Today's topic is a continuation of my last post regarding the government allocating the fisheries to itself.
From the Alaska Department of Commerce:
The Community Development Quota Program began in December of 1992 with the goal of promoting fisheries related economic development in western Alaska. The program is a federal fisheries program that involves eligible communities who have formed six regional organizations, referred to as CDQ groups. There are 65 communities within a fifty-mile radius of the Bering Sea coastline who participate in the program.
The CDQ program allocates a portion of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Island harvest amounts to CDQ groups, including pollock, halibut, Pacific cod, crab and bycatch species. There are no significant amounts of salmon allocated. Based upon its evaluation of the Community Development Plans submitted by the six CDQ groups, the State of Alaska and the National Marine Fisheries Service periodically allocates percentages of each species to CDQ groups. The CDQ program was granted perpetuity status during the 1996 reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
The program was modeled after the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA). However, the CDQ program was created with three primary differences:
- Government oversight of all business activities
- Community based shareholders instead of individual shareholders
- Requirement that all investments be fisheries related
The six CDQ groups are:
- Aleutian Pribilof Island Community Development Association (6 communities)
- Bristol Bay Economic Development Corporation (17 communities)
- Central Bering Sea Fishermen's Association (1 community)
- Coastal Villages Region Fund (20 communities)
- Norton Sound Economic Development Corporation (15 communities)
- Yukon Delta Fisheries Development Association (6 communities)
Since 1992, over $110 million in wages, education, and training benefits have been generated for over 25,000 residents. As of 2003, the asset value of the six CDQ groups exceeded $260 million. Since 1992, over $500 million in revenues have been generated. The CDQ program has been successfully contributing to fisheries infrastructure in western Alaska by funding docks, harbors, and the construction of seafood processing facilities. The CDQ program has allowed CDQ groups to acquire equity ownership interests in the pollock, Pacific cod, and crab sectors which provide additional revenues to fund local in-region economic development projects, and education and training programs.
At first glance this sounds oh so lovely doesn't it? But consider this: would those dollars have better spent in the private sector? Government's inability to manage almost anything is legendary. This writer is of the opinion that in the right hands, that $110 million would have at least been doubled. Private investment and ownership always trumps any attempt at socialism.
Stay tuned!
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At first glance this sounds oh so lovely doesn't it? But consider this: would those dollars have better spent in the private sector? Government's inability to manage almost anything is legendary. This writer is of the opinion that in the right hands, that $110 million would have at least been doubled. Private investment and ownership always trumps any attempt at socialism.
Stay tuned!
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