State Rep. Alan Austerman, R-Kodiak, is working within the Legislature to bring other representatives up to speed on fisheries issues by instituting weekly "Fish Caucuses," joint House/Senate meetings that are geared toward educating legislators from non-coastal areas within the state about the importance of the industry.

In a podcast interview, Austerman explained that the seafood industry is often overshadowed by the oil industry.

"The third largest industry around the state (commercial fishing) is the number one employer around the state, and I think that is lost in the shuffle sometimes, because as the largest employer in the state we do not bring in as much dollar value as oil," Austerman said. "(Over the past 25 years) oil has dominated the revenue source so big that people have kind of just shuffled fisheries off to the side."

Austerman said the goal of the Thursday meetings is to help identify funding priorities, among other things.

"Trying to inform, bring the legislators up to speed as to why we want to be able to have a solid, sustainable biomass of fish, whether it's salmon, cod, halibut, and to manage those through the Department of Fish and Game on that basis," he said.

"Because of the lack of understanding of the industry with a lot of legislators," he continued, "they don't see anything wrong with cutting Fish and Game budget. And yet we do have probably the best managed fisheries in the world, and we do that because we have good people at Fish and Game."

ADF&G has had difficulty filling senior management biologist positions, according to news reports in 2008, as people currently holding those positions reach retirement age. Part of the problem is the pay disparity between state and federal jobs. Federal fishery managers are paid anywhere from 35 to 80 percent more than state fishery managers, according to John Hilsinger, director of the Commercial Fisheries Division of ADF&G.

The first Fish Caucus meeting included a presentation of a study that has been making the rounds in Alaska that details the impact of the commercial fishing industry on Alaska's economy. Compiled by the McDowell Group from Department of Labor statistics, the study indicates that commercial fishing has a $6 billion economic impact state-wide.

"Like the McDowell Group said today, everybody pictures salmon as our industry," Austerman said. "In reality, they're a blip. While they drive the numbers up like crazy in the summertime, salmon, pollock, cod, halibut, crab, all of those things equal out over all for a very healthy industry."

A Democratic Congressman from West Virgina who chairs the House Natural Resources Committee has sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Commerce calling on the agency to dismiss the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council's plan to establish a permitting system for offshore aquaculture in federal waters.

In a letter to Otto Wolf, acting secretary of the DOC, Congressman Nick J. Rahall attacked the council's initiative, which was approved two weeks ago, making it the first of any in federal waters, extending from three to 200 miles offshore.

"Congress did not intend for the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to grant authority to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Regional Fishery Management Councils to regulate offshore aquaculture as fishing," Rahall said in the letter.

Rahall said there needs to be a coherent regime to regulate aquaculture, and the environmental consequences of new technologies need to be evaluated.

The Dept. of Commerce, which oversees NOAA, has been pushing for offshore aquaculture rules at the request of the industry. Aquaculture supplies half of seafood consumed world-wide, but only a fraction of that is raised in the United States.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Gov. Sarah Palin have both expressed concern for the possibility of rapid growth in aquaculture in federal waters, and have requested that states such as Alaska with vital commercial fishing industries be allowed to opt out of federal aquaculture programs. Fish farming is illegal in Alaska's state waters, within three miles of shore.

Cristy Fry has commercial fished in Homer since 1978. She also designs and builds gear for the industry. She can be reached at cristy-fry@excite.com.