Six fishing groups invested in the harvest of millions of pounds of seafood in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands are moving to have their nonprofit status codified by the Internal Revenue Service. Robin Samuelsen, president and chief executive officer of the Bristol Bay Economic Development Corp., a CDQ entity representing 17 communities, informed that federal legislation, including the Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and the American Fisheries Act, refer to the CDQ groups as nontaxable entities.
He also said that the groups are all nonprofits and so they are asking the Alaska congressional delegation to reaffirm their position. Arne Fuglvog, a fisheries aide to Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, confirmed that the congressional delegation on Jan. 30 had received the request from the six CDQ groups, but said the delegation’s energies are currently focused on the proposed federal economic stimulus package.
Larry Cotter, chief executive officer of another CDQ, the Aleutian Pribilof Island Community Development Association, was another of the top executives of the six CDQs who made the request of the congressional delegation. Like the other CDQs, his group was formed to improve the economy of the communities it represents, based on development of the fisheries.
Cotter explained that this has been an ongoing discussion for many years. There are two perspectives here and it is really a point of law, a matter of relying on your legal and tax advisors. It is said that in all 65 coastal communities within a 50-mile radius of the Bering Sea coastline participate in the program. In 2007, the CDQ groups collectively generated nearly $170 million in revenues, and showed an increase in net assets of nearly $44 million.
