Palin is considering letting foreign fish processors into Alaska.

Here is the first hit on a Google search for Palin fishing,

Palin wants to give our salmon away to foreigners

The Republicans have a history of sending our jobs and resources overseas.

She's a freakin tool!

Palin considers foreign processors
BRISTOL BAY: Canneries couldn't handle glut of salmon and imposed limits.

By WESLEY LOY
wloy@adn.com

Published: July 12th, 2008 02:06 AM
Last Modified: July 12th, 2008 04:03 AM

JUNEAU -- Gov. Sarah Palin said she'll look at ways to bring more fish processors to Bristol Bay, where many commercial salmon gillnetters are upset that overwhelmed processors have imposed catch limits.

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Palin's husband, Todd, is among the angry fishermen. He fishes from shore sites near Dillingham, and his processing company has placed him on tight limits this season, Gov. Palin said.

She questioned whether processors were honest in a capacity survey the state conducted over the winter to see if the companies could handle the full sockeye run, which is large this season.

"Despite what they told the state -- that they could handle it, that they had the capacity -- they do not," Palin said.

When commercial fishermen are idled because processors are glutted, they see potential money swimming upstream as the red salmon head for their spawning grounds.

One possible solution is to allow foreign processing ships to come into the bay next year to buy excess fish.

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The established processors historically have fought that, and two of Palin's predecessors, Frank Murkowski and Tony Knowles, declined to grant permission for foreign ships to operate in state waters.

"I have a much more open mind about foreign processors than prior administrations did," Palin said.

She said her administration is interested in fostering competition for rights to develop state resources such as oil and gas.

"We need to do the same with our fisheries," she said. "Open it up for competition and let those processors have to compete for the right to purchase that resource from the fishermen."

FICKLE FISH RUNS

This week, she dispatched fisheries adviser Cora Crome to Naknek to talk with processors and fishermen about the bay's latest cannery capacity crunch.

Companies whose plants were plugged with fish last season also imposed catch limits or temporarily suspended buying.

Bristol Bay is home to the richest U.S. salmon fishery, and this year's commercial catch is shaping up as a large one, despite limits on how many fish the gillnetters can deliver for sale to canneries.

Through Wednesday, the catch was nearly 21 million sockeye, with another week or two of strong fishing left in the season. Last year's season tally was nearly 30 million sockeye, worth $116 million at the docks.

Glenn Reed, president of the Pacific Seafood Processors Association, said he understands some fishermen are upset with catch limits, but he said emotions always run high at hectic Bristol Bay, where the fish tend to return too fast or too slow every year.

Processors must risk millions of dollars before each season to get ready for fickle fish runs that some years are huge and other years are disappointing. Processors who aren't prudent with their expenses don't survive, he said.

"Bristol Bay has always been open to anybody who wants to come out and give processing a try," he said.

Reed said bay processors aren't afraid of competition but would not want to compete with processing ships whose owners might not be subject to the same tax burden or labor requirements as shore-based operators, he said.

The best approach is to wait until the end of the season to see how well fishermen fare and how many salmon the processors end up buying, Reed said. Then industry players and state officials can talk, he said.



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Find Wesley Loy's commercial fishing blog online at adn.com/highliner or call him in Juneau at 586-1531.