Congress passes seafood allocation bill

6/28/06

Washington, D.C.

Legislation freezing the allocations of pollock and other seafood between 65 Western Alaska communities for the next six years has passed both houses of Congress and is on its way to President Bush for a signature.

The Coast Guard's annual authorization act, which sets the allocations, is finally complete, nine months after the beginning of the fiscal year to which it applies. The delay was in recent months due to controversy over the Alaska delegation's effort, ultimately unsuccessful, to add language that would stop a major wind farm off the coast of Massachusetts.

The most significant policy changes for Alaska in the bill, though, may be the revisions to the Community Development Quota program, which distributes a portion of the Bering Sea's valuable seafood harvest to cooperative groups led by Western Alaska villages. Since 1992, the program participants have sold $650 million of fish, mostly working in partnership with major Seattle-based companies.

Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, sponsored the changes, which seek to end the in-fighting over how much fish each of the six CDQ groups receive.

Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski last year objected to the congressional freeze, though. The state traditionally has recommended allocations to the U.S. Commerce secretary based on an analysis of how well the groups were performing.

"In my view, this is a states' rights issue," Murkowski said in a December news release. "It's clear that Alaskans should manage this critical economic development program for the benefit of Alaskans."

Because the CDQ allocations are a zero-sum game, the congressional action freezes in winners and losers, regardless of their current or future performance.

For example, the pollock allocation for the association representing the community of St. Paul on the Pribilof Islands will remain at 5 percent, the lowest percentage among the six groups. The Coastal Villages Region Fund, representing Yukon-Kuskokwim delta communities from Goodnews Bay north to Scammon Bay, holds the largest allocation, 24 percent.

Stevens' spokeswoman Lindsay Hayes said a commission in Alaska recommended the freeze, among other actions.

"This is critical because CDQ groups need stability," Hayes said. The groups need to lock in their allocations "for a long period of time, so people know how to invest and how to plan for the future."