Aleutian Pribilof Island Community Development Association ...€¦ · Haginaa Kidul - Helping to...

Aleutian Pribilof Island Community Development Association (APICDA)

Haginaa Kidul - Helping to Grow

IN THIS ISSUE:

2. Chief Executive Officer Message

3. Expansion Continues at Bering Pacific Seafoods

5. Congratulations Photo Contest Winners

6. The Surfing is Great in Nikolski

9. Niigugim Tanasxaa Culture Camp

12. Big Blue Arrives in St. George

Atka

Photo by Ken Smith

Surfing the Aleutians in

Nikolski

Aleutian WaveWinter 2013

116

Message from the CEO

Winter 20132

Dear APICDA Communities and Stakeholders,

As 2013 comes to a close, APICDA is charging ahead through a period of intense growth. As we move past our twentieth anniversary, we are continually moti-

vated by our purpose— to develop stable local economies in each of our member communities.

We know that stable economies require investment and infra-structure. We have invested millions in infrastructure through-out our region, but nowhere with as much recent emphasis as in False Pass. That community has access to seafood resourc-es that can sustain a year-round processing operation. When our construction project at Bering Pacific Seafoods (BPS) is complete this spring, we will begin year-round operations. A completed BPS will bring more employment opportunities, increased tax revenue, economic growth and opportunity. We are betting our investments at BPS will re-establish False Pass as a community that can be counted on to keep people in the region. We will apply the same level of commitment in devel-oping stability in each of our member communities.

Another investment, the addition of Cannon Fish Company in August of last year, shows our direction on into the future. Cannon Fish enables APICDA to function as a vertically in-tegrated seafood company. We now have the ability to respon-sibly harvest, process and market wild Alaskan crab, pollock, Pacific cod, black cod, halibut and salmon from the North

Pacific in a sustainable manner.

Our focus on growth and financial investments come out of the fact that we cannot achieve our purpose by relying strictly on royalties from the CDQ allocations. All of our companies must focus on profitability in their operations to be able to better build sustainability and opportunities in our communities.

As much as we are looking forward, the challenge of making a living and sur-viving in our villages today is something of which we are acutely aware. Our communities are faced with many needs and challenges. A growing threat is substance abuse— this is a spreading cancer that must be eradicated.

The APICDA board and all of our employees are excited about our growth and the positive changes that come with it.

Best wishes for a happy New Year!

Larry Cotter, APICDA Chief Executive Officer

Larry CotterChief Executive Officer

APICDA Board of Directors

Gilda Shellikoff False PassChair

Andrew “AJ” Lestenkof Jr. NikolskiVice-Chair

Justine Gundersen Nelson LagoonSecretary/Treasurer

Pete CrandallEx-OfficioFinancial Industry

Rick Lauber Fishing IndustryDirector

Harvey McGlashanAkutanDirector

Patrick Pletnikoff St. GeorgeDirector

Bill Shaishnikoff UnalaskaEx-Officio

Mark Snigaroff AtkaDirector

www.apicda.com

“All of our companies must focus on profitability in their operations to be able to better build value for our communities.”

Photo courtesy of WACDA

Akutan - Atka - False Pass - Nelson Lagoon - Nikolski - St. George Aleutian Pribilof Island Community Development Association (APICDA)

3Haginaa Kidul - Helping to Grow

Overall growth at Bering Pacific Seafoods (BPS) con-tinues to focus on development of infrastructure in

False Pass. The growth plan will continue until BPS is able to operate year-round and provide predictable local and regional hire and job creation.

Internal expansion will include Ryco equipment installed to connect to large holding tanks. This equipment will help to streamline processing and feed fish to the new lines. The two new machines in the lines will greatly im-prove processing capacity at the plant.

Progress continues on the duplex being built by APICDA in False Pass. The building will provide housing for year-round employees at the plant. Ideally the employees will

be a young family with children so that the kids can attend and support the local school.

