July 17, 2018 — A delegation from China visited Kodiak Island with the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, touring fish processing plants in Kodiak and Larsen Bay.
Right in the middle of the visit, President Donald Trump’s administration proposed more tariffs, which doesn’t bode well for Alaska’s seafood trade.
But that didn’t dampen the delegation’s enthusiasm for what Alaska has to offer.
The water is low, so Alaska Department of Fish and Game employees in Kodiak are seining for sockeye salmon at the Buskin River weir.
The Chinese delegation has come to learn about local fisheries management, said Tyler Polum, sport fisheries area management biologist.
“Sometimes when the water is low, we can’t get them to go into the trap at the weir, so we thought that it would be better to beach seine for these fish,” Polum said. “We’ll show them how we sample fish to get age, sex, and length from them.”
Among the delegation, Mingzhen Zhang says Kodiak is a stark contrast to her city.
“I live in Beijing, so the best impression for me is less pollution,” Zhang said.
China’s northern capital city of more than 20 million people is infamous for smog.