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Charting New Courses for Alaska Salmon Fisheries: the Legal Waters
Paula Cullenberg and Mary Killorin
Alaska’s commercial salmon industry is in an economic crisis. Competition from farmed salmon, changes in consumer demand, and a worldwide economic slowdown—together with smaller sockeye salmon runs—are reducing the value of Alaska’s salmon harvest. This crisis has prompted discussions among fishermen, processors, fishery managers, and government officials about how to help the salmon industry. Part of the discussion has focused on options for “restructuring” the management of salmon fisheries to reduce costs, increase value, or steer more of the benefits to Alaskans and their communities. To help Alaskans better understand the legal and constitutional issues associated with restructuring the salmon fisheries, the University of Alaska’s Marine Advisory Program and Institute for Social and Economic Research, along with the Washington Sea Grant Program, sponsored a workshop in October 2002. Lawyers with expertise in Alaska natural resources and fisheries law answered questions about different options for restructuring.
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Effects of the 2002 Chignik Cooperative: A Survey of Chignik Salmon Permit Holders
Patricia DeRoche, Alexandra Hill, Gunnar Knapp, and Darla Silver
This report presents the results of a survey of Chignik Salmon Purse Seine permit holders about management changes in the Chignik salmon fishery and the effects of the 2002 Chignik salmon cooperative. In January 2002, the Alaska Board of Fisheries passed regulations that established criteria and management measures for a cooperative fishery in the Chignik purse seine salmon fishery. Under the regulations, if 51 or more Chignik permit holders chose to join a cooperative, the cooperative would receive an allocation of a percentage of the Chignik sockeye salmon harvest. The purpose of the regulations was to allow permit holders the opportunity to fish cooperatively to reduce costs, improve quality and increase value by reducing the number of vessels fishing and slowing down the fishery. Permit holders who chose not to join the cooperative could fish in an “open” or “independent” fishery with a separate allocation. Subsequently the Chignik Seafood Producers Alliance (CSPA) formed as a cooperative in accordance with the new regulations. In 2002, 77 Chignik permit holders joined the Co-op, 22 permit holders chose to fish independently in the open fishery, and 1 permit holder did not join the cooperative and also did not fish. This report is based on the 89 survey responses that we received by January 15, 2003. (An earlier report was based on the 80 responses received by December 3, 2002.)
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Program Evaluation: Rose Urban Rural Sister School 2003
Rosyland Frazier and G. Williamson McDiarmid
The Sister School Exchange, along with the Student Exchange and Teacher Training programs, make up the Rose Urban Rural Program. The Rose Urban Rural Program is made possible by the Alaska Humanities Forum and with funding from the U.S. Department of Education. It is intended to build understanding and a statewide sense of community by bringing urban students and teachers to rural Alaska, and rural students and teachers to urban Alaska, to learn about each other's cultures. The Sister School Exchange provides urban and rural students with an opportunity to visit each other's classrooms and communities and form a foundation for sustainable relationships. Sponsoring teachers use a curriculum, developed by the program, intended to help students understand their host community's culture and history. Urban and rural teachers and a delegation of students visit each other's schools and communities for one week.
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Executive Summary: Rose Urban Rural Student Exchange Evaluation 2003
Rosyland Frazier and Williamson McDiarmid
About 21 urban and 19 rural students participated in the third year of the program. Urban students traveled from Anchorage to the villages of Shishmaref, St. Paul, Kotlik, Akiachak, New Stuyahok, Togiak, Huslia, Russian Mission, Port Heiden, and Wainwright. Rural students from these same villages traveled to Anchorage. In most cases, parents of students who traveled from Anchorage hosted the visiting rural students, and vice-versa. Parents also typically attended orientation sessions....This is the first year that rural students came to Anchorage in the summer. In the past rural students have come to Anchorage in the spring, while school is still in session, as part of the spring exchange. This year the Babiche Cultural Exchange organized a two-week summer day camp orientation and program, bringing together urban and rural students. The students participated in numerous activities that helped them get to know each other, encouraged team building; and explored many aspects of cultural similarities and differences.
