The University of Alaska Fairbanks' Marine Advisory Program, or MAP, will be holding a series of workshops on the Kenai Peninsula for new and established fishermen to help educate them on the finer points of running a fishing business.
Titled "The Business of Fishing: Essential Information for Alaska's Biggest Small Business," a variety of topics are covered the three-hour course.
Topics include fishing investments, funding the fishing habit, income taxes, safety at sea, planning for retirement, A to Z on government agencies, financial management, seafood processing, seafood quality and safety, seafood marketing and insuring your operation.
"It's an overview of several topics that are important when you're starting a fishing business, or in a fishing business," said Beverly Bradley of MAP.
Juneau's Glenn Haight is the instructor for the classes, and is the fisheries business specialist for the Marine Advisory Program. Haight has been traveling the state for several years offering a variety of fishery classes.
Bradley said that although the class is targeted to people new to the industry, it's also a good opportunity for old-timers to gain knowledge about the business.
"He'll have several people that are brand new and a few that have been doing it for a long time," she said. "They always bring more to the class and the debate, and say they learn something new as well. There's something pretty much there for everyone."
The impetus for the class came from a grant received several years ago from the federal Trade Adjustment Assistance program and state monies for fisheries business development which funded FishBiz, the Alaska Fisheries Business Program, Bradley explained.
"Even though we're down to our last end of the money, we felt like it was an important thing and we need to keep doing this," she said. "We've been producing new material on fisheries business and trying to find areas that weren't covered before."
Although there is no cost for the workshops, participants are asked to pre-register in order to have enough hand-out material available. The class will be held in Kenai on Wednesday, April 30, from 6:30-9:30 p.m. at the Cook Inlet Aquaculture Building at 40610 K-Beach Road, and in Homer on Thursday, May 1, from 1-4 p.m. at Kenai Peninsula College East Campus, room 212, and from 6-9 p.m. in room 202. To pre-register, call Beverly at 1-888-788-6333.
The Alaska Marine Safety and Education Association (AMSEA) will offer a drill conductor's course in Homer May 12 and 13. The course is free to fishermen who have a crew license or state fisheries card. The U.S. Coast Guard requires fishing vessel operators to conduct monthly on-board safety drills, and this 18-hour class is highly recommended for both skippers and crew to facilitate those drills and to increase survival odds in the event of a sinking, grounding, fire, man-overboard or other at-sea emergency. For more information and to register for the class, contact Anna Borland-Ivy at 235-5955 or 299-0810.
Correction: Seawatch reported last week that tag and recapture studies in the Susitna drainage are being conducted by Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association. James Hasbrouck, regional supervisor for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game Region II Sportfish Division in Anchorage, reports that, "The tag and recapture studies are being conducted jointly by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game divisions of Sport Fish and Commercial Fisheries. In 2006, the Legislature appropriated $1 million to the department to help fund a three-year study on Susitna River sockeye salmon escapement. CIAA is a partner in this research effort and also receives funding from the state to operate weirs on six-seven lakes within the drainage that are used as the recapture portion of the study; however, the department is charged with conducting the research. The department presented results of this work in January at the Upper Cook Inlet Board of Fisheries meeting. A written report describing the study and results for 2006 has also been published and is available on the internet at: www.sf.adfg.state.ak.us/FedAidPDFs/fds07-83pdf."
Cristy Fry has commercial fished in Homer since 1978. She also designs and builds gear for the industry. She currently longlines for halibut and gillnets salmon in upper Cook Inlet aboard the F/V Realist. She can be reached at cristy-fry@excite.com.
