NSEDC salutes St. Lawrence region

Norton Sound Economic Development Corp.’s newest fishing tender, scheduled to go into service in June 2017, will bear the name T/V St. Lawrence, a salute to a distinct part of the region served by the community development quota entity.

The NSEDC subsidiary Norton Sound Seafood Products has a tradition of naming its tender vessels in honor of areas, places and islands in the Norton Sound region and the people NSEDC serves.

The T/V St. Lawrence, being built by Bay Weld Boats in Homer, is a 62-foot vessel that will serve the commercial salmon and crab fishermen of the Norton Sound region. It will have the capacity to carry 25,000 pounds of crab and 70,000 pounds of salmon in its refrigerated seawater tanks.

In designating the name, the NSEDC board of directors also asked for recognition of the Siberian Yupik name of the island that is home to two of NSEDC’s 15 member communities, Gambell and Savoonga. To fulfill that request, “Sivuqaq” will be written along with the English name on the vessel.

The name “St. Lawrence” was suggested by NSEDC Gambell representative Joel James, and chosen from a wide array of suggestions from member communities.

Harvesters from Savoonga and Gambell participate in commercial halibut fishing, delivering their catch to the seasonal NSSP plant in Savoonga. The island and communities are a place of strong traditions, where Siberian Yupik is the predominant language and subsistence plays an important role in everyday life.

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The T/V St. Lawrence will join six vessels in NSEDC’s fleet: T/V Paul C. Johnson, T/V Breakaway, T/V Egavik, T/V King Island, T/V Besboro, and T/V Norton Bay. NSEDC plans to retire the T/V Inaliq this year.

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