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The Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge: Economic Importance
Oliver Scott Goldsmith, Jerry Brian, and Alexandra Hill
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Alaska Electric Power Statistics (with Alaska Energy Balance) 1960-2001
Scott Goldsmith
Prior to 1985, the federal Alaska Power Administration published the Alaska Electric Power Statistics. Then, the Alaska Energy Authority (formerly the Alaska Power Authority) began gathering statistical data and publishing this annual report. In 1988, the Alaska Electric Power Statistics report became a combined effort between the Alaska Systems Coordinating Council and the Alaska Energy Authority. Beginning in 1993, the report became a joint effort between the Alaska Systems Coordinating Council and the Department of Community and Regional Affairs, Division of Energy. After the 1995 no further reports were published until this year. This twenty-second edition of the Alaska Electric Power Statistics has been prepared by the Institute of Social and Economic Research of the University of Alaska Anchorage with funding provided by the Alaska Energy Authority, the Regulatory Commission of Alaska, and the Denali Commission. The data is presented using the same regional definitions as in past reports, but since some utilities have operations that span more than a single region, their combined operations characteristics are also reported. In addition we present a breakdown of operations between the Railbelt utilities, the Power Cost Equalization utilities, and all other. Finally, an entirely new section has been added to the report that describes the production and consumption of all energy in the state.
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Anchorage Economic Forecast, 2003
Scott Goldsmith
Anchorage’s economic performance for 2002 was in sharp contrast to the national economy which saw a decline in jobs and a marked increase in the unemployment rate. The Anchorage unemployment rate inched up during the year to an annual average of 4.6 percent but remained well below the national average of 5.8. This report provides a forecast for job growth in sectors that are currently important to the sponsors of the report. AEDC predicts 1,750 jobs will be added to the Anchorage economy in 2003, an increase of 1.3 percent. As in years past, most of these new jobs will be in the fast growing service sector. Trade, utilities, government, and construction will also contribute to the growth. Petroleum and manufacturing employment should remain constant. Anchorage will continue to outperform the US economy. This forecast was updated in July 2003. That update summarizes changes by mid-year.
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The Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge: Economic Importance
Scott Goldsmith, Jerry Brian, and N/A Hill
In this regional economic assessment, we focus primarily on an economic significance analysis; we present a brief economic impact analysis as well. Both are useful for policy analysis, but each measures a different dimension of economic activity. The economic significance of a refuge is a measure of the total number of jobs and the total household income generated by expenditures associated with the management of each refuge, by expenditures of refuge visitors, and by expenditures for the harvest and other use of refuge resources. In Alaska these expenditures directly create jobs for Fish and Wildlife Service employees, for people employed in businesses serving the recreation industry, and for commercial fishermen. Additional jobs are created by expenditures of the Fish and Wildlife Service and by businesses for procuring supplies and services. As these government and private sector workers spend their incomes, jobs in other sectors of the economy are created through a process known as the multiplier effect. The total number of jobs created by expenditures for management and use of the refuge is consequently greater than just the number directly created. The purpose of this study is to develop a regional economic assessment of the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Alaska. This assessment will be used to help update the Comprehensive Conservation Plan for the refuge, as required under section 304 of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA).
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Alaska's Budget: Where the Money Came From and Went, 1990-2002
Scott Goldsmith, Linda Leask, and Mary Killorin
Alaska’s state budget increased from $4.1 billion in 1990 to $7.4 billion in 2002. But who paid for that budget growth? W e know the state’ s oil revenues dropped by about half in the past decade—cr eating big holes in the budget—and Alaska has no personal income or other broad-based taxes. This paper is descriptive: we don’t mean to imply that particular changes were good or bad, or that some programs got too much or not enough money . Its’ part of a larger effort to help Alaskans understand the budget.
