"Governor, delighted to be here with you," said Stevens, as he came forward to accept a lifetime achievement award from United Fishermen of Alaska. "And you all should know that, as I travel the south 48, you are the best public relations person we ever had."

It was Stevens' first public appearance since a judge in Washington, D.C., dismissed federal corruption charges against him earlier in April.

Former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens speaks with National Marine Fisheries Service acting administrator Jim Balsiger during a dinner at the U.S. Coast Guard Base in Kodiak. Stevens was honored during the event's dinner for his lifetime work to protect Alaska's fisheries. Photo/Margaret Bauman/AJOC

"We especially welcome the architect of the nation's premier fisheries management act and statehood advocate, Sen. Ted Stevens," said Palin.

Last October, after Stevens was convicted of violating federal ethics laws, Palin had called on him to resign from his U.S. Senate seat. When the charges against him were dropped, Palin then called on Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, who defeated Stevens in November, to step down and run in a special election against Stevens.

The only reference to the trial during the gala came as Stevens himself commented on the investigations of the prosecutors in the case where he was found guilty on seven counts of making false statements. Those guilty verdicts were later dropped due to prosecutorial misconduct.

"Because of those investigations of the original prosecutors, which are still ongoing, I have taken the position that I will not talk about the case or talk about the investigations so long as they continue," Stevens said.

The dinner, held at the U.S. Coast Guard base in Kodiak, was one of the highlights of ComFish, the annual commercial fisheries conference hosted by the Kodiak Chamber of Commerce.

The highlights of the dinner were the presentation of the lifetime achievement award and a lifetime membership in UFA to Stevens. UFA Executive Director by Mark Vinson also announced the charter members of the Alaska Seafood Hall of Fame.

The group included Bob Alverson, Sen. Bob Bartlett, Bob Blake, The Brindle Family, Chuck Bundrant, Al Burch, Phil Daniel, Oscar Dyson, state Sen. Dick Eliason, Govs. Ernest Gruening and Jay Hammond, Gordon Jensen, Knute Johnson, Armin F. Koernig, Jerry McCune, former state Rep. Drew Scalzi, former state Sen. Clem Tillion, Tommy Thompson, and Bob Thorstenson Sr.

"These individuals each made lasting contributions that helped Alaska fishermen and women continue our sustainable fisheries to the present and into the future. We look forward to recognizing the many others that are helping ensure our sustainable fisheries through to future generations," said Vinsel.

Stevens was one of the architects of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the primary law for federal fisheries management. The legislation was named for him and former Washington state Sen. Warren Magnuson.

"Alaska commercial fishermen drove that bill," said Stevens. "We led the world in extending jurisdiction 200 miles off the shore. There is not a country in the world today that does not claim the 200-mile limit, and we did it. Alaska brought that about. And we brought it about not for the fishermen. We did it for the species. We did it to protect the reproductive capability of the fisheries that we wanted to succeed and be continued year in and year out so that we'd have generation after generation enjoy the benefits of the sea. Those foreign vessels would have destroyed our future. You can take pride in the fact that what we've done started here."

Stevens said he first came to Kodiak in 1970.

"I came here, but it wasn't for fishing. It was because President (Richard) Nixon had indicated he was going to close the Navy base and I had, as a brash young senator, gone to the House of Representatives and asked them to delay that until we could find out if we could move the Coast Guard here," he said.

During that visit he flew out and counted at least 90 foreign ships in Alaska waters, and when they landed at St. Paul, he noticed there were a lot of presents lying around. When he learned they were Russian Christmas gifts for residents of St. George Island, so Stevens wanted to help deliver them.

The pilot said St. George had no airstrip, and Stevens responded "well, hell, I landed C47s on roads in China (during World War II). We can land this thing on a road over there."

The co-pilot wouldn't go, so Stevens, who was a licensed pilot, went along as co-pilot, and they made the first landing on St. George and delivered the packages.

With the 200-mile jurisdictional limit having been established, Stevens said one of the remaining challenges is the problem of illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing on the high seas.

"(It is) a scourge worse than we faced with the foreign fishing vessels within our own waters," he said. "They are just literally raping the seas wherever they go. We tried several times to get the United Nations interested in some way to deal with it. That's why I came tonight. I think Alaska fishermen have to help us get the information we need, to start as a nation setting an example, to find some way to regulate those vessels that are just outside our 200-mile limit."

Members of ComFish could take the lead to bring the issue to the attention of the national government the threat foreign vessels hold to the state's future, and to encourage the government to find a way to start an international movement to bring about an cooperation that will at least regulate them, he said.

"We will never completely control them, the way we would within the 200-mile limit, but I do think we can find some way to use science and sound conservation measures to achieve some regulation of that fishery," he said.

Margaret Bauman can be reached at margiebauman.@alaskajournal.com.