August 25, 2012 — Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, said Aug. 24 he plans to introduce legislation after the August recess in Congress to create a national seafood marketing and development plan to boost the value of seafood and create more jobs in that industry.
Ray Ruitta, executive director of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, left, with Beth Casoni, associate executive director of the Massachusetts Lobstermen's Association, listen as Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, discusses fisheries legislation he plans to introduce when Congress reconvenes. Photo by Margaret Bauman
Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, said Aug. 24 he plans to introduce legislation after the August recess in Congress to create a national seafood marketing and development plan to boost the value of seafood and create more jobs in that industry.
The legislation would include a $50 million annual financial package.
Begich acknowledged during an Anchorage news conference that finding a sustainable source of income would be critical to the plan’s success.
The proposal was drafted by a nationwide coalition, and is supported by 75 fishing groups and others from the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, the Great Lakes and Gulf of Mexico, Begich said.
The idea of a national seafood marketing plan initiated some time ago with Bruce Schactler, of Kodiak, a fisheries specialist and coordinator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture food aid program for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, and Kevin Adams, of Anchorage, vice chairman of ASMI.
Schactler and Adams were there for Begich’s news conference, along with Beth Casoni, associate executive director of the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association, in Scituate, MA, and C. David Veal, executive director of the American Shrimp Processors Association in Biloxi, MS.
According to the coalition, American seafood products are increasingly forced to compete in the worldwide seafood market and other sources of protein. Begich said prices paid to fishermen are often too low to sustain many domestic fisheries and that processors do not have the funds available for market research and development of new products, or for dealing with mixed messages regarding the health and safety of seafood.
Read the full story in the Cordova Times