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Sustainable Utilities in Rural Alaska Effective Management, Maintenance, and Operation of Electric, Water, Sewer, Bulk Fuel, Solid Waste Final Report Part A: Overview
Scott Goldsmith, Amy Wiita, Steve Colt, and Mark Foster
Two reports are provided Part A is an overview - reliable and affordable utility services remain out of reach for thousands of Alaskans and between $1.5 and $2 billion of public investment is potentially at risk due to the inadequate operations, maintenance, and management of electric, water, sewer, bulk fuel, and solid waste utilities in many small rural Alaska communities. This report provides a foundation of facts and ideas that can be used to move toward sustainable utilities in these places. Part B contains supporting material and examines the maintenance, management, and operation of rural Alaska utilities.
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Understanding Alaska State Finances: What Citizens Want to Know and How to Convey that Information Effectively
Sharman Haley
Fiscal policy is a major dilemma for this state. State oil revenues have been declining since 1982. Despite cuts in the state’s general fund spending--down from a high of $2.9 billion in FY1982 to $2.5 billion in FY2002--the state budget has been in deficit eight of the last ten years. The FY 2002 deficit constituted nearly one third of the state general fund budget. At the current rate, the Constitutional Budget Reserve—the savings account which is being drawn down to cover the deficit—will be exhausted in about two years. Political opinion is so fragmented on the question of what to do that the legislature has been unable to forge a fiscal plan to address the issue. Indeed, the very nature of the problem is contested. Results from a state wide fiscal opinion survey last year (Moore, 2001) suggest that voter attitudes are a major factor in the current policy impasse. While 80 percent feel that some kind of fiscal plan is needed, only one third are very likely to support some kind of plan involving taxes and permanent fund earnings, another one third somewhat likely to support such a plan, and one third not very or not at all likely. Analysis of the data shows that more informed voters, with a more accurate understanding of some basic facts about Alaska’s fiscal structure, are more likely to support a plan involving taxes and permanent fund earnings.
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Evaluation of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Water and Sanitation Project in the Village of Buckland, Alaska - Phase 2
Sharman Haley and Amy Wiita
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is the lead agency for a multi-year sanitation pilot project in the village of Buckland, in Alaska's Northwest Arctic Borough. Providing safe drinking water and sewage disposal for rural communities has been and continues to be a major public policy goal in Alaska. The federal and state governments have spent more than $1 billion building sewer and water facilities in rural Alaska in the past several decades, but many unsafe and inadequate water and sewer systems remain. A wide range of government agencies and Native organizations have been involved in rural sanitation projects, but until recently one notable exception was the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The corps has regulatory authority over and provides technical expertise for water-related projects across Alaska—for example, oil, gas, and mining activities that affect wetlands. But historically it has not been involved in providing sanitation systems in rural Alaska. That changed in 1997, when Congress asked the corps to apply its expertise with cold region design, construction, and operation of water and sewer facilities to projects in rural Alaska. This report evaluates just the planning and the phase one design activities of that pilot project. The Environmental Protection Agency hired the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) to do this evaluation.
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An Assessment of Safety Belt Use In Alaska Summer 2003
Virgene Hanna
To be eligible for certain federal grants, states must document levels of compliance with seatbelt laws. During June, July and August of 2003, ISER researchers recorded and analyzed seat belt use by drivers and front seat passengers in both passenger cars and trucks. In the sample area (which includes 85 percent of the state's population), 80 percent of drivers and 76 percent of outboard passengers were wearing seatbelts. these numbers reflect an increase of just over 13 percent over what was observed in 2002.
