"Day of Reckoning": Alaska Gov. Walker Vetoes Millions in 
Spending, Caps Permanent Fund Dividend
Alaska Gov. Bill Walker vetoed millions of dollars in state spending yesterday including likely cuts in Permanent Fund dividends, a delay in paying tax breaks for the oil industry and cuts in education programs and road projects. Walker said the state can no longer afford high annual dividends from the $52 billion Alaska Permanent Fund. "We've lost 80 percent of our income in about a year and a half," he said. The governor's Alaska Permanent Fund veto allows for a $1,000 annual dividend this year. Walker's other vetoes, totaling $1.29 billion, slashed government funding in a number of agencies, including education, as well as pausing highway projects and stopping megaprojects like the Knik Arm bridge and Susitna River dam. There were no Fish and Game vetoes announced Wednesday but the department's general fund budget has already been reduced by about 30 percent since fiscal 2015.
Urner Barry relisted live lobster quotations for new shell product in New England and Mid-Atlantic markets. The relisting indicates that Maine landings and the volume of trade are high enough to set the market for the summer. This is the first full lobster summer season that Urner Barry will report quotations for hard shell and new shell lobsters separately. Last August, Urner Barry split its live lobster quotation to better reflect the difference in market prices and availability of hard shell & new shell products.
In other news, we run a letter from Bruce Leaman, the Executive Director of the International Pacific Halibut Commission in response to yesterday's story about the resignation of Alaskan IPHC Commissioner Jeff Kauffman. Leaman notes that the halibut regulations issued by the IPHC and NMFS and discussed in the article do match.
Meanwhile, Louisiana's commercial shrimp fishing season in state waters will close this Sunday, July 3. The closure is within the range of when Louisiana’s spring season typically closes. The decision to close the fishery was made after data showed an increased quantity, distribution and percentage of small, juvenile white shrimp in the waters.
Finally, the US State Department released the 2016 edition of its Trafficking in Persons report today and confirmed that Thailand was upgraded to the Tier 2 "Watch List". Thailand was ranked on the lowest Tier 3 list for worker abuse and trafficking problems in its labor force, including the seafood industry. The upgrade means the US recognizes that Thailand has taken meaningful steps to improve labor conditions and reduce human trafficking in the country. The report downgraded Myanmar to the Tier 3 list, which can result in sanctions by the US and the international community.
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