Vol. XXIV, No. 6
June 2004

Researchers Look at China Market for Alaska Salmon Powder
Salmon fishermen in Alaska are desperate to find markets for their catch, while in China the demand for fish protein powder, used to add protein to diets, far exceeds the supply. To supplement protein-poor diets, especially serious for children under 6 years, parents feed them juice with China-produced carp powder mixed in.

A few years ago, Beijing native Pei (Cathy) Xu, unable to find carp powder as a supplement for her young son, proposed researching the feasibility of selling Alaska salmon powder in China to help solve the protein shortage. The project was funded by Alaska Sea Grant. Xu, now a graduate student of Mark Herrmann's in the UAF School of Management, is finishing her master's thesis, "An Economic Analysis of Producing and Exporting Alaska Salmon Protein Powder to China."

At the invitation of the Pan-Pacific Business Association, Xu presented the research results at their annual Pan-Pacific Conference May 28 in Anchorage. She and Herrmann, with others, published a paper in the Proceedings of the Pan-Pacific Conference XXI 2004, "Exporting Salmon Protein Powder to China: We Have a Dream."

The article reports on interviews with 250 China residents on their taste preferences for Alaska salmon powder compared to carp powder. Trained interviewers surveyed 50 residents each in five locations, of varied income levels. Beijing and Tianjin are large cities with high household income, and Shijiazhuang and Baoding are middle-income cities in northern China. Consumers from these four cities preferred Alaska salmon protein to Chinese carp protein, and said they would buy it. In Wangdu, a county where the protein malnutrition problem is particularly serious and household income is low, consumers favored the taste of Chinese carp powder.

The results show that there may be a good market for the Alaska salmon powder in China. Xu already has been contacted by an Alaska seafood processor, on behalf of the Salmon Utilization Committee of Cordova, who is interested in the market. FITC seafood specialist Chuck Crapo helped prepare the powder used in the study, from low-value pink and chum salmon.

After Xu finishes her master's degree in resource and applied economics, in July 2004, she will go to Purdue University to pursue a Ph.D. She earned her bachelor's degree in economic law in China. Xu hopes the fish protein powder project will not only benefit Alaska, but also provide a good source of nutritional food for children in her home country.

Sea Grant Hires New Graphic Artist
Dave Partee has joined the Alaska Sea Grant communications staff as graphic artist. Partee brings to the job five years' experience as Web designer for SFOS, where he created an attractive, robust Web site and coordinated outreach projects. Partee has a BA in philosophy from the University of California Berkeley, and has received several academic honors as a philosophy graduate student. He is an avid photographer, musician, skijorer, and squash, tennis, and volleyball player.

As Sea Grant graphics manager, Partee will design publications, book covers, Web pages, and trade show displays, and provide graphics and illustrations for Sea Grant communications products. Partee fills the position vacated by Tatiana Piatanova, who is on her way to Portland, Maine, to pursue a master's of fine art degree at the Maine College of Art.

Honors
Rick Steiner, MAP marine conservation specialist, was nominated and accepted into the "International Who's Who of Professionals" 2004/2005 list.

Dolly Garza, Ketchikan MAP agent, won the 2003 Alaska Native Literature Award, sponsored by Honoring Alaska's Indigenous Literature, for her book Tlingit Moon and Tide Teaching Resource.

Sea Grant–funded graduate student Olav Ormseth won the 2002 North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES) best poster award for his poster "Linking environment to the distribution and recruitment of Pacific cod in the North Pacific."

Bird Nest Guide
Alaska Sea Grant's new book, Field Guide to Bird Nests and Eggs of Alaska's Coastal Tundra, is a beautiful addition for any birder's library, with 450 color photos of 70 birds, nests, eggs, feathers, and habitat, all on waterproof paper. This easy-to-use book provides an efficient way to identify nests and eggs of birds on Alaska's coastal tundra. Its range includes the Alaska Peninsula, the Bering and Chukchi sea coasts, and east along the Arctic Coastal Plain past the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to the Canadian border. Written by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ornithologist Tim Bowman, with 15 years of experience in Alaska, this book is a valuable resource for biologists and naturalists. 80 pp, $25.00. Available in the Sea Grant office, phone 474-6707. See samples of illustrated inside pages at http://seagrant.uaf.edu/bookstore/pubs/SG-ED-44.html.

Charter Log Newsletter
The spring 2004 issue of The Charter Log, a newsletter for Alaska fishing guides and charter-boat operators, is available from editor Terry Johnson. Articles include halibut guideline harvest levels, changes in sportfishing regulations, a Juneau charter association, insurance from the National Marine Charter Association, a Kenai professional guide training program, seasickness, and others. To view the issue see http://www.uaf.edu/map/charterlog/index.html. To receive a paper version, contact Johnson in Homer at (907) 235-5643, rftlj@uaf.edu.

Tsunami Video Debut
In May Kurt Byers presented Alaska Sea Grant's new video Ocean Fury: Tsunamis in Alaska at a NOAA seminar in Silver Spring, Maryland. The showing attracted sixty NOAA employees.

The video features interviews with Alaskans in Valdez, Kodiak, and Seward who witnessed the 1964 tsunamis. In chilling detail, they recall the loss of life and destruction in their communities. The video also highlights a computer model that predicts tsunami inundation. The model, created by Sea Grant–funded researchers on the UAF Cray Supercomputer, now is a key tool used by the NOAA National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program to help West Coast and Alaska communities develop tsunami inundation maps and prepare for tsunamis. The 25-minute program will soon be available on video and DVD for $25.00.

Book Award
Terry Johnson's book Ocean Treasure: Commercial Fishing in Alaska won an Award of Excellence in the 2004 National Association of Government Communicators Blue Pencil Award competition. Kurt Byers accepted the award in Washington, D.C., in May, on behalf of Johnson and the Sea Grant communications staff. The award was one of eight top honors earned by NOAA communicators.

Ocean Treasure also won a silver award from the Association for Communications Excellence. It is an information-packed book on the Alaska seafood industry, available for $25.00 from Sea Grant, http://seagrant.uaf.edu/bookstore/pubs/SG-ED-41.html.

Electronic Newsletter
Would you like to change from a paper subscription of Fishlines to electronic only? Please contact Sue Keller at fnsk@uaf.edu. Each month we will send you an email linked to the electronic copy on the Sea Grant Web site.

Fishlines is a monthly in-house newsletter reporting Alaska Sea Grant activities to staff, students, and principal investigators of Alaska Sea Grant and the Marine Advisory Program, and staff of the School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences. For more information contact Sue Keller, (907) 474-6703, fnsk@uaf.edu.