During Pacific Marine Expo 2011, AFDF helped sponsor a presentation by the Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program (MAP) regarding energy audits fishermen can accomplish by themselves on their vessels.  A workbook and other materials were developed by MAP to help fishermen find the most bang-for-the-buck when looking at reducing energy use on their vessels.

Download a workbook on energy efficiency for vessels and other materials.

SK funding from import tariffs has been collected by USDA and transferred to NOAA since the Act was passed in the 1950’s. AFDF has been the recipient of these funds in the past, which resulted in building the first shore-based Surimi plant in Kodiak.  For the last several years, NOAA has received these funds and used them as operational funds in an effort to cover shortfalls in an expanding budget.  Fisheries Development Corporations or Foundations are joining together to try and get these funds redirected back to the cooperative research programs that the Act was specifically passed to benefit.

AFDF is currently preparing the client report for the 2^nd Annual Surveillance Audit for the Marine Stewardship Council’s certification of sustainability for Pacific cod.  More than 20 companies participate to support the certification effort, and AFDF has been successful at maintaining the client requirements, and closing out the conditions on schedule according to the work plan we originally submitted.  The site visit is scheduled for May 29 – 31 @ Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle with Intertek Moody Marine and our 3 member assessment team of Drs. Jake Rice, Don Bowen and Susan Hannah.  This will be a multi-species combined site visit for pollock, flatfish and P cod, saving AFSC staff, the clients and industry considerable cost.  Thanks to Jason Anderson of Alaska Seafood Cooperative and Ed Richardson of At-Sea-Processors Association for their coordination assistance for the visit.

Salmon Certification Update

AFDF will maintain clientship for MSC certification of Alaska salmon through October 29, 2012.

Age: 41

Place of Birth: Anchorage

Home: Juneau

Family: Wife, Shannen and 2-year old son, Kai. Father, Greg Fisk of Juneau, mother Madeleine Lefebvre of Juneau

Education: Bachelors of Science in Geography, University of Oregon, 1996

Occupation: Tenderman, shrimp catcher-processor, coastal advocate/lobbyist

How did you get involved in the seafood industry? Right after college, my dad got me into a small joint venture along with a company he’d worked for to set up a shrimp trawling catcher processor. I tagged along with him to look at one of the 58’ Deltas that had been purchased by the Mexican government. We went down to Ensenada where I got to practice my Spanish and try ceviche for the first time. We ended up buying the boat, taking it to the Delta yard in Seattle, and we spent a long nine months converting and upgrading it. My first job was to clear out the old mussel shells that somehow had found a way under the galley cupboards and scare a few rats off the boat! When we were done it was a brand new vessel, with major modifications. In the long run the project didn’t work out, but it was a hell of an intro to shipyard work and the fishing industry, and we sure learned a lot.

What fisheries have you been involved in since? In ’98 I worked on the Cape Caution, a Norquest tender/crabber and saw the whole coast in four months from Coos Bay to St. Matthew Island, with many stops in between. The following year I got aboard a local boat, the Steadfast, in Juneau and went seining (skiff man), crabbing, and longlining for black cod and halibut. I bought a small block of halibut when I was still crewing. I drove skiff one season on the Owyhee in 2003, when pinks were down at $.09/lb, but still made good money. Since 2004, I’ve been co-owner of the 56’ Morgan Anne with a friend of mine, and have primarily been skipper for our annual tendering contract with Alaska Glacier Seafoods in Southeast ever since. I’ve also been involved in shrimping for spot prawns with pots since 1999, and have the boat set up as a catcher/processor. I direct market my frozen-at-sea prawns, mostly to local markets. It’s a small fishery, but nonetheless is important to my bottom line.

How did you become interested in the political side of the business? I guess I’ve always thought being politically involved is important. My parents raised me that way. Growing up down the street from the Legislature I always thought maybe I’d work there some day. It’s been since winter of ‘98 that I’ve worked there as a staffer to four different coastal legislators. Eventually I became a lobbyist, working on municipal, hatcheries, and fishing industry issues. It’s completely different from boat work, but it’s been interesting. Like fishing, every year is different. Basically I advocate for things that are important to the coastal economy.

Why are fish politics important to follow? Well, I’d say that its every citizens duty to pay attention, even if it’s not always fun. The system breaks when no one pays attention or takes the time to think about how our regulatory environment should operate. It can be frustrating at times, but think about the alternatives! The seafood industry, and coastal communities that depend on it, need to be organized and should raise their voices. As Alaska changes, we are going to continue to be marginalized if we don’t participate.

