May 28, 2014 — The State of Alaska, the University of Alaska and representatives from the Alaskan fisheries, seafood and marine industries created a plan to increase the number of in state residents working in maritime careers. The Alaska Maritime Workforce Development Plan aims to create and educate a substantially Alaskan workforce in the maritime sector.
The director of the Alaska Sea Grant at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Paula Cullenberg said two years ago the university created the Fishery Seafood Maritime Initiative, or F-S-M-I, to find out what the maritime industry needed.
“The industry came back and said ‘well, you know we would like some kind of a comprehensive plan that looks at not just what the university does but what training centers like Aztec or SAVEC could do, what the industry itself could do, what state agencies like the Department of Labor, we would just like to look at this a little more collectively.’ And so about a year and a half ago there was a request for a state wide plan.”
The F-S-M-I conducted surveys among commercial fishermen, seafood processors, researchers and maritime business and trade workers. The surveys showed that of the almost 31 thousand permit holding commercial fishermen, only 56% are residents of Alaska. The resulting data led to the Maritime Workforce Development Plan that is calling for Alaskans to become educated and trained in these fields. This is director of government affairs at Icicle Seafoods, Inc., Kris Norosz.
“We have lots of employment opportunities throughout Alaska, the problem is finding Alaskans with the training and experience to fill those positions.”
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