By Matt Hawthorne

Southeast Alaska gillnetters are considering taxing themselves to fund a regional marketing campaign to boost the price they get for fish.

A vote of the region’s 470 permit holders that concludes Monday will decide if the new 1 percent tax that would be collected by Southeast Alaska Rainforest Wild, a fishermen-led regional seafood development association (RSDA).

Gig Decker, a Wrangell gillnetter who worked to organize the Rainforest Wild RSDA, said the money—about $50,000—would be used to promote Southeast Alaska salmon as a high quality product. "We’re trying create a desirability for our region’s seafood products, trying to create a regional identity."

Decker said the organization looks at the success of Copper River fishermen, who’ve successfully branded their product nationwide. "Customers asking for a certain region’s fish, there is a price value for that."

Decker points to the premium quality of Southeast gillnet-landed fish, the environmental health of the Tongass region and the sustainability of commercial salmon fishing as attributes that could be identified with Rainforest Wild salmon.

This week, however, Haines fishermen expressed uncertainty as to the benefits of the tax, which could be passed by a minority of the fleet.

Only 30 percent turnout is required for passage, which means that only 15 percent of the fleet plus one fisherman could pass the tax. That’s a concern, said Mike Saunders, president of the Haines Gillnet Association.

"People need to vote, or it may not turn out the way they want," he said, admitting that he has mixed feelings about the proposal. "I haven’t had it fully explained, as for the benefits," he said, noting that "everything counts" when it comes to taxes and his bottom-line.

Gillnetter Norm Hughes said he, too, sees advantages and disadvantages of the proposed tax. "I love it and I hate it."

He said he’s in favor of regional branding and marketing of fish, but said he has felt left "out of the loop."

"There hasn’t been a lot of public outreach, explaining why they need this assessment now. What can they do for us at a regional level?"

Hughes said he would like to see the gillnetters get a larger say in Rainforest Wild if the tax is passed.

The organization’s board is representative of 69 gear groups in the region, each of which will vote in the coming years whether to assess the tax.

"I’d want a bigger say on the board. This hasn’t been made plain. They haven’t told me how they’re going to benefit the fleet in Haines…and I’d love to hear it," Smith said.

Rainforest Wild, which held an informative meeting in Juneau recently, couldn’t make it to Haines due to lack of travel funds, according to Decker. Still, Decker said he is receptive to questions and comments from Haines gillnetters.

"As soon as this thing is passed, we’ll have an election to see who the gillnetters want on the board…we’re trying to make it an organization run and manipulated by the guys who harvest fish."

The Rainforest Wild can be reached at 907-874-3400.