What do you see as the biggest challenges facing the seafood business in Alaska? Fuel dependency and high costs are certainly #1. All the gains we’ve made in marketing can be eaten away by our fuel situation. It’s tough because we’re in such a dependent situation, with no ability to control the costs. Alaska’s fuel situation is upside down. We’re a huge domestic oil supplier, yet we don’t refine it and depend on a goofy transportation system to access the resource. We depend mostly on the oil industry to fund our big projects, like harbors and airports that our businesses depend on. Yet the state takes the oil it owns collectively and allows it to be refined in Washington then shipped back up here. That’s never made any sense, and I think the State got it partially wrong at the beginning of oil development by not insisting on using some of it’s royalty share to supply in-state needs. Now we have unsustainable communities in many places. The industry will be on the edge of profitability if we don’t recognize our dependency.

In terms of marketing, Alaska does a terrific job of generic marketing and we have to continue to support ASMI. Keeping our name at the top of the list requires constant effort. You don’t just build it up and walk away.

So controlling fuel cost and maintaining and enhancing market recognition and price are the keys to profitability in our business as a whole.  Each individual fishery has it’s own challenges with regulations, allocation etc. So it’s important for fishermen and processors to be involved at the micro and macro level when looking into the future of the industry.

How does AFDF fit into the picture? AFDF is a unique organization that I’m proud to have been a part of for ten years. Ideally, we’d have a much bigger budget, and like all non-profits, that’s challenging. What we can do is work on opportunities that individual companies and fishermen either can’t or won’t take on by themselves, and that the government isn’t set up to do. We provide a voice from a cross section of the industry, from the big companies to individual owner/operators. We look to put together projects that can direct the industry towards new opportunities, like making profitable products from seafood processing waste. Right now, focusing on fuel efficiency is one of our biggest areas of interest. There are a lot of ideas out there, and we want to help the industry figure out how to make vessels as cost-efficient as possible. That’s the first step, and the bigger goal should be energy independence for the fleet. I think we have to think big and think long-term. I’d like to see us creating our own sources of biofuel and transitioning away from petroleum in the next 25 years. AFDF is the kind of R&D driven entity that can do that, by putting together the right teams of people to tackle things that can’t be done alone. It’s important that the process be driven by industry.

It starts by looking at Alaska as a Seafood Nation, and comparing our R&D investment to what other nations are doing. We’re behind, and we need to catch up.

At this meeting, you have the unique opportunity to learn from the scientists who are conducting leading-edge research in nutrition and fatty acids.  New findings in omega-3 nutrition and other nutritional fats will be presented.  The program includes new discoveries and evidence on the relationship between fatty acids in chronic disease, as well as findings in metabolism, analytical methods, novel food sources and more. Emerging ideas and current controversies will be discussed.  For more information, see the program on the website.

Register now for this special and rare opportunity taking place in our part of the world, in beautiful Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Program website: http://www.issfal2012.com/index.html  or www.issfal2012.com.

This information is shared with you by Gretchen Vannice, MS, RD, a nutrition research consultant specializing in omega-3 fatty acid education, training and research. Ms. Vannice recently authored Omega-3 Handbook, A Ready Reference Guide for Health Professionals, an easy-to-use reference on omega-3s from food and supplements available at www.omega3handbook.com.  Ms. Vannice is based in Portland, Oregon and can be reached at rd@omega3rd.com (email) or 503-281-4287 (phone/fax).

The Symphony’s winning products were a big hit at the International Boston Seafood Show; these included the Grand Prize winner, Kylee’s Alaskan Salmon Bacon by Tustamena Smokehouse, and Category winners, Tracy’s Alaskan King Crab Bisque by Tracy’s King Crab Shack, Sweet Potato Crunch Alaska Pollock Sticks by American Pride Seafoods, and Aqua Cuisine’s Naturally Smoked Salmon Franks by Aqua Cuisine Inc. There was significant “buzz” around our booth in Boston drawing seafood buyers, natural food enthusiasts, our Senators Lisa Murkowski and Mark Begich, as well as Alaska Governor Sean Parnell.

AFDF wishes to thank our sponsors in particular for their increased support for 2012, since this is the first year that the Symphony has been conducted without grant funding in the last 10 years or more. Our regular industry supporters increased their level of sponsorship and other companies associated with seafood stepped up to add to their support. See a complete list of sponsors and their logos at http://www.symphonyofseafood.com/sponsors.html.

