Tag Archives: Jerry McCune

Jerry McCune retires as board chairman of Cordova District Fishermen United

Jerry McCune has retired as chairman of the board of Cordova District Fishermen United after 32 years with the historic fishermen’s advocacy group, and members will vote on Tuesday, May 24, on future leadership of CDFU. “Jerry has given decades of leadership and service to the commercial fishing industry and helped shape the greatest CDFU successes for us in Area E,” said CDFU Acting President Ezekiel Brown. “With his mentorship and the recent wins we’re celebrating from this year’s Board of Fish meeting outcomes, our organization is reflecting and spring boarding on Jerry’s tenure to begin a new chapter.” > click to read < 10:36

Third time was the charm

Light winds, fog and rain spread over Prince William Sound on the eve of a 12-hour Memorial Day fishery, then turned overcast during the holiday, as the commercial fishing crews netted some 1,467 Chinook and 33,752 sockeye salmon. The catch boosted the total harvest to date to an estimated 45,537 fish, including 4,935 kings and 39,823 red salmon, well over five times the individual catches on May 14 and May 18. The first two 12-hour openers were so slow that the Alaska Department of Fish and Game cancelled fishing for the third opener on May 21. Now the fishery appears to be picking up speed. “It’s still not good,” said veteran harvester Jerry McCune,“We’re getting further behind every day. Hopefully things will pick up in June.” >click to read< 17:15

UFA Announces Officer and Executive Committee Changes

United Fishermen of Alaska (UFA) announced the transition in its leadership effective April 15, with the election of Matt Alward succeeding Jerry McCune as president, Bob Kehoe replacing Alward as vice president, and new executive committee members Rebecca Skinner and Sue Doherty. Jerry McCune has served most recently as UFA president since 2014, as well as from 1992 to 1996, and has served as a paid or volunteer lobbyist for UFA throughout the past two decades. He was named to the UFA Alaska Seafood Industry Hall of Fame among the initial inductees in 2009, and will continue to serve on the UFA executive committee. Matt Alward represents North Pacific Fisheries Association on the UFA board and,,,>click to read<18:37

Fishermen trouble

The 68-year-old president of the United Fishermen of Alaska – one of the 49th state’s most powerful lobbies – and three other commercial fishermen have been cited in Cordova for failing to report salmon catches.Jerry McCune said earlier this week that he simply made a mistake after dropping his commercial catch at a tender. McCune said he told the tender to record his catch for the day plus three salmon – a “little teeny king” and two sockeye – he was taking home with him. When he got his “fish ticket” back from the tender, he said, he tossed it into the cabin of the boat without checking to see if his so-called “home pack” catch had been recorded.,,, Some Cordova commercial fishermen reacted to the charges against McCune and the others with claims the actions were politically motivated. Some subsistence, personal-use dipnet, and rod-and-reel fishermen from communities upriver on the Copper or elsewhere in Alaska cited the accusations as evidence of widespread under reporting of Copper River king salmon harvests in the Cordova area. There was no evidence to support either of those ideas, but emotions run hot in Alaska fishery politics or what is often just referred to as “fishtics.” click here to read the story 14:18