My wife Ginny and I send our heartfelt sympathy to all the families and friends of the crew of the Lin-J. My staff and I were overwhelmed by the news of this loss to our community. You are all in our prayers.

This year our fisheries forum at COMFISH 99 will be a little different than in years past. It will be less political and more informative and interactive. We have invited experts from various marketing perspectives to share their views of Alaska's fish in the current domestic and global marketplace. The town meeting style forum will be held in the Gerald C. Wilson Auditorium drama pod, and will be timed to include question and answer periods. Senator Jerry Mackie and I will be sharing a booth again. Please be sure to come by for a visit to talk about fish, the budget, or any other concerns that you would like to share with us.

The theme of this year's forum, "Marketing Perspectives from Around the World: A Fresh Look at Seafood," was chosen in order to focus on the positive aspects of commercial fishing in Alaska. Much of the time our attention is directed to negative factors when there are actually good things going on. This is an exciting time as industry adjusts to the changes, diversifying, refocusing, and developing inventive new market niches. Topics to be discussed include global markets, organic labeling, perceptions of wild salmon, whitefish marketing, and the Copper River Sockeye marketing program.

Salmon Forum

One of the major topics discussed at the Salmon Forum held in Anchorage on March 12th and 13th was concerning fleet reduction. Most of Alaska's fishing regions do not see the merit in implementing a buy-out/buy-back program as a way to solve management of the state's fishing resource. Bristol Bay, through its Blue Ribbon Task Force, is solely considering a buy-back. They are pursuing management via sliding scale gear reductions as well.

There is a federal area wide permit based buy-back program in the Federal Register at this time. Currently proposed regulations will make $100 million available. The Governor is responsible for requesting this loan program. He must show that the program has a socio-economic and cultural benefit to the state.

Fish Legislation

House Bill 142, introduced by Representative Gary Davis of Soldotna expands the use of an education credit derived from the fisheries business tax and the fisheries resource landing tax. This would include public, Alaskan postsecondary educational or vocational institutions accredited by a national accreditation association. Since this will take tax dollars away from the state's general fund, I would be surprised if this legislation passes.

Presidential Council

Representative Bill Hudson and I met with the Presidential Advisory Council on the Roles & Missions of the U.S. Coast Guard on March 15th. This was the day before the advisory council flew over to Kodiak to meet with various officials. Our meeting went extremely well. While it is impossible to say for sure what the final report will recommend, Representative Hudson and I left that meeting feeling that this advisory council was looking for ways to justify the expansion of the U.S. Coast Guard's role and continue to replace an aging fleet of ships and aircraft.

Questionnaire's

I have received over 350 responses so far to my 1999 constituent questionnaire. The raw numbers seem to indicate some willingness on the part of Kodiak residents to help secure Alaska's future by utilizing the undistributed interest earnings from the Permanent Fund, while preserving the integrity of the fund by not touching the principal. Under this scenario, the dividend program and inflation proofing would continue on without interruption. In addition, Kodiak seems to be willing to cap the permanent fund dividend for future distributions. Following close on the heals of these remedies to Alaska's budget crisis is support for a state sales tax. These recommendations are being echoed across the state. Most people would still like to see further reductions in the size of state government, but now realize a new form of revenue is needed to replace the income lost due to historical low oil prices and the decline of oil being pumped from the North Slope. A statewide income tax seems to be off the table for this year.

Visitors

Recent visitors stopping by were Pete Squartsoff of Port Lions, Claire Holland, Alana Tousignant and Sue Baker of Chiniak, and former Kodiak resident Joe Spicciani.