Seafood transport, budget issues coming before SWAMC

Seafood issues, from transport to budgets to legislation, are front and center on the agenda for the Southwest Alaska Municipal Conference’s 2018 summit, set for March 1-2 in at the Hotel Captain Cook in Anchorage.

Participants in a panel discussion on the growing importance of air cargo in marketing seafood on the first morning of the summit include logistics professor Darren Prokop of the University of Alaska Anchorage, regional cargo sales manager Shannon Stevens of Alaska Airlines, Garrett Parker of Golden Harvest Alaska Seafoods in Adak, and Troy Larue, statewide aviation operations manager for the state Department of Transportation and Public Facilities.

Rep. Louise Stutes and Sen. Gary Stevens, both R-Kodiak, will give summit attendees a legislative update on fiscal and other matters on the second morning of the conference. Stutes chairs the House Special Committee on Fisheries. Stevens has chaired the Legislative Council since 2015.

Supporting a $4.2 billion fishing industry with diminishing state budgets is the topic for a panel discussion on the afternoon of March 2 featuring Michael Link, of the Bristol Bay Science and Research Institute; John Gauvin, Alaska Seafood Cooperative; Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, D-Sitka;

And Shannon Carroll of the Alaska Marine Conservation Council.

Also tentatively on the afternoon agenda for March 2, are two panel discussions, the first on managing a $4.2 billion fishing industry in times of change and the second on adding value in Alaska to grow the seafood industry.

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Updates on confirmed speakers for the summit agenda are posted at www.swamc.org

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