Pristine Waters: Environmental initiatives for Alaska's shores, ports, and vessels.

• Author: Shipe, O'hara
• Position: Transportation

With roughly 6,640 miles of ocean coastline, Alaskans enjoy the economic benefits of its many marine-based industries such as commercial fishing and tourism. According to the .September 2017 report '"The Economic Value of Alaska's Seafood Industry" compiled by the McDowell Group, approximately 56,800 workers are directly employed by Alaska's seafood industry which accounted for S5.2 billion dollars of economic output in 2016. Of those employed, roughly 36,800 are full-time equivalent and 26,800 are Alaska residents. Additionally, the seafood processing sector includes an astonishing 169 shore-based plants, 73 catcher processors, and more than a dozen floating processors across Alaska's fifty-eight ports.

With regard to marine tourism, the impact of cruise ships and ferries is evident by the sheer volume of tourists traveling to Alaska via its waterways. In 2014-2015, nearly 1 million visitors made their way to The Last Frontier on large cruise ships and an additional 90,000 took advantage of the ferry system. A major piece of Alaska's marine transportation picture is the Alaska Marine Highway System, which serves thirty-three Alaska communities from Metlakatla to the Aleutian chain with their eleven vessel fleet. In 2014, the Alaska Marine Highway System reported $273 million in total economic impact after toting 319,000 passengers, 108,000 vehicles, and almost 4,000 container vans.

With a bustling marine industry, maintaining the safety and cleanliness of Alaska's waterways is tantamount to continued success. This ongoing effort in the Arctic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Beaufort Sea, Chukchi Sea, Bering Sea, and Gulf of Alaska is a tremendous task that requires the statewide cooperation of dedicated individuals and a whole host of programs and initiatives.

Valdez Harbor

In early 2017, Washington state native Jeremy Talboll assumed the helm as Valdez Ports and Harbor director after serving as the harbormaster for three years under former director Diane Kinney. Talbott, who came to Valdez with ten years of experience as the assistant harbormaster at Friday Harbor in Washington, brought with him a passion for marine safety and cleanliness education.

"My staff and myself take the 24-hour HAZWOPER |Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response] class, which is an operational-level class, and then our seasonal staff will lake an eight-hour awareness-level class," says Talbott.

HAZWOPER classes are operated through OSH A and cover a variety of...