False Pass Fuel FarmThe False Pass fuel farm construction is nearly complete. There will be 180,000 gallons available for use within the community for local residents and municipal buildings. A new fuel farm was required after Peter Pan stopped selling fuel.

The False Pass fuel farm will be separate from the fuel requirements to operate Bering Pacific Seafoods. The sea-food plant will maintain a 60,000 gallon fuel farm to support operations and fishermen.

Expansion continues at Bering Pacific Seafoods

False Pass

116

Akutan - Atka - False Pass - Nelson Lagoon - Nikolski - St. George

Winter 20134



Akutan

New Quality Assurance Department

LAURA DELGADO, Director Quality Assurance, has moved to this position after nearly 11 years as Director Human Resources. She will work to develop a new de-partment. She has proven to have that ability in her formation of the human resources department. The QA department will function sim-ilarly to the safety department in that it will be based in Anchorage

and report to John Sevier, APICDA Chief Operating Officer.

With the expansion of business operations at both Atka Pride Seafoods and Bering Pacific Seafoods, the need for a full-time quality assurance position became a necessity. The tasks had been distributed throughout APICDA as the companies expanded, but the recent focus on growth

prompted the development of a new department. Laura will work closely with the QA staff throughout various APICDA subsidiaries. She will mainly focus on Cannon Fish Company, the sales and marketing company pur-chased by APICDA in the summer of 2013.

Laura is already getting specialized training for her new role. Laura Delgado, Ken Smith and Shirley Jones at-tended the fourth Alaska Seafood Processing Leadership Institute (ASPLI) in late October in Kodiak. The training was organized by the Alaska Sea Grant Marine Adviso-ry Program, training mid-career seafood processor em-ployees who are identified by their companies as having a good chance of being leaders in the industry. All three employees were greatly enhanced in their knowledge during the training.

Laura is excited for the change. She is a longtime employ-ee and knows so much about the company and the his-tory. Most importantly Laura is committed to APICDA and believes in its purpose.

Laura DelgadoDirector Quality Assurance

EVERETTE ANDERSON, Director Business Develop-ment, will serve as the Northwest Fisheries Association (NWFA) board president. Everette took over the new position on Dec. 14, 2013 when the sitting president Jeremy Lee handed over the gavel. APICDA has been a member of the NWFA since 2007. The NWFA currently represents approximately 190 member companies, includ-ing primary and secondary seafood processors, seafood brokers, dis-

tributors and direct-support industry members. These businesses, primarily from Washington, Alaska and Can-ada, produce a wide variety of fish and shellfish products and distribute them worldwide.

Everette will also serve as director on the Bristol Bay Native Corporation (BBNC) board. The BBNC board is involved in various business lines around the globe. Everette is look-ing forward to the challenge. “I’m excited to be a part of a team that continually seeks out ways to do more for its shareholders, as well as strengthen and grow the corpora-tion’s bottom line,” says Everette. He set a goal to serve, “I realized early on in my professional career that I wanted to give back.” Everette was elected at the annual meeting of BBNC shareholders on Oct. 5, 2013. Everette is originally from Dillingham, which is one of BBNC’s villages, and spent much of his childhood there.

He credits his work at APICDA serving on the various fishery regulatory bodies, working with the communities on infrastructure projects and a multitude of fishery indus-try related business in preparing him for the new leader-ship roles he is about to take on.

Everette Anderson Elected to Serve in Leadership Positions

APICDA Vision Statement:The Aleutian Pribilof Island Community Development Association (APICDA) will develop commercial and sport fishing industry related opportunities to enhance the long-term social and economic viability of the coastal communities and their residents in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands.

APICDA will optimize benefits to its member communities and their residents through the develop-ment of infrastructure and fishery support services in the communities, the acquisition of seafood related businesses, including fishing vessels and/or processing facilities and support service industries at economically beneficial prices, and the acquisition of harvest and processing rights. By enabling the communities to participate in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Island fisheries,

APICDA will:• Promote and participate in business opportunities with capital investment funds;• Relieve chronic social problems through the creation of jobs, and encourage individual

growth through educational and vocational opportunities;• Promote community control over their individual economic and social destinies; and,• Continue to assist each community as they make the transition from reliance upon a CDQ

allocation to economic and social self-sufficiency.

