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A handful of surveys are being
circulated throughout Alaska’s
fishing and maritime community this month. Paula Cullenberg is the program
leader for the Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program and said the surveys
are part of a data gathering stage for a statewide initiative to create a
workforce development plan for the fisheries, seafood and maritime industries.
Cullenberg
said this Fisheries Seafood Maritime Initiative, or FSM, is being led by an
industry advisory group made up of about 15 maritime representatives from all
over Alaska
and five state agencies -- the Departments of Labor, Education, Commerce, Fish
and Game and Transportation. The University
of Alaska is also
involved and helping facilitate the process. Cullenberg said the four surveys,
which are all available online, represent four different aspects of Alaska’s maritime
culture.
-- (Fish Survey 1 :26 “On is surveying commercial … fishermen
it’s a big group.”)
Cullenberg
said the survey will ask questions that will help better define what those jobs
are.
-- (Fish Survey 2 :23 “And
what are the hardest jobs ... this workforce.”)
She
said the information gathered will help the workforce develop ways to improve
the industries.
-- (Fish Survey 3 :30 “Maybe the Department of … something
like that.”)
Cullenberg
said workforce development plans aren’t uncommon in Alaska. The state went through the same
process for the health care industry, which led to more nursing programs and
training opportunities. She said it’s also been done for the oil and gas
industry, and the mining industry is currently working on one.
The
goal is to have a workforce plan for the fishing, seafood and maritime
industries available for public review by the end of the year. The four surveys
are available online at Alaska
dot edu slash F-S-M-I. The deadline to complete the survey is March 1st.
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