We would also like to thank Ms. Fish, Laine Welch, for emceeing our Gala Soiree in Anchorage and Val Motley & Amy Barnes of Fundraising Partners Northwest, our event planners that have helped AFDF put on the Alaska Symphony of Seafood for 10 years now. Thank you all.

We will be contacting companies soon to request sponsorships for our 20th Anniversary Alaska Symphony of Seafood in 2013, and we hope to make it even a bigger celebration of new seafood products Alaska’s precious, valuable and sustainable fisheries resources!

Press Release

AFDF has received letters from eight major primary salmon processors advising AFDF they are phasing out their financial support for the Marine Stewardship Council salmon certification program. Collectively these processors account for approximately 72% of the Alaska salmon harvest. They have given us notice they will support the MSC program for Alaska salmon only through October of 2012, when the current certificate expires. The eight processors include Trident Seafoods, Icicle Seafoods, Ocean Beauty Seafoods, Peter Pan Seafoods, Alaska General Seafoods, E & E Foods, Kwikpak Fisheries and North Pacific Seafoods.

The current MSC certificate is valid through October 29, 2012. It’s important to note that all Alaska salmon harvested during the 2012 fishing season will remain eligible to carry the MSC logo and be sold as certified as long as the participating entities maintain valid MSC Chain of Custody certification. However, the 2nd Recertification that AFDF just initiated with Intertek Moody Marine (IMM) would need to be completed in order to continue the MSC certification beyond October 29, 2012.

AFDF was asked to take over the clientship for MSC certification of Alaska salmon in December 2009, after Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced in July of 2008 that they would no longer carry out the duties required of the client. The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute considered picking up the clientship for a time, but voted in December 2009 to delay a final decision by their Board of Directors. At industry’s request, AFDF investigated the level of support on the part of the primary salmon processors and found virtually unanimous industry support for retention of MSC certification for Alaska salmon, and AFDF became the client in February 2010.

Clearly the level of industry support for MSC certification has changed substantially since 2010. After receiving letters from the aforementioned eight Alaska Salmon Processors, the AFDF Board of Directors met January 16 to consider its best course of action. Lacking substantial industry support for continuing MSC salmon certification beyond October 29, 2012, the Board was compelled to comply with the requests of its major clientship sponsors and instructed AFDF Executive Director, Jim Browning, to proceed only with those actions necessary to maintain the MSC certification of Alaska Salmon through October 29, 2012.

We understand the course change by Alaska Salmon processors and the subsequent vote by the AFDF Board may come as a surprise to other Alaska salmon processors and members of the Alaska-North Pacific commercial fishing industry. However, the message from major sponsors was clear, and swift Board action was necessary to resolve the issue and quell speculation and confusion in the salmon market.

While individual companies requested their letters be held confidential, their reasons for announcing their phased pullout note that MSC certification has been welcome and valuable for more than a decade. MSC has offered independent affirmation of what the Alaska industry and fishery managers have held since statehood: that Alaska salmon fisheries are sustainably managed. However, the majority of these processors now feel it is time to redirect their resources toward a broader marketing message.

AFDF passes no judgment on the rationale expressed by individual processors. The board of AFDF voted in favor of taking on the clientship for Alaska salmon based on the strong mandate of a broad cross-section of the Alaska salmon industry. With the present erosion of that mandate the Foundation will not maintain MSC salmon certification beyond October 29, 2012.

Therefore, AFDF will continue its work as MSC salmon client only to the extent that it meets the obligations necessary to ensure that the 2012 Alaska Salmon harvest remains eligible to carry the MSC logo. This will allow Alaska salmon processors and Alaska salmon customers who maintain their Chain of Custody certificates adequate time to transition their packaging and marketing messages to reflect the absence of MSC certification in the future.

It is important to emphasize that the transition away from MSC certification of Alaska Salmon IN NO WAY affects the ongoing MSC certification of Pacific Cod in the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands or the Gulf of Alaska. As fishery client of record for those Pacific Cod fisheries, AFDF will continue to represent its industry sponsors and take all action necessary to maintain certification and recertification of the Pacific Cod fisheries without restriction.

Please do not hesitate to call me directly if you have further questions about MSC certification of Alaska Salmon or Pacific Cod.

