Marine Conservation Alliance
Cordova District Fishermen United and the Prince William Sound Science Center teamed up to solicit the participation of 10 local fishermen in an Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council funded juvenile herring survey that took place in Prince William Sound in March. This survey was the first part of a three-year study to collect data that will ultimately be used to help determine why the herring population in the Sound has not recovered since the Exxon Valdez oil spill and what efforts can be taken to implement a habitat restoration plan.
CDFU's portion of the project involved recruiting ten fishermen to participate in survey activities, and Alexis Cooper was hired to coordinate this effort.
"New to Cordova, through this project I was able to dive right in get a unique introduction to Cordova's fishing community," Cooper said. "This truly is a great project. From the beginning, fishermen were positive about the project and our recruitment efforts demonstrated an incredible amount of interest from both herring permit holders and members of the fishing fleet that wanted to get involved in herring survey efforts."
