodservice-Recipes--Direct-Marketer-Survey-Deadline.html?soid=1101064654189&aid=k_MaX49lQvo Federal Register North Pacific Fishery Management Council; Public Meeting A Notice by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on 10/21/2020 The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) Bering Sea Fishery Ecosystem Plan Local Knowledge, Traditional Knowledge, and Subsistence Taskforce will be held November 9, 2020 through November 10, 2020. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/10/21/2020-23324/north-pacific-fishery-management-council-public-meeting FYI’s Federal Fisheries Council Settles in for Long Term Virtual Meetings During Pandemic Fishermen's News - October 21, 2020 Federal fisheries managers bracing for the continuing spread of the novel coronavirus are now planning to hold three meetings normally held in December in Anchorage, February in Seattle and again in Anchorage in April in a virtual format. http://fnonlinenews.blogspot.com/2020/10/federal-fisheries-council-settles-in.html
Pacific Seafood Processors Association 1900 W Emerson Place Suite 205, Seattle, WA 98119 Phone: 206.281.1667 E-mail: admin@pspafish.net; Website: www.pspafish.net Our office days/hours are Monday-Friday 8:00 A.M. - 5:00 P.M. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. *Inclusion of a news article, report, or other document in this email does not imply PSPA support or endorsement of the information or opinion expressed in the document.