Alaska

Dunleavy vetoes $10 million in funding for Alaska seafood marketing, for now • Alaska Beacon

Published

2 years ago

July 4, 2024

Dunleavy vetoes million in funding for Alaska seafood marketing, for now • Alaska Beacon

Gov. Mike Dunleavy has vetoed $10 million in funding for the organization charged with marketing Alaska seafood — but may agree to the funding later.

On Friday, Dunleavy issued a line-item veto for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. The governor’s office said that he could seek the funding later if the institute submitted a more detailed plan for the funds.

“The Dunleavy administration has offered support of supplemental funding next session once ASMI has developed a comprehensive marketing plan,” said Jeff Turner, the governor’s communications director.

The funding could be included in a supplemental budget bill — every legislative session, Alaska governors propose these bills to cover unexpected needs and other expenses that weren’t included in the original budget.

Alaska’s $6 billion seafood industry employs over 48,000 workers annually in the state, according to a report commissioned by the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. The institute is a state agency that aims to increase the economic value of Alaskan seafood.

The veto comes at a time when Alaska’s fishing industry is in crisis, facing low consumer demand and steep competition from Russia, which harvests many of the same species as Alaska. For example, in 2023, the price paid to sockeye-salmon fishers delivering their catches was half of the 2022 price, according to the report.

Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, described the condition of Alaska’s fishing industry as “pretty miserable.”

“I’ve been involved in the fishing industry since 1970 and it’s just the worst I have ever seen,” said Stevens, who is also one of six legislators who are nonvoting members of the institute’s board.

Last year, the institute received $5 million in funding from the state. Before then, they had not received any state general funds since June 2018. The institute relies mainly on federal and industry payments: This year, the institute is expected to receive $13 million in funds from the federal government, and $16.2 million from industry assessments.

“The governor is always saying that we want to tell the world that we are open for business, but nothing says ‘we’re closed for business’ more than cutting these funds from ASMI,” said Stevens.

If the institute submits a detailed marketing plan for the vetoed funds, the governor could include funding in the state’s supplemental budget during the next legislative session, the governor’s office said. However, any potential funding would not be quickly available to the institute.

“Waiting doesn’t help at all,” said Stevens. “It’s a very short-sighted view of the industry. Now is the time to help it out, not to just delay things.”

According to ASMI’s executive director, Jeremy Woodrow, the institute’s main priorities lie in domestic markets. Multiple factors have influenced this focus. Among them: a strong dollar and weak yen has made Alaskan seafood less competitive in Japan, a key global market, said Woodrow.

Regarding the effect of the veto, Woodrow said: “We support the governor’s budget, one way or another.”

Additionally, in 2022, President Joe Biden issued an executive order that prohibited Russian seafood imports. This executive order created a “hole” in the domestic seafood market that ASMI is looking to fill, according to Woodrow.

“Any updated marketing plan is going to include those priorities,” said Woodrow.

Tracy Welch, executive director of United Fishermen of Alaska, described the veto as a “missed opportunity” to support the state’s fishers, processors, and coastal communities.

“ASMI has operated on a shoestring budget for quite a few years, and so they do a lot with what they’re given, so I have confidence that they’ll do as best they can,” she said.

Despite her faith in the institute’s ability to “get creative” with the smaller budget, she emphasized the crisis that the seafood industry is currently facing. “The industry needs help now,” said Welch. “Not two years from now.”

For now, Alaska’s seafood industry will need to wait until the next legislative session to know if the institute will receive additional funding from the state.

“Any funding that we can get to help bolster that mission today, as opposed to tomorrow, is a step in the right direction,” said Welch.

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Alaska

ICE: Alaska state attorney arrested by immigration officials, held in Tacoma detention center

Published

6 hours ago

July 16, 2026

Press Room

ICE: Alaska state attorney arrested by immigration officials, held in Tacoma detention center

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Shucheng “Charlie” Yang, 32, a Chinese national and attorney with the Alaska Department of Law, on July 10 in Anchorage, according to an ICE spokesperson.

