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            The Alaska Marine Conservation Council received a sizable grant last week to help Kodiak jig fishermen get better prices for their Pacific cod and rockfish catches.

            The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation gives grants with the goal of sustaining fishermen's jobs while building fish stocks. Theresa Peterson, the Kodiak outreach coordinator for AMCC says they will use the money to bring small boat fishermen's catch to a wider audience.

-- (Jig Grant 1             22 sec              "Part of what we'd like to do ... for a high quality product.")

            She says markets exist that would see the small boat fleet's quality practices as a good reason to buy the fish:

-- (Jig Grant 2             34 sec              "The popularity of community ... benefits to our fisheries.")

            Peterson says jigging is one of the few entry-level fisheries left in the Gulf of Alaska, and can serve as a starting point for new fishermen:

-- (Jig Grant 3             31 sec              "It's an open-access fishery ... get into other fisheries.")

            The grant is for two years, and Peterson says AMCC is going to start slow, but definitely wants to grow:

-- (Jig Grant 4             19 sec              "We have about eight jig ... currently 147 vessels registered.")

            AMCC is one of 18 groups sharing in $1.55 million in grants from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. The North Pacific Fisheries Association, based in Homer, received $65,000 for a project to field test new hardware and software in monitoring the small boat commercial halibut fishery.

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