Everette AndersonDirector BusinessDevelopment

116


Winter 20136



Photo by April Pelkey

The 2013 Photo Contest closed on Oct. 5 with a large number of entries. The photos submitted by residents of our communities and staff members at APICDA high-lighted the beauty and wildness of our region. Many featured people who live in the villages, incredible scen-ery, colorful seasons and people working in the seafood industry. Ten winners were selected.

The photos submitted were carefully reviewed and the winners were included in our 2014 APICDA calen-dar and Christmas card. Each selected photo received $100; three people submitted had two photos selected for use.

The following were winners:

Jessica Borenin (2), Savannah Yatchmeneff, Kenneth Reeves (2), Josephine Shangin, Charlene Gould (2), Angel Drobnica, Sam Cunard, Claire Laukitis (2) and Peri Jordan.

Happy Holidays

From the APICDA familyAleutian Pribilof Island Community Development Association“Christmas Bounty” photo by Claire Laukitis, 2013

APICDA

2014

Aleutian Pribilof Island Community Development Association

January

May

AprilMarchFebruary

JulyJune August

September NovemberOctober December

Congratulations! 2013 Photo Contest Participants

Photo by Claire Laukitis

Photo by Jessica BoreninNelson Lagoon

Photo by Sam Cunard

The tourism division wrapped up the 2013 season with a bang. Merle Brandell, our guide in Nelson Lagoon, enter-

tained four sea duck hunters who all went home with limits of pacific eiders. Merle is busy getting equipment put up for the winter and ready for next season. We are looking forward to having more duck hunters out next year. On a side note Merle has been working for APICDA Joint Ventures (AJV) tourism as a guide for the last five years and has done an ex-

cellent job. Merle starts as a full-time employee for AJV out in Nelson La-goon in January. His new duties will still include guiding for our tourism operations along with oversight of other AJV ventures in Nelson Lagoon. Way to go Merle.

Fisherman and wounded warrior Patrick Schue proudly presents his catch with guide Merle Brandell.

Duck hunter Shane Smith with his pacific eider.

APICDA Joint Ventures / Tourism

116


Winter 20138

NikolskiThe Surfing is Great in

by David Heimes



A group of surfers just finished up their stay at a tourist camp out of Nikolski for Aleu-tian Adventures, the tourism division for

APICDA Joint Ventures. They were on assignment with Surfer Magazine— exploring the possibili-ties of the area as a surfing destination. “The surfers who participated stated that it was some of the best surf they have ever ridden in their lives,” says George Weaver, General Manager Tourism Division.

The photos and video taken for the surfing magazine during the trip will be put together and disseminated through both print and online media. The connection being developed with this group and others will likely

foster further eco and adventure tourism opportuni-ties in the area. “We are hoping the surfers will re-turn next season and bring their surfing friends,” says George. The surfers, including possible wind surfers, could provide a new revenue stream for the tourism division at the end of the season.

The group had nothing but great things to say about the accommodations, the surf and the area. To find out more about the surfing group, go to:

http://www.surfermag.com/http://arctic-surf.com/Surfing images from Umnak Island.

Nikolski / Ugludax LLC Activities2013 proved to be another great year for the hunters visiting Nikolski. There were 22 hunters who en-joyed the hunting opportunities the Nikolski area provides. There is already a number of pre-bookings for next year. The tourism division is looking for-ward to another great season in 2014.

