Crash victims included pollock player Phillips

Among the four others who died with former Sen. Ted Stevens in the Dillingham plane crash was Bill Phillips, a Bethesda, Md., lawyer and lobbyist and the senator's former chief of staff.

Phillips was well-known in Alaska commercial fishing circles as the long-time owner of the Bering Sea pollock processing ship Excellence.

In January the Excellence merged with the partners in another processing ship, the Ocean Phoenix.

The ships market their products through a Seattle-based company, Premier Pacific Seafoods.

The vessels are known in the industry as motherships, taking fish from catcher boats for processing at sea.

Ted Stevens, Nov. 18, 1923 — Aug. 9, 2010

Here's a statement from the National Marine Fisheries Service on Ted Stevens, who died Monday in a plane crash north of Dillingham:

Aug. 10, 2010

Regional Administrator's statement regarding the passing of former Senator Ted Stevens

This is an especially sad day for the Alaska Region of NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service, where we have worked in cooperation with former Senator Ted Stevens to make Alaska's fisheries among the best managed in the world.

Senator Stevens was distinguished as a champion of sustainable ocean policy and influenced nearly every marine environmental and resource management law in the U.S. Senate over the past four decades. Alaska waters were often the test bed of revolutionary new ways of science-based fishery management and resource allocations that promoted safety and incentives for sustainability.

Senator Stevens was a tireless advocate for U.S. fisheries and marine science. He was instrumental in promoting the new Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Juneau which replaced the aging Auke Bay Lab. This laboratory honors his legacy with the name, the Ted Stevens Marine Research Institute.

Our deepest, most heartfelt thoughts are with his family during this time of loss.

Jim Balsiger
Regional Administrator
NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service
Alaska Region

Adak Fisheries bankruptcy recalls Ben Stevens

As frequent visitors to this blog know, Deckboss has been bird-dogging the bankruptcy case of Adak Fisheries, an Aleutian cod processor with a turbulent past.

Among the various motions now pending in the case is the company's attempt to break its lease with landlord Aleut Enterprise.

What's really interesting about this motion is its concise history of the business, including a candid accounting of its good and bad years financially.

The motion also mentions Ben Stevens, suggesting the son of the former U.S. senator was a key figure in a falling-out between Adak Fisheries founder Kjetil Solberg and one of his several partners.

Well, enough of my description. Just read the five-page motion.

By the way, the lease matter is scheduled to come up in a hearing on Wednesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Anchorage.

Stevens headlines Hall of Famers

Al Burch, left, and Ted Stevens. UFA photo

Here's the press release from United Fishermen of Alaska on last night's annoucement of its Alaska Seafood Industry Hall of Fame charter class:

United Fishermen of Alaska

April 24, 2009

United Fishermen of Alaska Honors Senator Stevens in Inaugural Alaska Seafood Hall of Fame

Senator Ted Stevens honored with Lifetime Achievement award, among twenty industry leaders named to Hall of Fame.

In celebration of 50 years of Alaska Statehood and sustainable fisheries management, the United Fishermen of Alaska (UFA) honored former Senator Ted Stevens for his record of accomplishments dating from Alaska Statehood to the present, and named nineteen other individuals to its inaugural Alaska Seafood Hall of Fame. The honor recognizes individuals for their lifetime accomplishments in promoting and protecting Alaska’s seafood industry and fishery resources.

Senator Stevens was presented a UFA Honorary Lifetime Membership and Lifetime Achievement award for his work for sustainable fisheries spanning Alaska’s first 50 years of Statehood, including establishing the 200 mile limit; the Magnuson-Stevens Act, establishment of regional fishery management councils, ban on high seas driftnets, and his continuing work to bring a stop to illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fisheries worldwide.

“Alaska’s fisheries were a focal point in the impetus behind the statehood movement, and through statehood, Alaska was able to influence national fisheries and ocean policy. Alaska’s founding fathers and fishing leaders took many very difficult steps to bring the necessary protections to rebuild and sustain fishing communities. Without the work of these twenty individuals, and especially Senator Stevens, we can only guess what would now remain of our fisheries stocks and fishing communities,” said UFA President Joe Childers.

In accepting the award, Senator Stevens called upon commercial fishermen to join together to continue his work to stop IUU fishing.

UFA followed a two-step process of open nominations followed by voting by the full board of 41 fishing leaders that comprise the UFA. Over fifty people were nominated and the top twenty after voting were named as inaugural inductees. The awards were presented at an industry banquet at the Comfish trade show this week in Kodiak, Alaska.

“The nomination and voting process was a very educational look back into the fifty years since Alaska statehood, reminding all of us that we owe our fisheries to the vision and hard work that so many individuals have made, and inspiring all fishermen and those who work in fisheries to continue this arduous and often frustrating work. The nomination list includes statesmen, innovative fishermen, activists, processors, biologists, regulators, and many who spanned across more than one of these categories.

“There are many men and women in the fishing community whose work might already well qualify them for inclusion, but that would agree that their work is not yet done. The list of eligible individuals will continue to grow and UFA will elect new members yearly,” said executive director Mark Vinsel.

UFA honored the following Alaska Seafood Hall of Fame Charter Members: Bob Alverson, U.S. Senator Bob Bartlett, Bob Blake, The Brindle Family, Chuck Bundrant, Al Burch, Phil Daniel, Oscar Dyson, Senator Dick Eliason, Governor Ernest Gruening, Governor Jay Hammond, Gordon Jensen, Knute Johnson, Armin F. Koernig, Jerry McCune, Alaska State Representative Drew Scalzi, Alaska State Senator Clem Tillion, Tommy Thompson, and Bob Thorstenson Sr.

“These individuals each made lasting contributions that helped Alaska fishermen and women continue our sustainable fisheries to the present and into the future. We look forward to recognizing the many others that are helping ensure our sustainable fisheries through to future generations,” Vinsel said.

Seafood Hall of Fame honorees announced

United Fishermen of Alaska unveiled its inaugural Alaska Seafood Industry Hall of Fame list at a gala dinner tonight in Kodiak (Deckboss, April 16).

And now, without further ado, here are the 20 big names:

Bob Alverson
U.S. Sen. Bob Bartlett
Bob Blake
The Brindle family
Chuck Bundrant
Al Burch
Phil Daniel
Oscar Dyson
State Sen. Dick Eliason
Gov. Ernest Gruening
Gov. Jay Hammond
Gordon Jensen
Knute Johnson
Armin F. Koernig
Jerry McCune
State Rep. Drew Scalzi
U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens
Clem Tillion
Tom Thompson
Bob Thorstenson Sr.

I'll have more tomorrow when UFA issues its formal press release.

Stevens to resurface in Kodiak

Just got official word today that former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens will appear next Thursday at Kodiak's 50th anniversary of statehood celebration.

The event kicks off the town's annual ComFish trade show.

"Sen. Stevens will be here for the commemorative seafood dinner, and he'll remain in town at least overnight," said Deb King, executive director of the Kodiak Chamber of Commerce, the ComFish sponsor.

The dinner, called "Look How Far We've Come," celebrates 50 years of seafood harvesting and processing in Alaska.

United Fishermen of Alaska will present Stevens with a Lifetime Achievement award at the dinner, a Chamber press release says.

And here's something else: UFA plans to unveil its first slate of 20 fishing industry Hall of Fame honorees.