ICE said Yang violated the terms of his admission and is a “deportable alien.”

He is currently being held at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington, pending immigration proceedings.

Yang pled no contest to a speeding ticket he was cited for on May 22. There are no other charges against him listed in the Alaska court system.

Yang is the most recent person in Alaska to be taken into ICE custody at the Tacoma processing center; a Mexican woman living in Soldotna was deported along with her three children in February.

His arrest also comes days after a Colombian man was shot and killed by a federal immigration officer earlier this week in Maine, fueling a new wave of protests against perceived ICE brutality.

State outlines hiring process

The Alaska Department of Administration responded to general questions about verifying employment eligibility for all full-time hires and said the state requires applicants to self-disclose their employment eligibility during the application process.

“The State of Alaska hires individuals who have the legal right to work in the United States,” Policy Advisor Kate Sheehan said. “This employment eligibility is confirmed through the federally mandated I-9 verification process.”

Yang is listed as Department of Law civil attorney on the State of Alaska employee directory.

Agencies decline to comment on Yang

Both the Alaska Department of Law and the Office of Gov. Mike Dunleavy declined to address Yang’s employment status or arrest.

“As a practice, the Department of Law does not provide comments on personnel issues,” Information Officer Sam Curtis said.

“We do not comment on personnel issues,” Deputy Press Secretary Grant Robinson said.

Alaska’s News Source is reaching out to Yang through multiple channels while he remains detained in Tacoma.

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Alaska

Alaska university gets funding for critical minerals center

Published

18 hours ago

July 15, 2026

Press Room

Alaska university gets funding for critical minerals center

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – The National Science Foundation has selected the University of Alaska Fairbanks to be the site of a new critical minerals research program, making it one of 12 new technology innovation centers across the nation that received federal funding, according to Yereth Rosen with the Alaska Beacon.

The new Critical Minerals Accelerator Engine in Alaska will receive $15 million in funding for two years and up to $160 million over 10 years, the university said on Tuesday.

The organization will be located at and led by UAF’s Geophysical Institute and will work with more than 40 partners, said Steve Masterman, the university faculty member who helped lead the application for the award. Partners include private companies, Native corporations, nonprofits, other universities and other entities, said Masterman, who formerly served as Alaska’s state geologist.

UAF already conducts scientific research into minerals considered critical to the nation’s economy through its Critical Minerals Collaborative. That program is more scientific and academic-focused, said Masterman, who is its deputy director.

In contrast, the Critical Minerals Accelerator Engine will be focused on putting research to use, determining ways to commercialize resources, addressing supply needs, workforce development and other issues important to the critical minerals industry.

Though the scientific research already conducted at UAF will be helpful, the accelerator idea is industry-focused, Masterman said.

“This is quite different because it’s an economic development project,” he said.

Alaska is rich in resources considered critical minerals. The state has 56 of the 60 minerals classified by the U.S. Geological Survey as critical to the nation’s economy, UAF said in its statement.

In addition to the Alaska award, the NSF on Tuesday announced its awards for other innovation engines in different parts of the nation. The sites have different primary purposes, such as disaster prevention and mitigation, robotics development and development of advanced information technologies.

The Alaska innovation engine will be led by Lee Ann Munk, a faculty member at the Geophysical Institute and a geosciences professor at UAF’s College of Natural Science and Mathematics. Munk is currently director of the Critical Minerals Collaborative at UAF.

“Our NSF Engine is built on the simple but ambitious idea that Alaska can lead the nation not only with the abundance of its critical mineral resources, but also in how we innovate, develop and deploy the technologies needed to produce them responsibly,” Munk said in a statement released by the university.

“By bringing together researchers, Alaska Native organizations, industry, workforce partners, state and federal agencies, national laboratories and communities, we are creating an engine that accelerates discovery into action,” she said.

Editor’s note: This story was republished with permission from the Alaska Beacon.

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