We would like to thank the following regional em-ployees for all their hard work and effort put into this year’s operation:

Merle Brandell

Scott Kerr

Arlene Nelson

Agrafina Kerr

Dailey Schaack

Anfesia Duskin

Jenny Johnson

Danny Snigaroff

Elijah Johnson

Vinny Lestenkof

Leona Nelson

Samantha Mierzejek

Seward Brandell Jr

Josh Stamm

Photos by Chris Burkhard

116Winter 201310


Atka



Condolences for Nick Nevzoroff and Laura ZaochneyEveryone at APICDA sends their sincere con-dolences to the families and friends of Nick Nevzoroff and Laura Zaochney, as well as the community of Atka for their loss.

Nick Nevzoroff worked for Atka Pride Sea-food as plant engineer from 1994 through 2011. The plant’s continued success is large-ly attributed to Nick’s mentoring of staff and

his community leadership. He was well respected for his fisheries knowledge and experience. He was born on March 19, 1941 and passed away on Oct. 26, 2013.

Laura Zaocheny was the daughter of Taty and Siridon (Spike) Zaocheny. Taty is the namesake for the F/V Taty Z, an APICDA owned vessel. Laura has three sons Alex, Andy (Jerry) and Jonathan as well as seven grandchildren. Laura also passed away on Oct. 26, 2013.

Sally Swetzof Wins the 2013 AFN Culture Bearer Award

Congratulations to Sally Swetzof in receiving the 2013 Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN) Culture

Bearer Award! Sally was nominated by The Aleut Corporation for the AFN award. The award recogniz-es an Alaska Native who demon-strates strong involvement in the arts. Sally was born in Atka and is a teacher in the community. She grew up speaking only Unangam Tunuu, the local Native language,

until she started school and had to learn English.

For the past 13 years, she has taught sewing, Unangax dance, making of regalia and beaded headdresses, and traditional food preparation. This past summer she par-ticipated in the Atka Culture Camp, which was coordi-

nated by her daughter Crystal Dushkin who works as a community liaison officer for APICDA. A portion of the culture camp was funded by APICDA.

Sally is one of the founding members of the Atxam Taligisniikangis dance group. She has provided the Un-angam Tunuu translations for songs since its inception in 1995. Sally is mother to Marii Swetzof, assistant to the APICDA Chief Operating Officer. Marii is also a member of the dance group.

Niigugim Tanasxaa Culture Campby Crystal Dushkin

This summer, the Native Village of Atka IRA Tribe hosted Atka’s first ever Culture Camp, Niigugim

Tanasxaa. The camp was held Aug. 11-17, 2013 and concluded with a day-long Community Culture Gath-ering and Potluck on Sunday, Aug. 18.

“Keeping Alive the Niigugix Way of Life”

The theme and motto for Niigugim Tanasxaa was “Keep-ing Alive the Niigugix Way of Life”, and this first year of camp was dedicated to the late Nick Golodoff, author of the autobiographical book, Attu Boy.

Roughly 40 camp participants attended each day, though in all about 70 people participated in some way.

The camp was set near Korovin Bay beach and partic-ipants ranged in age from toddlers to Elders. Learning opportunities at the camp included: traditional foods; plants as foods and medicine; iqyax (kayak) construc-tion; grass weaving; uliigix (skin boot) sewing; tradi-tional songs and dance; and craft activities for the young children. All meals prepared at camp were also traditional foods that had been donated by communi-ty members, and were prepared either by camp cooks Molly Kudrin and Ruth Zaochney or the traditional foods mentors.

A very special guest, Elder Gennadiy Yakovlev, traveled from the village of Nikolskoye, Bering Island, Russia, to attend and teach at the camp as well. The people of Nikolskoye are descendants of Unangax people taken by Russians from Atka and Attu to the Commander Is-lands in the 1800s. They have maintained their Unan-gax identity as well as the language in both the Atka and Attu dialects. The local people were able to communicate in the Atka Niigugix dialect with Gennaidy, who does not speak English. His trip was made possible by the

APICDA School Grant, which had been granted to Atka Netsvetov School.

