Nominations out for BOF, IPHC, NPFMC

Nominations are in progress to fill upcoming seats at the Alaska Board of Fisheries, and Alaska seats on the International Pacific Halibut Commission and the North Pacific Fishery Management Council.

Gov. Bill Walker has appointed Duncan Fields, of Kodiak, and reappointed Orville Huntington, of Huslia, to the Alaska Board of Fisheries, pending approval by the legislators in late May.  Fields, a commercial fisherman and attorney, completed his third term on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council in 2016. Huntington, whose term expires on June 30, is the wildlife and parks director for the Tanana Chiefs Conference in Fairbanks.

Walker also nominated six individuals to fill the two Alaska seats on the IPHC which expire on March 31 and six others for two seats on the NPFMC expiring Aug. 10.

The IPHC nominees include incumbent Alaska representatives Linda Behnken, of Sitka, and Bob Alverson, of Seattle, whose terms are expiring along with Stephen Joner, of Port Angeles, Wash., Richard Yamada, of Juneau, Andy Mezirow, of Seward, and Duane Edelman, of Valdez.

Behnken, a veteran longliner, is president of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, and a former member of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council. Alverson is the long time general manager of the Fishing Vessel Owners Association. Joner is the chief biologist for Makah fisheries management with the Makah Tribe.  Yamada is the owner/operator of a sport fishing lodge on Shelter Island in Southeast Alaska. Mezirow is a charter boat captain, fisheries manager and serves on the NPFMC. Edelman, a veteran commercial harvester, is also a mechanical maintenance technician for Alyeska Pipeline Service Co.

The IPHC nominees must be vetted by the Department of Commerce and State Department, then forwarded for consideration for presidential appointments.

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Mezirow, whose appointment on the NPFMC expires on Aug. 10, has been nominated for reappointment to the council. The two seats opening there include Mezirow’s and that of current council chairman Dan Hull, of Anchorage, whose third term on the council ends on Aug. 10, and can’t be reappointed.

Other NPFMC nominees, whose names have been sent to the Commerce Department for vetting are Paul Gronholdt, of Sand Point, a commercial harvester; Greg Indroeland, manager of Yakutat Seafoods in Yakutat; John Jensen, of Petersburg, a commercial harvester and chairman of the Alaska Board of Fisheries; veteran harvester Dan Falvey, of Sitka, project coordinator for the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association; and Tom Panamaross, of Kodiak, regional and legislative affairs executive with Koniag, Inc., the regional Native association for the Kodiak region of Alaska.

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