Alaska Sea Grant at ComFish

Every year, Alaska Sea Grant participates in ComFish, Alaska’s largest and longest running commercial fisheries trade show. This year, fisheries specialist Gabe Dunham, marine advisory agent Sunny Rice and Alaska Sea Grant State Fellow Tav Ammu represented Alaska Sea Grant at the Kodiak event.

Dunham and Rice shared preliminary findings of an assessment of training needs for new entrants into Alaska’s commercial fisheries. The project was created in response to  the Young Fishermen’s Development Act, which aims to support training, education, outreach, and technical assistance initiatives for new entrants to fishing. In advance of this funding, Alaska Sea Grant wants to better understand educational and training needs that could enhance or supplement existing offerings such as crew training, the Alaska Young Fishermen’s Summit, and Alaska Sea Grant’s FishBiz website.

fishing boats in a foggy harbor
Fishing vessels in Kodiak Harbor. Photo credit: JR Ancheta, University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Tav Ammu, an Alaska Sea Grant State Fellow, presented his work with the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation to create awareness about clean harbors in Alaska. Ammu oversaw three surveys gathering information about public perception of current conditions, practices, concerns, and solutions regarding pollution in their local harbors. View a recording of Ammu’s ComFish presentation on the Alaska Clean Harbors initiative.