On behalf of the Camp participants, the Native Village of Atka IRA Council, and the entire community, huge thanks and appreciation go to all the sponsors who made this first year of camp possible! APICDA graciously and generously matched the Tribe’s own contribution to the camp, along with support from their partner Trident Seafoods. The City of Atka was also incredibly support-ive and generous, donating close to $10,000. Niigugim Tanasxaa would not have been possible were it not for these generous donors and countless contributions of individuals, organizations and businesses.

Niigugim Tanasxaa Culture Camp group.

Nick Nevzoroff

116


Winter 201312



St. George

St. George Island received a fire truck, formerly owned by the city of Sitka, which offloaded on Monday, Nov. 11, 2013. The truck is known as

“Big Blue” because of its distinctive blue paint job.

APICDA (the Aleutian Pribilof Island Community Development Association) and Tri-dent Seafoods provided funding and other resources for the trans-port to St. George. “I am grate-ful to APICDA and Trident for the help in getting Big Blue to St. George where it is sorely needed,” says St. George Mayor Pat Plet-nikoff. “The fire truck fills a huge

need in our community. I appreciate both APICDA and Trident helping with the vessel for transport of the fire truck.” The harbor at St. George is not complete and is missing infrastructure to receive a vehicle as large as Big Blue without a vessel with a shallow enough draft.

Trident organized the transport of the truck to St. George. It was shipped north from Unalaska on the Farwest Leader, a vessel owned 50/50 by Trident and APICDA Joint Ventures (AJV). “It is great of Trident to have committed so much time and resources in coordi-nating the delivery of the fire truck

to one of our member communities,” says Larry Cotter, APICDA Chief Executive Officer. “Trident has been a strong partner for many years and their help in this project shows their support to communities in south-west Alaska.”

The Sitka Fire Department sold the truck to the City of St. George for one dollar. The Alaska State Troopers provided a donation to Sampson Tug & Barge to trans-port the truck to Unalaska.

APICDA is working with the people of St. George on a number of projects, including harbor improvements at Zapadni Bay. APICDA is working with the state and federal government to secure additional financing to complete the harbor. Design work for the new har-bor is underway and expected to be complete in late fall, 2014.

Fire Truck “BIG BLUE” Delivered to St. George

Greetings APICDA! I wanted to extend a special thank you to your organization for support-ing me in my journey to become a registered nurse. I am excited to share that I have graduated from the Uni-versity of Alaska Anchorage School of Nursing Program on Dec.13, 2013. Although I plan to continue on with

my education within the nursing field, this has been a mile-stone of achievement and thank you for being a part of it! Without your financial support, I could not have made it this far. I was able to focus on my studies without stress-ing over excessive school expenses. Thank you very much and Merry Christmas to you and your families!

—Sincerely, Renee Kochuten

Renee Kochuten and son Cash

116


Winter 201314

How to Eat Clams and Protect Yourself from PSP Tooby Bruce Wright, Senior Scientist, Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) funded the Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association (APIA) to establish a testing and monitoring

program for paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) in Aleut communities (Project Title: Response to Paralytic Shell-fish Poisoning in Aleut Communities) with the intent of building capacity in the region so that residents will understand the risks associated with eating subsistence shellfish and what steps to take to avoid poisoning. Some people continue to eat bivalves, so this document de-scribes the options you have to protect yourself from PSP poisoning.

1. Don’t Eat Them

The easiest and best way you can protect yourself from PSP poisoning is to not eat bivalves (clams, mussels, scallops, cockles) from Alaska beaches.

[Shellfish sold at wholesale and retail markets require PSP testing and are considered safe for human con-sumption.]

2. Know the Species

But if you do eat bivalves from Alaska’s beaches you can reduce your risk by avoiding the most dangerous species; butter clams and blue mussels. Littleneck clams usually do not reach as high of toxicity levels as butter clams and littleneck clam toxicity levels usually drop off quicker than butter clams. The official policy of the state of Alaska is that all shellfish that are un-tested are unsafe to eat. This includes littleneck clams since there have been recorded toxin levels. Littleneck clams are safer than other shellfish, but there is no guarantee they are safe when there is a PSP problem in the area with other species. If you harvest/consume clams from Alaska beaches you should become famil-iar with all the clam species. Extreme caution should

be taken when consuming any clams, scallops and mussels from Alaska’s beaches.

