Fisheries

Southeast Alaska’s maritime economy provides more than a quarter of the wages paid in the region. That’s according to a new study published by the Southeast Conference.

Frank Foti,  president and CEO of Vigor Industrial, says the Ketchikan Shipyard is “Alaska’s newest and best ship-building facility.”

He’s biased, since his Portland-headquartered company owns Alaska Ship and Drydock. He elabarated during a speech celebrating last spring’s opening of a new ship-construction hall.

“After the collapse of the timber economy here, these leaders saw an opportunity for growth and jobs and economic prosperity, while others saw only derelict infrastructure and a dying industry,” he said. (Watch a time-lapse video of the hall’s construction.)

A new study shows the shipyard is a key contributor to the region, with about 120 employees and $37 million in annual revenues. It’s part of Southeast’s maritime or “blue” economy. (Click here to read the report.)

“So who are we. What sets us apart from other places and makes our resources unique. Is there one thing that defines our people, geography and economy?” asked Meilani Schijvens, who researched that question as part of Juneau-based Sheinberg Associates.

She spoke at last month’s Southeast Conference annual meeting in Sitka, where the study was released.

“We are here today to tell you that there is. We are a maritime economy and a maritime region,” she said.

That’s no surprise, given Southeast’s geography.

But the study has the details to prove it. The report shows about 400 maritime businesses and government agencies employing more than 8,000 people. Their total annual wages come close to half a billion dollars, with individual wages averaging about $50,000 a year.

Researcher Barb Sheinberg says this is the first thorough study of the blue economy. It includes commercial fisheries, ferries and marinas.

“When you think of the visitor industry, that includes whale-watching cruise staff. When you think about construction that’s our marine welders. When you think about government, that’s our Coast Guard folks,” she said.

Not included were on-shore businesses relying on cruise ship passenger traffic or barged goods.

She says ocean harvests dominate the maritime economy.

“That’s our seafood processors and commercial fishermen, the mariculture workers, that’s where half of the maritime jobs and wages are,” she said.

Sheinberg says the blue economy is larger than mining, timber, construction or any other sector in Southeast.

Schijvens says shipbuilding and repair jobs have doubled over the past five years.

“This growth is not accidental, but resulted from strategic planning and targeted investment,” she said. 

Like Ketchikan, Wrangell is a former logging town that’s found new opportunities.

State and federal grants, as well as private investments, have paid for seafood plant improvements, a marine service center, a travel lift and a new harbor.

Economic Development Director Carol Rushmore says that’s brought unexpected benefits.

“Now we have transient moorage space. So now we’re seeing yachts coming to Wrangell, because before, we never had that ability,” she said. “Commercial fleets were being rafted 3 or 4 deep. Well, the yachts don’t want to tie up to the commercial boats. But now we’re seeing this huge increase of yachters coming to Wrangell. It’s added an extra element to our tourism industry.”

She says growth hasn’t been easy. Grants take years. Community planning can be contentious. And it’s natural for people to become impatient.

“Recovery is very slow, as you are all are very painfully aware of. It has taken 20 years for our community to start rebounding,” she said.

Wrangell isn’t all the way there. It still hopes to see development at the sites of its old mill and a former Bureau of Indian Affairs school.

Rushmore says that could include expansion of the city’s blue economy.

When Filipinos hear “Alaska,” often the first two things that come to mind are milk and basketball.

That’s according to the Philippines’ recently appointed honorary consul to Alaska, Jenny Gomez Strickler.

It turns out, the Philippines-based Alaska Milk Corporation sells milk in the country and sponsors the Alaska Aces — not Anchorage’s minor league hockey team, but a professional basketball team in the Philippines. Neither the milk nor the basketball team have a meaningful connection to the 49^th state.

That means if Alaska wants to make inroads in trade with the Philippines, the state has a lot of work to do. In 2012, less than 1 percent of Alaska’s exports ended up in the Philippines, according to census data.

But Strickler says connections are being forged that could help build a market for Alaska seafood, and even liquefied natural gas.

The Juneau resident and retired Alaska Department of Commerce and Economic Development worker spoke to the Juneau World Affairs Council on Wednesday. In her new honorary role for the government of the Philippines, she’s part bureaucrat, and part international trade facilitator.

She’s trying to make the case that “Alaska” should mean “seafood” in the Philippines.

“The Philippines is a fish-eating country,” she said. “Yet its fish is imported from other countries. And its imported salmon is farmed salmon.”

Strickler, Juneau Rep. Cathy Munoz and the governor’s office are trying to put together a seafood festival in Manila next year to show the country what Alaska has to offer.

Strickler shared an anecdote about a missed connection that networking at the festival might fix. A former Juneau resident brought some Alaska seafood to Manila for his friends to try. One of samplers happened to be a hotel owner.

“The business owner enjoyed it so much, he said, ‘If I get this from you, can you guarantee me X amount throughout the year, or a portion of the year?’ He looked him straight in the eye and said, ‘I can’t, cause I’m not a fisherman.’”

She said they’re working on a pitch to get support from the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute.

Strickler also said she was on a recent conference call between Philippines Ambassador Jose Cuisia Jr. and state officials. The ambassador said he’s putting together a team to visit Alaska and investigate opportunities to import liquefied natural gas.

