Jerome Selby, mayor of Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska — one of the nation's top three fishing ports — has written to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources asking that NOAA's catch share policy be delayed until hearings are held in the largest ports of New England, the Gulf Coast, the West Coast, and Alaska.
Mayor Selby wrote "Because of the damage we have experienced to our economy and people from the two catch share programs that have been implemented in Kodiak, we have serious concerns about the new Catch Share policy that is being developed."
The mayor continued, "The new policy should place a strong emphasis on using the lessons learned about negative impact on jobs and communities' economies to minimize these negative impacts in the future."