Crabs feeding on toxic shellfish can accumulate PSP toxin in their digestive system, so I recommend that before cooking, remove the back shell of the crab and clean out all the dark soft tissues that compose the digestive system and crab butter.

3. Practice safe harvest strategy

Catch - Hold - Test

Follow these steps and you will decrease the likelihood of becoming ill from PSP:

IDENTIFY a beach in the community where a harvest will be scheduled.

NOTIFY community members of the harvest location and date.

MONITOR the beach for toxin levels at least once prior to the harvest date and during the same tide cycle as the harvest by collecting sample(s) of the target species and testing for toxin at the ADEC laboratory. Since this is not a regularly scheduled event and timely notice of results is essential, DEC should be notified in advance of any collection and shipment to be sure the DEC lab has the testing supplies on hand and can provide timely notice.

If the samples are acceptable for harvest (less than 80 ug PSP/100 grams of tissue), the community will be noti-fied that the harvest will proceed.



The beach boundaries for harvest will be marked, and on the day of harvest, harvesters will be supervised by a selected community representative to assure they are harvesting the correct species and remain within the boundary of the harvest.

Harvesters will be instructed to refrigerate and hold their harvest until an official PSP test of the harvest is completed.

Sample(s) of shellfish will be taken from the harvest and tested by ADEC laboratory. This should require 24-48 hours. Please contact the ADEC office for the sampling and shipping instructions.

Test results will be delivered to the community and through local broadcast media.

Harvesters will be instructed to return the shellfish to the beach if PSP results are unacceptable.

PSP is a public health emergency and should be report-ed immediately to Alaska Section of Epidemiology by health care providers or citizens. To report, please call 907-269-8000 Mon-Fri. 8 am to 5 pm, or 1-800-478-0084 after-hours. Early symptoms include tingling of the lips and tongue, which may begin within minutes of eating toxic shellfish or may take an hour or two to develop. Symptoms may progress to tingling of fingers and toes and then loss of control of arms and legs, fol-lowed by difficulty in breathing. Some people feel nau-seous or experience a sense of floating. If a person con-sumes enough toxin, muscles of the chest and abdomen become paralyzed, including muscles used for breath-ing, and the victim can suffocate. Death from PSP has occurred in less than 30 minutes.

General questions about PSP and PSP testing can be directed to George Scanlan at the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation at (907) 269-7638.

Contact: Matthew Forester, Bio-Analysis Section Manager, Department of Environmental Conservation, Environmental Health Lab., Phone: (907) 375-8204, Email: [email protected]

Who We Are

APICDA (the Aleutian Pribilof Island Community Development Association) is a vertically integrated seafood company responsibly harvesting, processing and marketing wild Alaskan crab, pollock, cod, black cod, halibut and salmon from the Bering Sea and Pacific Ocean in a sustainable manner. We maintain the highest standards of quality for our wild Alaskan seafood from the icy ocean waters to the table.

The Aleutian WAVE quarterly report is produced by APICDA in Anchorage, Alaska. Inquiries or comments may be directed to: Media Department: APICDA 717 K Street, Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: (907) 929-5273 / Toll-Free: (888) 9-APICDA / Fax: (907) 929-5275 Email: [email protected] / Website: www.apicda.com

Photo by Bradley Stevens

16


Winter 2013

NON-PROFIT

US POSTAGE PAID

ANCHORAGE, AKPERMIT NO. 215

APICDAAleutian Pribilof Island Community Development Association302 Gold Street, Suite 202Juneau, AK 99801

Map courtesy of WACDA

Aleutian Pribilof Island Community Development Association ...€¦ · Haginaa Kidul - Helping to...

Documents

Transcript of Aleutian Pribilof Island Community Development Association ...€¦ · Haginaa Kidul - Helping to...