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Kids Count Alaska 2003
Virgene Hanna and Claudia Lampman
This year's spotlight for the Kid's Count Alaska Data Book is child health. As many as 12,000 more children in Alaska could qualify for a government-funded program that provides health care coverage for children without health insurance, according to a non- profit group working to let more Alaskans know about the program. Denali KidCare is an extension of Medicaid for children from uninsured families whose income is somewhat too high to qualify them for Medicaid. In 2003, children whose family income was less than 175 percent of the federal poverty level could apply. About 22,000 children were enrolled in the program during 2002, and the estimate of 12,000 additional children who could be eligible is based on U.S. census information about family income. The 2003 Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that Alaska high-school students are only about half as likely to use inhalants or smoke cigarettes as they were in 1995, and significantly less likely to drink, to fight, and to have sex without using condoms. The decline in inhalant use is especially welcome news, since sniffing gasoline fumes has killed a number of teenagers in Alaska Native villages in recent years. Students in Alaska are also now less likely than students nationwide to use inhalants—and to smoke or get into fights. On almost all measures, fewer Alaska students reported risky behavior in 2003 than in 1995, the last time this survey was administered in school districts statewide. So the recent news is good, but many high-school students are still putting their health—especially their long-term health—and safety at risk.
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Effects of the Chignik Cooperative: What the Permit Holders Say
Alexandra Hill and Gunnar Knapp
The value to fishermen of the 2002 Alaska salmon harvest was $141 million—less than one-third of the $481 million average value of catches in the first half of the 1990s. Many factors contributed to this decline, including not only competition from farmed salmon, but also lower sockeye salmon harvests, changes in consumer demand, and a worldwide economic slowdown. These changes have created discussions throughout the salmon industry—among fishermen, processors, fishery managers, and government officials—about how to restore profitability to the salmon industry. Part of the discussion has been about options for “restructuring” the management of salmon fisheries to lower costs, increase value, or steer more of the benefits to Alaskans and their communities.
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Human Dimensions of the Arctic System: Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Dynamics of Social Environment Relationships
Henry Huntington, Matthew Berman, Lee W. Cooper, Larry Hamilton, Larry Hinzman, Knut Kielland, Elizabeth Kirk, Jack Kruse, Amanda Lynch, A. David McGuire, D. W. Norton, and Astrid Ogilvie
In 1997 the National Science Foundation Arctic System Science (ARCSS) program launched the Human Dimensions of the Arctic System (HARC) initiative. Its goal is to “understand the dynamics of linkages between human populations and the biological and physical environment of the Arctic, at scales ranging from local to global.” ....This section describes several HARC projects to give an idea of the scope of the initiative and the breadth of inquiry that has so far been undertaken.
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Leaving Home, Returning Home: Migration as a Labor Market Choice for Alaska Natives
Lee Husky, Matthew D. Berman, and Alexandra Hill
We investigate determinants of the pattern of recent migration of Alaska Natives between rural homelands and urban areas. A review of the literature on moving in the North American North suggests that economic opportunities draw migrants, although such opportunities must be viewed in the context of the mixed subsistence-cash economy prevailing in rural areas of the region. Consequently, we model Native migration as a simultaneous decision with labor market participation in a mixed economy. Estimated equations explaining individual Alaska Native migration choices using the U.S. Census Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) are consistent with the model, and also suggest that perceived opportunities differ between women and men.
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University of Alaska Engineering Programs: A Community View
Mary Killorin and Patricia DeRoche
The University of Alaska is developing a strategic plan for using its engineering resources to meet the needs of the engineering community. The goal of the university is to graduate enough engineers to meet the current and anticipated employment needs in engineering, as well as to provide appropriate professional development courses. Working from a list provided by the UAF and UAA engineering deans, we conducted 35 interviews with representatives of 30 private companies and government agencies. This report summarizes what we learned in those interviews. We start with a description of our methodology (including a summary of the limited information we were able to collect on the numbers and types of engineers employed by organizations we surveyed). In the main part of the report we present a qualitative analysis of respondents’ answers, grouped under four headings—current and future needs for engineers; ability of the University of Alaska engineering programs to meet the employment needs of the engineering community; recommended changes and initiatives for the university’s engineering programs; and observations to share. We then summarize our conclusions. Appendixes A and B present our letter to respondents and our telephone interview script.
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