October 11, 2013 — The effects of the government shutdown have rippled all the way to the waters of Alaska.
That was the message delivered on Capitol Hill Friday by Keith Colburn, an Alaskan crab fisherman and star of the Discovery Channel reality show "The Deadliest Catch."
Speaking before the Senate Commerce Committee, Colburn said the furloughs of staff from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration mean they won't be around to assign quotas before the start of Alaska's crab fishing season next week. The quota assignments, required for all fishermen in the area, are doled out to prevent overfishing, with each fisherman entitled to a percentage of the total catch.
The Alaska fishery generates "hundreds of millions" of dollars in economic activity, Colburn said, providing jobs for thousands of fishermen, shippers, mechanics and other workers. Particularly frustrating, he added, is the fact that the fishery's management is funded by the fishermen themselves rather than federal appropriations.
"We have been racking up bills getting ready to go fishing," Colburn said, noting that coastal communities around the country are facing similar problems. "If we're tied to the docks waiting for the government, we can't pay those bills."
Colburn called on the Commerce Department to put the NOAA staff back on the job, warning that Russian fishermen could plunder the Bering Sea fishery while American boats sit idle.
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