Thank
you again for allowing the Alaska Department of Fish and Game the opportunity
to participate
in the 2009 Wild Salmon
on Parade, this truly has been an amazing experience for all involved.
As you know, this year ADF&G is celebrating Alaska’s 50th anniversary
of statehood and management of our fisheries. After all, it was the need
to ensure the sustainability of our fisheries, and to secure local control
of fisheries management, that spawned the push for statehood. As part of
this celebration ADF&G staff designed our fish sculpture theme titled “Spawning
50 Years of Sustainable Fisheries” which encompasses 50 years of
statehood, sustainable fisheries, and the importance of fisheries management.
One
side of the fish represents 1959 statehood commercial and sport fisheries
and the opposite side represents current 2009 fisheries. The
design depicts the salmon life cycle and incorporates gillnet web with
both new and vintage fishing corks, salmon can labels,
and sport fishing gear with past and present ADF&G logos.
ADF&G was truly infected with Salmon on Parade “fish fever” in
our Anchorage building that spread like wildfire to our area offices
as our fish mold transformed over the past few months. We affectionately
nicknamed our fish sculpture, Copper KR (king of the river) and were
proud to have her on display in the Anchorage office lobby on May 14th
for a first sneak preview for our staff. We thought May 14 would be a
great day to “release” Copper to parade organizers and public
since it was also the opening day of Alaska’s first and one of
our most famous fisheries, the Copper River, where the first fresh king
salmon were flown out and served in Seattle restaurants for dinner the
next evening.
This
collaborative project was “spawned” to life by ADF&G
staff (Katie Sechrist; Division of Commercial Fisheries and Ken Marsh;
Division of Sport Fish), and the fantastic talent of Greg Landeis, Tundra
Tanning & Taxidermy.
The
appearance of this display is for artistic purposes and help to illustrate
the great economic benefits
of sustainable salmon resources
in Alaska. The products or labels used are not an Alaska Department of
Fish and Game (ADF&G) implied endorsement or recommendation for the
company or their products.
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