A gubernatorial debate and privatization of Alaska fisheries will highlight ComFish 2006, the Kodiak fisheries trade show billed as the largest and longest running of its kind in Alaska.
Now in its 27th consecutive year, ComFish is expected to attract some 3,000 fishermen, economists, politicians and others March 16-18 at the Kodiak High School. More than five dozen vendors have will have representatives at booths at the show.
The gubernatorial candidates debate, limited to the single topic of the seafood industry, will be broadcast live over the Alaska Public Radio Network and on the Gavel to Gavel program on Juneau's KTOO. The debate is sure to be a magnet for the event, said Laine Welch, a Kodiak fisheries writer who coordinates policy forms for ComFish. "A lot of these people are coming to town to pitch for the fish vote," Welch said.
Other forums on the agenda include a global perspective on enhancing crab stocks, the proposed privatization of Gulf of Alaska groundfish fisheries, an update on regional seafood development associations, and the economic effects on Kodiak Island of privatizing crab harvests.
Gunnar Knapp, an economist with the University of Alaska Anchorage, is to present this preliminary findings on the economic impact of the Bering Sea crab rationalization plan on residents of the island.
A forum on enhancement of crab stocks will include comments from research scientists from several nations, sharing their problems and successes, with a focus on king crab.
Alaska Department of Fish and Game Commissioner McKie Campbell will anchor a forum on the status of a Gulf of Alaska groundfish rationalization plan under consideration by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council.
Representatives of regional seafood development associations, from Bristol Bay to Southeast Alaska, will discuss their progress in organizing fishermen from their region to work cooperatively to improve the value of their products. Among the speakers will be Bob Waldrop, acting executive director of the Bristol Bay development association.
ComFish also attracts people in any number of fisheries topics, there to gather or exchange information or to lobby on specific issues.
The event has evolved since 1980, when the Kodiak Chamber of Commerce began ComFish as a marine trade fair to be held in conjunction with the annual Crab Festival in May. The event was staged in a borrowed National Guard tent and was very well received by the public and exhibitors, chamber officials said. The next year, ComFish moved into the National Guard Armory and became a featured event of the Crab Festival.
In 1982, ComFish was moved to March. By the following year, the event began to outgrow the armory and tents had to be added outside to accommodate 44 exhibitors, now using professionally decorated booths. From there, the event has continued to grow, adding the fisheries policy forum component in 2002.
Margaret Bauman can be reached at margie.bauman@alaskajournal.com.
