May 10, 2003
Saturday - 12:30 am

Senators Ted Stevens and Lisa Murkowski announced on Friday that the U.S. Department of Agriculture will purchase $15 million of existing salmon inventories for its food programs. These funds were requested by Senators Stevens and Murkowski to help reduce existing inventories of salmon and potentially improve market conditions this summer.

The worldwide glut of farm-raised salmon has hit Alaska's salmon industry hard in recent years. Lower prices and higher inventories threaten to keep some fishermen at the dock, and idle some plants this summer.

"This is great news for us heading into the summer fishing season. Our fishermen needed some good news, and I am very pleased that Secretary Ann Veneman was able to provide it. She recognized that our fishermen needed this help and that government food programs will benefit from serving wild Alaska salmon, said Senator Ted Stevens.

"This is a welcome shot in the arm to Alaska's fishermen that have been suffering unusually low salmon prices because of foreign competition," said Murkowski. "Given the outlook for a banner summer fishing season this should help improve prices for canned salmon, which should really help our fishermen."

Source of News Release:

Office of Senator Ted Stevens
Web Site

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