Yours truly,

James Browning, Executive Director – AFDF • 907 276-7315

Printable Version of this Press Release

 Al Burch, AFDF Board Member # 1

…Decades of service and sage advice

“Here’s the Marigold, our first commercial shrimp boat,” says Al Burch, taking a stroll down Memory Lane in his Kodiak office, cluttered with all manner of memorabilia. “It was built in 1898 as a sailing yacht. It was owned by Rex Beach (author of The Silver Horde) at one time, and silent film actress Clara Bow. When we bought it, we converted to one of the first shrimp boats. That had to be 1959. Eventually we had the Marigold, the Celtic, the Endeavor and the Vida.”

“But the old Marigold, everything on her was done by hand. No hydraulics whatsoever…chain drive. You’d split the tow with a gypsy (deck winch) and haul over the side. There was lots and lots of handwork, and lots of hours. Everything had to be washed first. You’d pick out the scrap fish and then put the shrimp in the hold, shovel by shovel for three cents a pound.”

Clara Bow may have been a silent actress, but Al Burch, a founding board member of the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation has rarely been silent during a fishing and fish “politicking” career that has spanned more than half a century. Starting as a shrimp dragger in Seward with his brother Oral in 1959, Burch was an innovator by necessity. Testifying before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Fisheries Conservation and Wildlife and Oceans in May of 1999, Burch noted, “During those early years we did whatever we could to keep the boat busy: a little crab, shrimp, salmon, halibut, charters, seals and sea lion reduction. In those days there was a bounty on harbor seals and the bounty helped put food on the table.”

Al first came to Alaska in 1946 at the age of 10. His brother Oral had been stationed in Alaska during WWII and took his discharge there. Oral convinced his mother to bring his brothers Al and Bill up from Montana to see what Alaska was all about. They moved up to Seward permanently in 1954, after Al’s father passed away. Al graduated from high school in Seward in 1955, and the town was his home and homeport until Mother Nature rearranged the landscape.

The earthquake of ’64 destroyed the Celtic and his operation in Seward, and he moved to Kodiak. During the next decade, the local shrimp and crab fisheries declined below harvestable levels, and the federal bounty on seals was buried deep in the history books. But as shrimp were tailing off, cod and pollock began showing up in the nets as the ocean temperature warmed and groundfish stocks increased dramatically. So Al and Oral rolled with the tide, and outfitted two draggers, the Dusk and the Dawn to pioneer the local trawl fisheries.

At the same time he was working the gear, Al was working the Alaska Congressional delegation to fight for and implement the Magnuson-Stevens Act of 1976 and move the foreign fleets beyond the 200-mile EEZ. He fished joint ventures, delivering to foreign floating processors during the transition to Americanization, but he’s always remained true to the Kodiak community, supporting the local shorebased trawl fleet through the Alaska Draggers Association (now the Alaska Whitefish Trawlers Association) and working to develop the capacity of shorebased operations to process groundfish and surimi and to develop what was once considered “fish waste” into valuable by-products. That was the genesis of AFDF, working to prove that Americans could catch and process groundfish in order to wrestle a portion of the allocation away from foreign entities.

“We started holding meetings in 1977,” Burch recalled. ” We incorporated in May of 1978, and by the end of June we received $1.45 million from S-K.”

With the help of that federal Saltonstall-Kennedy funding, Al and AFDF brought in the first Baader 182 filleting machine and opened the door to for pollock and surimi processing on Alaskan soil. A list of more than 75 of those projects, along with associated reports and videos is available on the AFDF website: http://www.afdf.org/projects/past-projects.

In addition to being a founding member of the AFDF board, Al served as a member of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council’s Advisor Panel for 30 years.

Inducted into the United Fishermen of Alaska’s Seafood Hall of Fame in 2009, Al said, “It was great. I’ve been working for the fisheries for 35 years now, and you never know if people understand or care what you’re doing.”

Still sitting on the AFDF board and working to improve technology and understanding in the Alaska commercial fishing industry, Al Burch can be certain that a lot of folks understand his grit, determination and vision. And it’s a safe bet they care about Al, too.

–Submitted by John van Amerongen, Trident Seafoods

Judging event and reception for our 19th Annual Alaska Symphony of Seafood new products contest will be held in Seattle on Thursday, February 2, 2012, followed by Gala Soirée and Awards Ceremony in Anchorage on Friday, February 10, 2012.

