Hello All

Hello All,

The Salmon Task Force met on September 14th and 15th for the first time this interim. During that meeting, new members were welcomed to the Task Force and there were some slight changes made to the subcommittee structure. The Task Force added a hatchery subcommittee and merged the Marketing and Quality subcommittees. Senator Ben Stevens is the Chair of the Hatchery Subcommittee and Senator Gary Stevens and Senator Kim Elton will Co-Chair the Marketing/Quality subcommittee. Due to the amount of members on the "old" Marketing and Quality subcommittees, both Senator Stevens and Senator Elton choose a handful of members from each subcommittee to serve. However, they would like everyone that was involved last year to still participate if they are willing and available. Following is the Official Marketing/Quality Subcommittee list:

Senator Gary Stevens, Co-Chair
Senator Kim Elton, Co-Chair
Representative Paul Seaton
John Lowrance
Robin Samuelsen
Sam Cotten
Steve Grabacki
Greg Favretto
Bob Waldrop
Dale Kelley
Kevin Adams
Jim Yonker

With the combination of the two subcommittees, following is our list of subcommittee assets:

Cheryl Cummings, Marketing Director, Alaska Manufacturers’ Association
Quentin Fong, Kodiak Fisheries Industry Technology Center
Mark Vinsel, United Fishermen of Alaska
Glenn Haight, Fisheries Specialist, DCED
Kathy Hansen, Southeast Alaska Fisherman’s Alliance
Erin Harrington, United Salmon Association
Mark Herrmann, Dept. of Economics, UAF
Jill Klein, Yukon River Drainage Fisheries Association
Gunnar Knapp, UAA Institute of Social & Economic Research
Gail Marshall, Phoenix Food Consulting
Chris McDowell, McDowell Group
Ray Riutta, ASMI
Bruce Schactler, United Fishermen of Alaska Marketing Committee
Kellus Sewell
Jeff Stephan, United Fishermen’s Marketing Association, Inc.
Carrie Sykes, Tlingit & Haida Central Council
Paul Dale, Snug Harbor Seafoods
Eric Rosvold, Petersburg
Pat Shanahan, Shanahan Strategic Planning & Communications
Brandii Olsen, Kenai
Eric Jordan, Sitka
Margy Johnson, Director, Division of Trade & Development, DCED
Alan Austerman, Fisheries Policy Advisor, Office of the Governor
Duncan Fields, Task Force Member

The Marketing/Quality Subcommittee met for the first time last Friday, October 3rd, via teleconference. Following is a brief run down of what occurred at that meeting.

*    Subcommittees members gave a brief introduction of themselves
*    Senator Stevens explained that he would take the lead on changes to ASMI and Senator Elton will take the lead on all other issues that come
      before this subcommittee
*    Senator Stevens gave a briefing on what took place at the ASMI Board meeting that he attended on Sept. 29th & 30th
*    Senator Stevens then outlined areas of ASMI that he will be looking into, such as:

                1.    Allowing regional groups to sub-contract with ASMI's overseas
                       offices
                2.    The size of the Board and how Board members are selected
                3.     Reviewing the mission of ASMI
                4.     Looking at the various sources of funding
                5.     Allowing the processors to increase their
                        tax assessment to .5% instead of .3%
                6.     Broadening the tax base by adding an assessment
                        on mariculture? hatcheries?
                7.     Equity - look at the revenues that come in and where they
                        are going. Should there be a correlation between the dollars
                        collected vs. dollars spent?
                8.     Look at easing the restrictions and oversight by DCED since
                        no state dollars are appropriated to ASMI
                9.     Matching grants?
                10.   Possibility of rotating co-ops for the sale of seafood at
                        trade shows
                11.   Have the 1% harvester assessment go to the regional
                        marketing organizations instead of ASMI, then backfill that
                        loss of funds with federal funds

*    Senator Stevens then went over the meeting schedule. The subcommittee will meet face-to-face on October 28th
      in Juneau from 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.. At that time, ASMI will come to the subcommittee with changes that they
      would like to see. In addition, Senator Elton would like to discuss a direct marketing bill that he is in the process
      of drafting.
*    Senator Stevens has also scheduled a face-to-face subcommittee hearing on November 21st and 22nd in Seattle
     during Fish Expo. The meeting on the 21st will be from 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. and will consist of a public hearing to
     discuss draft legislation. The meeting on the 22nd will be from 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m., at which time the
     subcommittee will discuss the public comments that were received and decide which pieces of legislation to move
     forward with or change.

Please let me know if you are still interested in participating. If so, I will keep you on this e-mail list and will be sure to keep you posted on the activities of
this subcommittee. The meeting on October 28th will be teleconferenced. If you are here in Juneau, we will be meeting in the Capitol Building in the House Finance Room, or you can call 463-5073 from your office. If you are not in Juneau, please call 1-888-263-1555 to be hooked in.

Thank you for your willingness to participate. If you have any comments or questions, please let me know. You can e-mail me or call me at 465-4925.

Katrina Matheny, Aide
Senator Gary Stevens