By Margaret Bauman
Alaska Journal of Commerce

Bristol Bay salmon drift gill net permit holders have approved a self-imposed 1 percent tax to finance a broad-based marketing effort that may improve the quality of salmon delivered and new product development.

Organizers of the new association, under the state's regional seafood development association (RSDA), have estimated the tax will generate about $700,000 annually. The funds can be used for a variety of projects, ranging from research and development of new products to infrastructure.

"I thought it would pass, but I was surprised at the margin," said Robin Samuelsen Jr., president and chief executive officer of the Bristol Bay Economic Development Corp., in Dillingham.

"Hopefully the RSDA will focus on quality and new markets," he said. "Traditional markets are very important, but it has been clearly demonstrated that there is not enough fresh fish going into domestic and European markets. We need to ship out more fresh and frozen (fish).

"We have seen the bottom of the barrel in prices in Bristol Bay," said Samuelsen, whose family has fished the bay for generations.

"We have been working on improving quality in a number of ways."

Unlike some other areas of coastal Alaska, Bristol Bay has no hatcheries. "We are totally dependent on wild salmon," he said.

Drift net permit holders voted 410 to 297 in favor of a 1 percent tax passed to go to the Bristol Bay RSDA, state officials said May 19. The election results, certified by Commerce Commissioner Bill Noll, represent 38 percent of Bristol Bay salmon drift gill net permit holders.

The next step will be to elect seven board members, after the end of the Bristol Bay salmon season, and hold a membership meeting next March, said Bob Waldrop, who oversaw all efforts to educate drift net permit holders on the election.

"We did a thorough outreach program and tried to reach as many people as we could," Waldrop said. In the weeks before the election, there were 25 meetings, and additional information was made available in broadcast and print advertisements, and on a Web site established for the association, he said.

Waldrop said he was pleased with the results, but mindful that 42 percent of the permit holders who voted opposed the association.

"We have a lot to prove," he said. "We have to be quite sensitive to those permit holders who opposed, and prove to them that it has the potential that the supporters think it does."

By the time the tax is collected by the state, run through the bureaucracy and available to the new RSDA, it will probably November 2007, Waldrop said. "That will give the elected board a year to develop programs and priorities," he said.

Bristol Bay is the second RSDA to be formed in the state under legislation HB 419 that was signed into law by Gov. Frank Murkowski on June 21, 2004. The first RSDA, Copper River/Prince William Sound Marketing Association, was formed on May 26, 2005.

Murkowski said giving the industry the opportunity to jointly market its product is simply good business. "The state of Alaska has been putting a tremendous effort toward marketing its seafood and the results are showing," Murkowski said. "International seafood sales have doubled in the last five years and it makes sense for regional groups to want to continue the positive momentum."

The Bristol Bay RSDA mailed ballots to permit holders March 21 and again April 17. Only ballots postmarked by May 1 and received by close of business at the Alaska Division of Investments in Juneau on May 15 were accepted. According to law, the association needed returned ballots from 30 percent of eligible permit holders to certify the election.

Southeast salmon drift permit holders turned down a similar regional tax by a razor thin margin. The vote total was 91 "yes" votes to 107 "no" votes. A total of 473 permit holders were sent ballots.

Spokesmen for Southeast Rainforest Wild, the organization that led the campaign to organize their driftnet permit holders, expressed disappointment, but saw a bit of a silver lining.

"This is certainly a disappointment, because we would have liked the gillnetters to lead this effort," said Gig Decker, who serves on the board of Rainforest Wild.

"However, we need to remind ourselves that nearly one-half of the gillnetters voted in support of Rainforest Wild's efforts and many more other gear groups have supported our efforts in the past. Therefore, we will continue to aggressively pursue our goals," he said.

Decker said he felt that RSDAs would flourish across Alaska in the near future and that Southeast Alaska fishermen would soon see the advantages of being part of this effort geared toward the highest quality fish possible and promotion of the attributes of their region's fisheries.

"Any time there are large changes within our industry, many of the fishermen will respond with fear or suspicion," said Keith Anundt, president of Rainforest Wild. "This is natural and expected. Fishermen are independent by nature, and many will need more concrete proof of the advantages of cooperative efforts to increase quality and value for our region's seafood products.

"My feeling is that there wasn't a disagreement with Rainforest Wild's goals as much as there was a lack of understanding about what those goals were.," he said.

Margaret Bauman can be reached at margie.bauman@alaskajournal.com.