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Economic Development and Advocacy for Southwest Alaska
January 2013 
Greetings!swamc 25yrs II
Happy New Year! 2013 marks the 25th Anniversary of SWAMC, and we're starting the year off with a couple of exciting announcements, which you can read about below. We'll keep this newsletter brief since most folks are still recovering from all the holiday cheer (plus we'll keep the information coming at you with the 2013 Conference regular mailings). We hope everyone had a safe, happy, and healthy holiday season, and we look forward to seeing you in the new year! Thanks for reading.
Register Now for SWAMC's 2013 Annual Economic Summit    
Online registration for the 2013 SWAMC Conference is open. The meeting will be held February 20-22 at the Hotel Captain Cook in Anchorage. The 20th will feature a on-day energy workshop focused on regional energy planning, new technologies and innovations, regional energy projects, and more. The 21st will cover topics like transportation service trends for the region, broadband plans, and Arctic opportunities and SW Alaska. The third and final day of the conference will explore the concepts of a fisheries and oceans "cluster" in Southwest Alaska. The evening will be topped off by a Friday night banquet with Lt. Governor Mead Treadwell. You can see the full agenda here.

We are still seeking more sponsors. If you would like to support the 2013 Conference, you can do that online or just contact our office with questions. The hotel is once again offering $99/night rooms to conference attendees, so make sure you get yours soon! Just tell them you're with SWAMC. We'll have more conference information coming your way in the coming weeks.

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Regional Applications for a Digital Economy Report Released 
RADE cover
SWAMC recently wrapped up its regional broadband strategy aimed at getting more out of the internet services used by Southwest Alaskan businesses, communities, and organizations. Regional Applications for a Digital Economy (RADE) is the product of an effort over the summer and fall to explore new opportunities made available by broadband, while also seeking ways to boost access in underserved markets of SW Alaska. The report is full of findings and recommendations for policy and strategy to promote broadband deployment and application development in Southwest Alaska. The document was grounded in research and analysis, but also drew on the experiences and guidance of a Broadband Focus Group made up of a cross-section of folks working in various sectors of SW Alaska, from education to business to government services. Their perspectives on broadband needs, challenges, and opportunities in Rural Alaska informed much of the project work.

The report will be used as a guiding document by SWAMC as we continuously seek ways to broaden broadband access and adoption in the region. We will leverage its findings and recommendations to work with the Alaska  Broadband Task Force in communicating our region's broadband needs. We invite you to download the report and work with us as we take on these technology challenges that are at the heart of economic development in Southwest Alaska. 
The report is made possible by a USDA Rural Business Opportunity Grant.   
2012 in Review - A Word Cloud 
What a year it was in 2012! We focused a lot on building community capacity, our regional energy challenges, strengthening our Southwest fisheries, enhancing our educational opportunities, and maintaining our strategic partnerships, all in the name of regional economic development. If you don't believe us, check out this Word Cloud, where we dumped all the text from our 15 newsletters of 2012 into a hopper, and it produced our biggest themes of the year as a 'cloud'. The bigger the word, the more frequent it appeared in our articles. Have a look at some of our major priorities on the year, and look out for your community in the 2013 cloud!
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Economic Indicator: Groundfish Harvests
At their December meeting, the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council set the  Bering Sea Aleutian Island (BSAI) Groundfish Total Allowable Catch (TAC) at the predefined 2 million metric ton (mt) limit, extending the robust harvest trends of the past 2 years, as seen in the first graph. Allowable Biological Catch was increased to 2.64 million mt, up from 2.51 million mt in 2012. The total ex-vessel value of Alaska's Groundfish harvests in 2011 was $991 million, nearly 49% of the total value for all fisheries. The other diagrams display total Bering Sea Groundfish harvest by week, and location of Pollock A & B seasons harvests.
BSAI Groundfish Harvest BSAI Groundfish Catch by Week BSAI Catch by Location_A Season BSAI Catch by Location_B Season
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Greetings!
2013 SWAMC Conference
Regional Broadband Report
2012 Word Cloud Review
SW Economic Indicator
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Thanks to These 2013 Conference Sponsors!

First Mate 
Pebble Limited Partnership

Deck Master

The Aleut Corp.
City of King Cove
Wells Fargo

Deck Hand 
APICDA
City of Kodiak
Kodiak Island Borough

Coffee Break 
Aleutians East Borough
Aleutians Housing Authority
Boyd, Chandler, Falconer
Bristol Bay Borough
City of Adak
Northern Economics
Nushagak Elec. Cooperative

Some of Our Partners

EDA

ardor

DCCED

USDA RD

We're a member of
IEDC 

APED

Visit Southwest Alaska
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SWAMC Board of Directors
Shirley Marquardt, Pres.
Alice Ruby 
Glen Gardner
Joe Sullivan 
Kathleen Totemoff 
Lamar Cotten 
Layton Lockett 
Louise Stutes
Patrick Jordan 
Paul Gronholdt 
Trevor Brown 

SWAMC Staff

 Andy Varner
Executive Director


Erik O'Brien 
Economist; Development Specialist 
 
Cameron Dean 
STEM Coordinator/VISTA 
Upcoming Events & Dates to Remember
As always...
Thanks for your support of SWAMC. Please don't hesitate to share your thoughts, ideas, concerns and events. For previous newsletters, click the link below.