“It's a new paradigm,” said Wanetta Ayers, executive director of WACDA. “They have a lot of new responsibilities and authority, spelled out in the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2006.”

The CDQ groups were established in December 1992 with the goal of promoting economic development in Western Alaska centered around fisheries.

The marine transportation act, which became effective last July, amends the Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management Act. The Magnuson-Stevens Act established the Western Alaska CDQ program, with quota allocations of Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands groundfish, halibut, crab and other species.

The allocations allow the CDQs to invest in the fisheries in support of economic development activities. The allocations range from 10 percent for pollock to 7.5 percent for most other species, of the total annual allocation from the North Pacific Fishery Management Council. Besides pollock, the program includes halibut, sablefish, Atka mackerel, Pacific cod and crab.

The revisions of Magnuson-Stevens legislation include a broad range of changes to various aspects of the CDQ program. These include program administration and oversight, percentage allocations of annual CDQ program catch limits, permanent eligibility status for current CDQ communities, and CDQ fisheries management measures.

The WACDA board of directors includes chief executive officers of the CDQ organizations or their designees.

Morgen Crow of the Coastal Villages Region Fund serves as chairman of the board. Vice chair is Larry Cotter of the Aleutian Pribilof Community Development Association. Eugene Asicksik of the Norton Sound Economic Development Corp. serves as treasurer, and Billy Charles of the Yukon Delta Fisheries Development Association is the board secretary. Also serving on the board are Robin Samuelsen of the Bristol Bay Economic Development Corp. and Phillip Lestenkof with the Central Bering Sea Fishermen's Association.

Crow said that the CDQ organizations have been working since last summer to implement the new responsibilities set forth in federal statute. “In addition to establishing WACDA, we have begun the process of developing policies that will govern financial reporting standards, investment guidelines, community development plans, and the decennial review of CDQ allocations,” he said.