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Event organizer Leslie Smith said the idea stemmed from her own experiences as a salmon fisherman, and listening to the stories of old timers. "Now many of them are gone, and it's important to hear and retain the stories from those who are still around," Smith said. She added that the multicultural and multigenerational gathering will focus on the things shared by everyone in the salmon industry, which is a community in and of itself. "No matter if you're in Ketchikan or Kotzebue, everyone who is involved in the salmon industry shares a common bond," Smith said. "This will be a time to remember how fishing life used to be, mark its changes and celebrate the resiliency of fishing people. It will strengthen the idea of the fishing community as economically viable, culturally vibrant and politically empowered." The one-time event will include two components, a storytelling symposium and a seminar of the "who's who" in the fishing industry. "(It's about) the people who made the industry what it is today," Smith said. "It will be reflective about past challenges and how their experiences and wisdom might be applied to today's challenges." Smith will travel to Alaska coastal communities this summer to search out "local treasures" for the Old Timers Mug Up. The event is scheduled during the Seattle Fish Expo in early November. Expo is a sponsor of the project, along with the advocacy group Fishing for the Future. For more information, contact Smith at 208-333-0919 or via e-mail at mugup 2002@aol.com. Made in the USA Scientists at the University of Maine have been successful in spawning America's first halibut in captivity. According to the Bangor Daily News, a 65-pound fish, part of a 70-fish brood stock taken from the Gulf of Maine, released eggs four times last month at the aquaculture research center. The facility also has several hundred larval halibut that were hatched from a small batch of eggs from the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans in New Brunswick. These eggs were fertilized by the adult male fish and kept in absolute darkness under strict temperature control to simulate the cold, deep waters that are habitat for wild larval halibut. The fish were then moved to brightly lit tanks where they now are feeding on live zooplankton that was reared at the research center. Operations manager Nick Brown said the spawning event and the fact the larval fish have moved on to live feed marked a milestone in the development of a U.S. halibut aquaculture industry. The halibut project will determine the feasibility of raising halibut in land-based systems, as is also being done in Nova Scotia. Last year the U.S. Department of Agriculture earmarked $25 million to assist the University of Maine's aquaculture programs. Coast Guard says it does enough A Coast Guard admiral has urged Congress to derail an effort that would expand the Guard's duties. According to the Associated Press, Rear Adm. Harvey Johnson told a transportation subcommittee that an expansion would place "unnecessary requirements on our search and rescue system that could consume our limited resources, but more importantly, possibly endanger the lives of Coast Guard personnel." Johnson said it's the wrong time to add more tasks to his already stretched force. According to the Associated Press, spurred by the deaths of three men in a December 1998 sinking of a fishing boat in Lake Michigan, Rep. Mark Green of Wisconsin has proposed that Congress require the Coast Guard to search for a passenger boat or fishing vessel until it is found or the transportation secretary determines that a search is no longer appropriate. Green's bill would cover the loss of, or a collision involving, passenger boats transporting at least two passengers, and fishing boats carrying at least two people. The Coast Guard also would be required to facilitate the recovery and identification of fatally injured passengers and to designate an employee to serve as a liaison between the federal government, surviving families and vessel operators. Currently, federal law authorizes but does not require the Coast Guard to aid distressed persons, vessels and aircraft. The Coast Guard conducts more than 40,000 search-and rescue missions a year but has wide discretion in deciding how many personnel, boats and aircraft to put on a case and for how long. It is not responsible for salvaging sunken vessels or recovering the bodies of those lost in marine accidents. Since Sept. 11, homeland security was added to the Coast Guard's traditional duties of search-and-rescue, fisheries enforcement, immigration and drug law enforcement, and navigational aids maintenance. President Bush wants to roll the Coast Guard into the new Homeland Security Department and has requested $7.3 billion for the agency in the 2003 budget year, a 36 percent increase. Drowning in lawsuits The National Marine Fisheries Service now dedicates 10 per cent of its 2,500 staff members to lawsuits. The service, which is the federal agency that manages fish stocks in U.S. waters, has more than 100 lawsuits pending against it. That's more than six times the number the service had six years ago, according to the Fish Information Service. In 1996, the service faced around 16 cases. Now there are 104, mainly filed by environmentalists or fishermen seeking changes in fishery management. Some observers say the lawsuits now dictate how U.S. fisheries are managed, and the service's limited resources must now be spent on fighting lawsuits rather than doing research and enforcement. Another change worrying regulators is that the service now loses more lawsuits than it wins. An independent draft report being prepared for Congress by the National Academy of Public Administration says that before 1997, the service won 83 per cent of the cases brought against it, but by 1998, the service began losing more than it won, 23 losses and 19 wins between 1998 and 2001. Officials of the service said its own figures show the agency is actually ahead on wins, and new filings are now on the decline. In the most recent case, the service lost to environmental groups that claimed it failed to protect New England groundfish stocks. Kodiak-based free-lance writer Laine Welch can be reached via e-mail at msfish@ptialaska.net.
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