Monday, April 29, 2008 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CORDOVA MARINE SAFETY DAY
WHEN: THIS SATURDAY! (May 3)
TIME: 10 AM – 2 PM
WHERE: City Hall
WHAT:
* Sign up for a free dockside exam!
* Bring your survival suits for a free inspection!**
* Participate in the survival suit donning contest at 12 pm and win a grab bag of survival gear!
* Stop by Fleming Point at 2 pm for a flare demonstration! (Don’t forget to bring expired flares!)
* Stop by the Coast Guard tent to learn about safety requirements, view our ship stability model, and learn damage control skills.
Questions? Contact Ensign Leigh Dorsey at the SYCAMORE, 424-3434.
**If you can’t make it to the tent on Saturday to sign up for your dockside exam, contact Chief Hawkins at 907-225-8724 to schedule your exam.**
Sponsored by Coast Guard Cutter SYCAMORE and Coast Guard Sector Anchorage
Monday, April 14, 2008 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LEGISLATIVE UPDATES
SCR21 -
PASSED THE SENATE. PASSED THE HOUSE.
SCR 21 did pass the House. This task Force is just a shot across the bow. The Kenai River Sport Fishing Association pulled out all the stops, to get this bill passed. The task force will have to come back with something to recommend or have Legislation for next year - they have to or the task force was for nothing. CDFU needs to work on getting our Alaska members organized in the different voting Districts, to respond as a block to things like this. I'm going to meet with the all processor lobbyists to be ready for next year. UFA is going to write an action plan for future, the Sitka Herring fishery, Charter Halibut issue and Salmon issues are all heating up, which puts a lot of attention on these issues to Lawmakers.
There was a lot of misleading things said on the house floor last night, but some law maker's choose to just take the users side, not science or the habitat. The Mat-su is the fasting growing area in the state. That is a problem in itself; I just read a report on Conserving Salmon in the Mat-Su and there are Habitat problems. We live next door to this growing problem, we need to make sure we have a strong membership in Area E, so that we are ready for anything at the fall board meeting in Cordova. We need to do more PR on senior salmon day, and sport raised hatchery that we all pay for etc. CDFU should belong to the State Chamber. Before I leave Juneau there are going to be a series of meeting with UFA staff, fishermen, Legislative fish staff and myself to see what actions we need to take this fall at the UFA meeting in Anchorage, this is a Election year. See you this Spring,I hope we have a great fishing year in Area E.
HB 289 -
SPILL CLEAN-UP UNEMPLOYMENT INS EXEMPTION PASSES
Commercial fishing skippers and crew members won the short-term exemption they were seeking from unemployment insurance filing and taxes with Senate passage of HB 289, April 12. The bill, awaiting the governor's signature, allows the exemption for periods of less than seven days while participating in oil spill clean-up drills or responding to small spills. Vessels contracted for extended spill response periods would not be exempt from the UI program.
------------------------------------------------
Thanks to everyone who wrote in letters, faxes and POMS. They were effective, but apparently there was some underground threats made to several legislators. The word on the grapevine is that some of the Senators were threatened that if they voted 'No' on SCR21 their photo would appear in the ADN. In other words, they would be blacklisted from getting the vote of sportfishing constituents in the future.
Friday, April 11, 2008 11:50am -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
SENATE PASSED SCR21 - HOUSE VOTE TODAY
SCR 21 was passed in the Senate on Tuesday, and again during a reconsideration vote on Wednesday. Today it will be heard in the House of Representatives.
We need to generate as many letters as possible from individuals and organizations and if you don't have time to write and fax a letter - please use the online POM message system online form at http://www.legis.state.ak.us/poms/ .
POM form should be selected to ALL REPRESENTATIVES. If you have a good working relationship with your representative, call them now.
To find your representatives see http://w3.legis.state.ak.us/index.php .
Monday, April 7, 2008 4:50pm ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LETTERS AND POMS STILL NEEDED FOR SCR21
SCR 21 was waivered out of committee for a Senate vote this morning.
HCR 29 was introduced and directly to the House rules committee.
We need to generate as many letters as possible from individuals and organizations and if you don't have time to write and fax a letter - please use the online POM message system online form at http://www.legis.state.ak.us/poms/ .
POM form should be selected to ALL REPRESENTATIVES. If you have a good working relationship with your representative, call them now.