Finally, Strickler said Aklan State University in the Philippines is interested in sending instructors to the University of Alaska Southeast through an exchange program. They want to learn about saltwater fisheries.

Strickler said she expects that arrangement to come together after the Juneau Assembly adopts a sister city proclamation linking Juneau and Kalibo, the capital city of the Philippine province Aklan.

A Juneau Assembly committee backed the proclamation on Monday.

Jenny Gomez Strickler’s talk with the Juneau World Affairs Council is tentatively scheduled to air on 360 North on October 11th.

The City and Borough of Juneau says the northern boundary for the recently-formed Petersburg Borough is wrong. It’s a jagged line that starts in northwestern Holkham Bay and runs from peak-to-peak north of Endicott Arm all the way east to the Canadian border.

The CBJ says the mistake was made by the Local Boundary Commission, the state panel charged with reviewing the creation or alteration of municipal governments. They want the LBC to go back and redraw that line, preferably much further south than it is now.

The CBJ, which had its own petition to annex the mainland down to Cape Fanshaw, is making its case with a judicial appeal of the LBC’s approval of the Petersburg Borough incorporation petition. Arguments were held Wednesday afternoon in Juneau Superior Court.

 

 

For much of the nearly hour-and-fifteen minute hearing, attorneys provided their own interpretation of what was done with both petitions, and why.

City and Borough of Juneau attorney Amy Mead referred to a constitutional requirement for the LBC to fully and fairly consider both competing claims for the overlapping area between Holkham Bay and Cape Fanshaw before a boundary was set. But she says the LBC only considered whether the Petersburg petition met incorporation standards.

In a situation such as the LBC had before in this case, when there were competing claims for the same area and two pending petitions filed for the same area, the LBC was obligated to fully consider all of the competing claims. Nothing justifies the first-in-time approach that the LBC took in this matter.”

Mead said that both petitions could have been consolidated, or considered separately, but fully by the LBC.

Mead says there was no hearing physically in the CBJ on the Juneau annexation petition and the CBJ did not have opportunity to fully present their claims. They were only able to present their claims on the Petersburg petition, and CBJ’s own annexation petition was eventually set aside by the LBC pending outcome of the December borough vote by Petersburg citizens.

State attorney Erling Johanson, representing the LBC, says Juneau’s comments were not ignored. The CBJ annexation petition was accepted nearly two months before a multi-day public hearing in Petersburg that included witnesses from Juneau.

The commissioners had the entire volumes of Juneau’s petition. All the back up material and everything.”

Jim Brennan, attorney for Petersburg, says there was substantial evidence that demonstrated Petersburg’s dominance in the disputed area with tourism and commercial fishing. But he also points to the Tracy Arm area that was carved out from the proposed Petersburg boundaries as the LBC recognizing Juneau’s stronger ties to that part of the mainland.

In this case, Petersburg’s efforts to form a borough had been pending for five years. Ms. Mead tried to equate the two. What Juneau did is sit on their hands all that time. And so, finally at the eleventh hour, when Petersburg’s petition was set to be heard, that’s when they filed their annexation petition.”

 

 

Brennan also argued that requiring an amended boundary would invalidate the vote by Petersburg residents or force dissolution of the new Borough, creating chaos and a legal mess. But CBJ’s Amy Mead said during rebuttal that would not happen in this instance, and she said it was not their intent to invalidate the new borough anyway.

Mead was accompanied at the appellants table during arguments by Juneau Mayor Merrill Sanford while Petersburg Mayor Mark Jensen joined Johansen and Brennan at the appellees table.

Juneau Superior Court Judge Louis Menendez asked only a few questions as he patiently listened to all the arguments.

I have the documents. We’re starting to review them to a greater extent. We’ll take it under advisement. Thank you for your time. It’s been very interesting.”

He’s expected to issue an opinion anytime within the next six months.

 

 

 

 

Related documentation:

Juneau’s Annexation Petition

Juneau’s Appellant Brief on boundary appeal

Petersburg Appellee Brief in response to Juneau appeal

State LBC Appellees Brief

 

 

 

 

Related stories:

Juneau boundary appeal could have serious Petersburg consequences

Petersburg becomes 19th borough in Alaska

Unofficial results show Petersburg borough passing

Attorneys for the State and two Southeast communities argued in court on Wednesday afternoon on whether the right procedure was followed when drawing up a potential boundary between the municipalities.

The City and Borough of Juneau says that the Local Boundary Commission did not consider their evidence or properly process its annexation petition for contested land between Holkham Bay and Cape Fanshaw.

The LBC argues that they considered all of the evidence when the Petersburg Borough incorporation petition was approved last year, while Petersburg argues that there was already substantial presented evidence which demonstrated their ties to the disputed area.

Here’s a sample of the arguments:

Those are the voices of state attorney Erling Johansen who represented the Local Boundary Commission, Jim Brennan representing the Petersburg Borough, and Amy Mead who is the attorney for the City and Borough of Juneau.

Juneau Superior Court Judge Louis Menendez listened for about an hour-and-fifteen minutes on Wednesday on the CBJ’s appeal of the LBC decision on the Petersburg Borough incorporation petition. He may issue an opinion anytime within the next six months.