A gala dinner at the Golden Anchor at the Coast Guard Base celebrated 50 years of Alaska statehood and fishing,Thursday night. The dinner, titled “Look How Far We’ve Come,” featured appearances by Gov. Sarah Palin, Todd Palin and former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, who received lifetime membership and an achievement award from the United Fishermen of Alaska.

The event was Stevens’ first public appearance after a Washington, D.C., judge dismissed federal charges against him earlier this month. In his remarks, he cited some of his history in writing the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the primary law behind fisheries management in the United States. The act is named after him and former Washington State U.S. Sen. Warren Magnuson.

Stevens said part of the law is about controlling Alaska waters from foreign vessels fishing in them. He recalled flying out of Kodiak in the early 1970s and counting 90 or more foreign vessels in Alaska waters, and, as a co-pilot, being the first people to land a plane on St. George Island before it had an airstrip.

“We lead the world in extending jurisdiction 200 miles off the shore,” Stevens said. “There’s not a country in the world today that doesn’t claim the 200-mile limit. We did it — Alaska brought that about.”

The former senator added, “We brought it about not for the fishermen … but we did it for the species. We did it to protect the reproductive capability of the fisheries that we wanted to succeed and be continued year in and year out so that we’d have generation after generation enjoy the benefits of the sea.”

Stevens said the problem now is illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing in the high seas — a practice that he called worse than the foreign vessels in Alaska waters of the past.

“They’re just literally raping the seas wherever they go,” he said.

He said he has tried to raise interest the United Nations in aiding the problem in and has been partially successful in regulating harmful drift nets. Stevens said Alaska fishermen and ComFish can help the problem of the pillaging vessels beyond the 200-mile limit, perhaps eventually creating international cooperation or regulation.

Stevens also briefly commented on the investigations of the original prosecutors in the trials that found him guilty on seven counts of making false statements. Those guilty verdicts were later dropped by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder due to prosecutorial misconduct.

“Because of those investigations of the original prosecutors, which are still ongoing, I have taken the position that I will not talk about the case or talk about the investigations so long as they continue,” Stevens said.

Palin reportedly arrived in Kodiak around 5 p.m. yesterday, touring the Kodiak Launch Complex prior to attending the dinner. Those seated at her table included Mayor Carolyn Floyd and husband Joe Floyd, Chamber of Commerce president John Whiddon and Alaska Department of Fish and Game Commissioner Denby Lloyd.

The night marked the first time Palin has been in Kodiak since Jan. 28, 2007, for her inauguration ball.

“It’s great to be here with great local Kodiak residents, especially the Floyds, who might be all over the state,” Palin said. “We’ll either meet at political events or Alaskana events like this, and invariably our conversations, they’ll always head back towards basketball. And I thank you such much for all that you do for all the kids in this state. Huge sports advocates, the Floyds are.”

Of her tour of the Kodiak Launch Complex, she said, “It reminded me how blessed those who live here in Kodiak truly are, the diversity here with your economy and with all that is Kodiak as we flew over and saw the buffalo and elk and the mountain goats. I just thought, ‘Wow, what an absolutely amazing place this island is.’ And truly you are blessed to live here.”

Palin stressed the importance of fishing to the state and local economies, and fisheries management throughout Alaska’s statehood.

“Sustainability to some is just kind of a buzzword or a concept, but it is a factor in the world market,” she said. “And in Alaska, sustainability isn’t a fad or a gimmick; it’s a long-held, heartfelt commitment to our resources and to our children, those future generations we want to pass on that sustainability that we have been exceptionally blessed with.”

Palin said fisheries decisions are among the most controversial decisions she and other state officials have to make. She said among the many fisheries personalities, “Fish politics gets so bizarre … (but) it’s because Alaskans care so much that they argue their side so passionately in fisheries.”

Syndicated fishing industry news columnist Laine Welch served as the mistress of ceremonies for the evening. She pointed out that Alaska produces 60 percent of wild-caught seafood to the U.S. — an amount that is four times more than any other state. She also said the seafood industry is the state’s largest private employer, employing more than the oil, timber, gas, mining and tourism fields combined.

“When you look out at the boats at Kodiak’s two main harbors, I’d like to ask of you to think of them each as individual storefronts,” Welch said. “Each of these boats is a small, independent business, most likely supporting several families. So when you think of it sort of like a mall in a marina, it really does change impressions of the stake in our harbors because they are individual businesses. I think that’s an important thought to carry with you.”

Bob King, fisheries adviser to Sen. Mark Begich and a former radio reporter, gave a presentation on the history of Alaska’s fishing. He said the history-recording endeavor is complicated because much of it is not well-documented — or is routinely exaggerated in alcohol-induced bar tales.

King also commented on the importance of the Magnuson-Stevens Act.

“To this day, the Magnuson-Stevens Act stands as one of the primary achievements in fishery management not just for extending the boundary, but establishing the regional fishery management councils and basing their structure, again, on the open process of the fish board,” he said.

He pointed to some statistics that illustrated the regulation successes: In 1959, the year Alaska was admitted to the U.S. as a state, 300 million pounds of seafood were caught — two-thirds down from the peak in the mid-1930s. He compared that to the 5.3 billion pounds produced in recent years, which now includes catching some species ignored before.

King said today’s challenges include climate change, ocean acidification, habitat and bycatch questions, an increased population since 1959 and increased pressure on fishing industry workers. He also advised those in the industry to help document its heritage by telling their stories in oral history and discussions with maritime museums so that future generations will know.

Debora King, Kodiak Chamber of Commerce executive director, said the night went well. It was a packed and sold-out house, with around 220 attendees.

“The general comments that I heard was that it was a wonderful evening,” she said. “It was relaxed and the community certainly embraced both” Stevens and Palin.

She said that next year, with a statewide gubernatorial election and fisheries debates held in Kodiak, the chamber may again hold a similar dinner in a big venue like the Golden Anchor.

“Nothing’s written in stone, although we will have the debates,” she said.

Dancers and singers from St. Innocent’s Academy also provided entertainment at the outset of the dinner.

Standing ovations of the evening went to Palin, Stevens and Kodiakan Al Burch, who helped develop the groundfish industry in the Gulf of Alaska and was instrumental in federal fisheries management. Burch and a host of others — including former Alaska governors Ernest Gruening and Jay Hammond; U.S. Sen. Bob Bartlett; and state Sens. Richard Eliason and Clem Tillion — were inducted as charter members of the United Fishermen of Alaska Seafood Hall of Fame.

Mirror writer Bradley Zint can be reached via e-mail at bzint@kodiakdailymirror.com.