By Margaret Bauman
Alaska Journal of Commerce

Veteran Alaska fishermen Sam Cotton and Duncan Fields were appointed June 25 to represent the state of Alaska on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council.

“I'm pretty excited,” said Cotton, who spoke from a cell phone in Kachemak Bay, offshore from Homer, where he was purse seining for salmon.

“I applied for it and really wanted to do it,” he said. “It's a policy-making body that is very important to Alaska.”

Fields, who was believed to be fishing in the area of Kodiak Island, was not immediately available for comment.

When their appointments become effective Aug. 11, they will fill the seats vacated by council members Stephanie Madsen and Doug Hodel.

Their first council meeting will be in October in Anchorage. Bill Hogarth, director of NOAA Fisheries Service, announced the appointments.

Cotton, who is currently a fisheries consultant for the Aleutians East Borough, represented Eagle River in the Alaska Legislature for 18 years, including 16 years in the House and two in the Senate. His legislative career, during which he served as Speaker of the House, ended in 1992, when he chose not to run again for the Senate.

Cotton has been a purse seine salmon fisherman in Kachemak Bay for 20 years.

Fields, an attorney, fish processor and fisherman, currently serves on the board of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, and chairs the Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board, entities that encourage growth and development of Alaska seafood products.

“We're very pleased,” said Gale Vick, executive director of the Gulf of Alaska Coastal Communities Coalition, who herself was a contender for the post. “I think both of them will do a very good job.

“I think it represents more of a concern of Gov. Sarah Palin about community issues, especially in the Gulf (of Alaska) right now,” Vick said. “I think it was a matter of getting people who would represent communities well over the entire Gulf of Alaska and people who would tend to have a more global view.”

Sue Salveson, NOAA's assistant regional administrator for sustainable fisheries, noted that Palin's preference for the second seat on the federal council was Beth Stewart, a natural resources consultant for the Aleutians East Borough.

Salveson said Cotton's lifelong experience as an avid sports fisherman also weighed heavily in his appointment, as NOAA was looking for appointees with as broad a perspective in fisheries as possible.

“I think both (Fields and Cotton) will bring a wealth of experience to the council and benefit the council process,” she said.

Margaret Bauman can be reached at

margie.bauman@alaskajournal.com.