The event’s multiple locations give fisheries and seafood promoters the opportunity to introduce new and innovative value-added seafood products from Alaska fisheries and gain exposure with industry and culinary experts, seafood distributors, and national media. The overall goal is to inspire better use and innovation of Alaska’s natural seafood resources.

We are proud to announce that we will be putting on the 19th Annual Alaska Symphony of Seafood this year in Seattle and Anchorage. We’ve had to rely on industry sponsorship to a much greater degree this year as grant funding has declined, and we’ve seen our regular sponsors increase their sponsorship level as well as new companies step up to support this popular and successful event featuring new Alaska seafood products!

Each participant in the contest is grouped into one of three categories: Retail (salmon, whitefish or shellfish), Foodservice (salmon, whitefish or shellfish) or Smoked Products. Product entries are then individually evaluated by a panel of expert judges during a private judging session. Evaluations are based on the product’s packaging and presentation, overall eating experience, price and potential for commercial success. After the judges are finished reviewing and tasting the products, the chefs, manufacturers, buyers, sellers and media are also invited to vote on their favorite product at the Seattle reception. This “Seattle People’s Choice Award” will be announced at the end of the event in Seattle on February 2, 2012.

The overall grand prize, first, second and third place winners of each category are kept confidential until February 10th, when the results are announced at the Gala Soirée in Anchorage, Alaska. The “Anchorage People’s Choice Award” will also be announced. First place winners from each category receive complimentary booth space at the International Boston Seafood Show in March 2012, the industry’s biggest event of the year, as well as free airfare to and from the show.

The Seattle reception is by invitation only in recognition of Seattle’s role in the fishing industry and its many friends in the market, transportation and service sectors.

Call for Products is now available online at http://www.symphonyofseafood.com. The deadline for consideration in this year’s competition is Friday, January 6, 2012. Considered products must be market ready (in commercial production) by the date of the competition.

Time is running out to become a Sponsor of this coveted industry event! To inquire about available sponsorships, contact Val Motley before January 15th (val@symphonyofseafood.com or 206-352-3922).

By James Browning

This act directs the Secretary of Agriculture to transfer annually to the Secretary of Commerce, from funds made available under the terms of section 32 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act (7 U.S.C. 612c) an amount equal to 30 percent of the gross receipts from customs duties collected on fisheries products. Such funds are to be maintained in a separate fund and used by the Secretary for three purposes.

First is to promote the free flow of domestically-producted fishery products by conducting a fishery educational service, and technological, biological and related research programs; for this purpose the funds may he used for purchase, acquisition, construction, equipping, operation and maintenance of vessels or other facilities for conducting the research authorized.

Second, funds may be used to develop and increase markets for domestic fishery products.

Finally, funds are available under the act to conduct biological, technological or other research pertaining to American fisheries.

The Secretary is directed to cooperate with appropriate agencies of federal state and local government, private agencies, organizations and individuals having an interest in fisheries in carrying out the activities authorized by the act.”

Additional S-K Act Information

The Saltonstall-Kennedy Act established a fund that, among other things, has supported fishery research and development projects, with funding awarded annually on a competitive basis. Recent NOAA has been using these collected funds as operational funds instead of allocating them to the competitive process for awarding funding for industry projects.

The Saltonstall-Kennedy (S-K) Act, as amended (15 U.S.C. §713c-3), established a fund (known as the S-K Fund) that the Secretary of Commerce uses to finance projects and cooperative agreements for fishery research and development. Under this authority, projects or cooperative agreements are selected annually on a competitive basis to assist NOAA Fisheries (previously known as the National Marine Fisheries Service) in addressing concerns related to U.S. commercial and recreational fisheries. The S-K Fund is capitalized through annual transfers under a permanent appropriation to the Secretary of Commerce of 30% of the gross receipts collected by the Secretary of Agriculture under the customs laws on imports of fish and fish products.

The objective of the S-K program is to address the needs of fishing communities in providing economic benefits for rebuilding and maintaining sustainable fisheries, and in dealing with the impacts of conservation and management measures. The S-K program has become very important in addressing issues of immediate concern to the commercial fishing industry, by producing many new gear innovations, markets, and management options. Issues addressed have included fish harvesting, seafood quality improvements, domestic and foreign market development, efficiency and productivity improvements, and the costs/profitability of potential fishing industry investments.

2011 AFDF Update on S-K Funds

The letter below represents AFDF’s most recent efforts in getting congressional action on returning this funding source the Alaskan fishing industry.

Read AFDF S-K Letter