Tanner crab fishermen in the Chignik district and the South Alaska Peninsula are expected to harvest their allowable catch of 700,000 pounds in the finale of the derby-style fisheries.

"It was a good fishery," said Nicholas Sagalkin, a shellfish management biologist at Kodiak, as the Chignik fishery neared its closure Feb. 6. "Some areas didn't perform quite as well as we hoped, but others did better than expected."

While a determination on the Chignik fishery for 2006 will wait until a survey this summer, "I would fully expect another fishery out there," Sagalkin said. "There was very good recruitment reported by fishermen. They were getting (and returning to the ocean) a lot of crab that were not quite legal. That's a good indication there are a large number of crab that will be legal next year."

The Chignik district, last opened in 1989, had a quota of 400,000 pounds, and the South Peninsula, last opened in 2001, had an allowable harvest of 300,000 pounds, Sagalkin said.

The South Alaska Peninsula fishery, with vessels delivering to King Cove and Sand Point closed Feb. 11, he said. While 44 vessels were registered for the South Alaska Peninsula, a large number of them, probably half, made only one or two deliveries, Sagalkin said. "I think they wanted to make sure they had recorded history in the fishery, for future limited entry qualifications," he said.

The tanner crab fishery in the Unalaska Bay portion of the Eastern Aleutian district, which wound up Jan. 18, had a harvest of more than 35,000 pounds, said Karla Bush, assistant area shellfish biologist.

Competition was up, but the harvest was down for Unalaska Bay, with 24 vessels competing for the allowable catch. A year ago, 10 vessels competed for a harvest of slightly over 47,000 pounds of crab, Bush said.

The Kodiak district fishery remained open but fishermen, unhappy with prices offered by processors, remained on strike, Sagalkin said.

Board members of the Anchorage Parking Authority voted Feb. 3 to allow the Anchorage Market Festival to add a Sunday market to its 18-week schedule, from mid-May through mid-September.

The board members made their decision after reviewing a study by Northern Economics Inc. that estimated the impact of last year's market - held on Saturday 18 days and Sunday six days - on Anchorage's economy.

The study concluded that market-goers spent some $21.1 million in 2004, including more than $9.3 million at downtown businesses not associated with the market.

The event has changed its name to the Anchorage Market Festival, from the Saturday Market, to reflect the addition of Sunday.

Bill Webb, manager of the market, said he anticipates that this year's market will be the best-attended event in the state, drawing almost 750,000 people to downtown Anchorage.

Sen. Kim Elton, D-Juneau, is the new chairman of the bi-partisan Pacific Fisheries Legislative Task Force, composed of legislators from Alaska, California, Idaho, Oregon and Idaho.

Elton, a writer, contractor and former executive director of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, was elected in January.

The 20-member task force, formed in 1985, deals with a variety of fish and shellfish management and regulation issues.

"There's a convergence of major fishery events - the Pew Ocean report, President Bush's ocean commission report and upcoming congressional renewal of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act - and state legislators and managers must be involved as we work to enhance our coastal economies," Elton said.

West Coast fish issues are much different than fish issues on the East Coast, he said.

Elton said the task force needs to remain involved in a series of transboundary issues like water and salmon disputes in Oregon's Klamath Basin, Columbia River issues and federal offshore fish-farming initiatives.

Elton said two of his priorities include more communication with members of Congress and federal managers as they make decisions that impact Western states, and adding British Columbia to the task force.

The task force, which meets three times a year, held its September meeting in Homer.

Briefs by the Journal of Commerce