To find your representatives see http://w3.legis.state.ak.us/index.php .
Friday, April 4, 2008 4:50pm --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UPDATED ACTION ALERT
The hearing scheduled for 8am tomorrow (Saturday) has been postponed. Not sure why, but this is good. The longer they wait, the better off we are. That said, we should not give up - it's important our voices are heard on this issue.
Write an email to Senator Huggins or fax to: 907-465-3265. Make sure that you copy Representative Thomas and Senator Kookesh in your letters. It would be great if you could also copy UFA and CDFU on your letters.
SUBJECT: SCR 21
email: Senator Charlie Huggins - Senator_Charlie_Huggins@legis.state.ak.us
email: Senator Albert Kookesh - Albert.Kookesh@legis.state.ak.us>
email: Representative Bill Thomas - Representative_Bill_Thomas@legis.state.ak.us
Copy to: cdfu@ak.net
Copy to: ufa@ufa-fish.org
Friday, April 4, 2008 2pm--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Members of the fleet - your action is required!
A special announcement was just made on the floor that a committee hearing for the SCR21 Cook Inlet Joint Legislative Task Force will be held tomorrow (Saturday). Senator Huggins just tried to wave it through committee with a floor action but Wagoner objected and Senator Gary Stevens was sitting for Senate President Green and the motion was withdrawn after off the record discussion.
Senator Huggins then announced a meeting for 8:00 am, tomorrow morning.
He tried to sneak this one past us.
ACTION NEEDED
We need as many commercial fishermen in PWS as possible to testify against the task force formation.
IMPLICATIONS
Jerry says:
“THIS IS A SERIOUS ATTACK ON OUR INDUSTRY, ADF&G, and the BOF, and WE NEED TO SHOW UP IN NUMBERS."
“THIS IS THE START OF THE LEGISLATURE GETTING INTO THE ALLOCATION BUSINESS – YOUR AREA COULD BE NEXT”
Decisions that are currently made through public process on fishery regulations during Board of Fisheries meetings, will be handed over to legislature. This is bad news for the commercial fishery. The legislative task force plans to "examine conservation and allocation issues".
According to Mark Vinsell at UFA, contacts in ADFG fear that one passage in the resolution puts them in legal jeopardy: “WHEREAS the Board of Fisheries, in accordance with the sustainable salmon management policy, declared Susitna drainage sockeye salmon a yield stock of concern, but failed to take action to reduce the commercial harvest of those stocks; …”
This is a Cook Inlet issue - why is this important to us in Prince William Sound?
Although this is a Cook Inlet issue, SCR21 should be important to Area E fishermen as this is the kind of fall-out we can expect to see following the Board of Fisheries meeting scheduled for December 2008 in PWS. We are in a Board of Fisheries cycle year, and the Cook Inlet Board of Fisheries meeting and subsequent fallout gives us a good picture of the types of issues we can expect to see early next year. We need to prepare ourselves now, and prevent this kind of thing from happening. If this passes in Cook Inlet, we are doomed.
How do I testify?
The Cordova LIO office will be closed tomorrow. To testify, come to CDFU at 7:30am so that I can register you to speak. Please RSVP to me to let me know you will be coming. This issue is too important to sleep in and miss.
Letters are also needed – address to:
Senator Charlie Huggins, Chair, Senate Resources Committee and FAX To 907-465-3265.
SCR21 Bill Tracking:
http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?bill=SCR%2021&session=25
Your action is appreciated.
Rochelle
Thursday, April 3, 2008---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marine Refrigeration Safety, Maintenance & Troubleshooting Workshop
When: Monday April 21, 2008
Where: Ocean Beauty Cookhouse, Cordova
Time: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Instructor: Doug Short, Integrated Marine Services
Cost: $25 per person; space is limited
Registration Deadline: April 15
Contact: Torie Baker, Marine Advisory Program office, Cordova 907.424.7542 for more information.
April 29, 2008
Cordova Marine Safety Day
April 14, 2008
Legislative Updates
April 11, 2008
Senate passed SCR21 - House vote today
April 7, 2008
Letters needed for SCR21
April 4, 2008
UPDATED Action Alert
April 4, 2008
Action Alert
April 3, 2008
Marine Refrigeration Safety, Maintenance & Troubleshooting Workshop
