Broadband Task Force Looking to Accelerate Deployment Statewide

By next year, many communities in Southwest Alaska will be experiencing broadband internet speeds once GCI's Terra-Southwest project is completed. That is good news for the region, and it's something that the State would like to see spread across the tundra, rainforests, and islands of Alaska. 

For the past several months, individuals from around the state have been meeting to figure out ways to extend the full benefits of broadband technology to every Alaskan. The Statewide Broadband Task Force has thus far been taking stock of the current infrastructure in Alaska while studying the various broadband projects being explored in and around the state. Their next steps include analyzing the benefits, technical challenges, and regulatory aspects of extending broadband across Alaska.  

Bill Popp, CEO of the Anchorage Economic Development Corporation, is Chair of the Task Force. He stated that the group is "now entering into a period of research which will enable us to begin to outline our proposed plan for Alaska that will help us achieve the vision that by 2020, every Alaskan has 100mbps broadband connectivity." That may sound like a lofty goal - and so far costs haven't entered the equation - but achieving it would have huge implications for the economic development and quality of life of all Alaskans.

Sam Tappen has joined the staff as an intern for the remainder of the year.  Sam will work primarily on a new development initiative in which he will be creating an interactive map and database of all assets in the Southwest region. When it is released, the asset map will be an invaluable source of information for local leaders, businesses, and households, as well as decision-makers outside of the region. With this new tool, we will be able to leverage the region's foremost asset clusters as well as identify and understand any inefficiencies that exist in the regional network. This study will ultimately provide the comprehension and direction to lead Southwest Alaska into another decade of growth and prosperity.  

Sam has been a resident of Alaska for the past ten years, most of which was spent in the Interior. He transferred to the University of Alaska Anchorage in 2009 and is close to graduation. His area of study is economics with a minor in business administration. In his free time, Sam loves getting outdoors with his wife, Jackie, and enjoying the incredible hiking, camping, hunting, and fishing that can only be found in Alaska. Feel free to drop him a line at stappen@swamc.org. 

The Alaska Forward Initiative held its second meeting of the Alternative & Renewable Energy Cluster Working Group on June 7th with almost 40 people in attendance. Present at the meeting were representatives and interested parties from all aspects of the industry, including small business owners, utilities, non-profits, and legislators.  

The first meeting of the working group in April identified over 50 clear opportunities for the industry to advance as well as 18 clear obstacles to collective success that must be addressed. These were captured and converted into a draft set of 30 potential action items which were reviewed at the June meeting. Participants then prioritized the possible action items and targeted 12 for further development. Over the next several weeks, each targeted action item will be explored more fully by working group members. Implementation plans will be presented at the next meeting of the group on August 3rd. SWAMC is engaged in this process as we seek ways to export our region's knowledge and technological advantages in the renewable energy field.

Both independent entrepreneurial fishermen and active fishing communities rely heavily on the Halibut and Sablefish (Blackcod) fisheries. The importance of these fisheries to stakeholders lies in its structure, which allows relatively small vessels to target fish close to shore. Another important aspect of these fisheries for Southwest Communities is that 72% of the entire Halibut quota and 45% of the entire Sablefish quota are located in the Central and Western Gulf regions, in close proximity to a number of active fishing communities. SW Alaskan residents control 20.37% of the Area 3, and 30.97% of the Area 4 Halibut; SW Alaskan residents control 10.30% of the Aleutian Islands, 5.60% of the Bering Sea, 12.67% of the Western Gulf and 10.14% of the Central Gulf Sablefish. The concentration of Alaskan ownership in this region is greatest in the Eastern Districts, and declines in the Western Districts for both fisheries. Alaskans own 61.88% of the Halibut Quota and 42.35% of the Sablefish quota.

The high value and large number of operators distributes great wealth back to Southwest communities and fishermen. In recent years, some concern has been drawn to the stock of halibut, which has been reflected in quota allocations being cut, drastically in the Eastern districts, substantially in the Central districts and only slightly in the Western districts. While these cuts are painful, especially for new owners paying down quota loans, prices have strengthened in recent years. The Sablefish fishery is proving valuable as the stock concerns have not led to the quota reductions seen with Halibut and the prices are some of the strongest in the state, vying with SE troll-caught winter King salmon for the most valuable finfish in Alaska.

See this chart (values reported in thousands) for Halibut and Sablefish allocations and value for Southwest and Alaska residents, based on reported prices in Homer on June 23^rd, 2011. Note that prices as reported in Homer can be substantially higher than those in districts to the west- especially fish landed in the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands- due to the logistics of bringing product to market. Another anomaly in the reported numbers is the value of the 2C Halibut to SW residents. While it can be expected that the eastern district will produce relatively less revenue to our region, the recorded values are suspect, especially when compared to the value of Western Yakutat Sablefish. Accounting for price variations, Halibut return an estimated range of $116.1m to $132.9m and Sablefish return an estimated range of $79.3m to $103.9m to all Alaskan residents; and $ 41.7m to $ 47.7m for Halibut and $12.5m to $16.4m for Sablefish to Southwest Alaska residents.

On June 10th, the fishing industry lost a respected man, and the community of Kodiak lost a leader and family man, when Brian Young stopped breathing shortly after making summit of Mount McKinley. Sources close to the family say that climbing "The Great One" was always one of Young's dreams. Our condolences to the family.  

Our thoughts also go out to the family of Lynn Carlson of Port Heiden. Both knowledgeable and vocal, Lynn is a former Board Member of SWAMC and long-time advocate and participant of the community issues of Port Heiden, the Lake and Peninsula Borough, and the Southwest region as a whole.