Nome representative ousted from NSEDC board of directors

By Julia Lerner
The Norton Sound Economic Development Corporation’s board voted to oust the Nome representative from its board of directors last week, triggering a special election to  fill the seat in October.
Representative Adem Boeckmann, elected to the board in late 2018, was supposed to hold the Nome seat until 2022.
“Following confidential discussions, the NSEDC Board of Directors removed Mr. Boeckmann as the Nome representative,” NSEDC President and CEO Janis Ivanoff wrote in an email to the Nugget on Monday. “Per the NSEDC bylaws, a member of the Board may be removed by a two-thirds majority vote of the directors whenever it is determined to be in the best interest of the Corporation.”
One of NSEDC’s main economic ventures is Norton Sound Seafood Products, which manages NSEDC’s commercial seafood activities in the region, including the purchasing of salmon, halibut and king crab from local fishermen. NSSP is the main buyer in the Norton Sound market, but this summer Icicle Seafoods, a Seattle-based seafood company, brought a processor to the region with plans to purchase Norton Sound’s pink salmon.
Pinks have been historically targeted for canning, an expensive and inaccessible process in the Norton Sound region. Icicle hoped to partner with NSEDC and NSSP during the 2021 pink season, but NSEDC declined, citing concerns with Icicle’s experimental purse-seining fishing proposal, which was approved by the Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game.
“NSEDC made clear long ago that we are opposed to the introduction of purse seining in Norton Sound due to its potential negative impacts on our Chinook and chum salmon resources, as well as the resident commercial and subsistence fishers who depend on them,” NSEDC Communications Director Laureli Ivanoff told the Nugget in early June. “Further, after a dismal commercial fishery for chum and coho in 2020, the introduction of a new and competitive gear-type yields considerable risk for local gillnet fishermen who are historically dependent on these fisheries.”
Boeckmann, while sitting on the NSEDC board of directors, was the only local fisherman to apply for the experimental purse-seine permit and sell to Icicle. Two other fishermen applied for the permits, one from Kodiak and one from Seldovia.  
“I’m no lawyer, but I’ve been asked a lot of questions by NSEDC lawyers in the last few months in regard to the Icicle large scale pink salmon fishery,” Boeckman said. “I believe I was removed for a lack of loyalty to the NSEDC, but my loyalty was placed well in the purpose of NSEDC, which is to support economic development in Norton Sound in Alaska. My loyalty is to my fellow fishermen that have suffered greatly in the last few years and to my member community in Alaska.”
Several commercially fished species in Norton Sound have been struggling over the last several years, including salmon and red king crab. Chums, Coho and silvers across the state have been showing low runs for several years, and the U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo declared Norton Sound’s 2019 red king crab a fishery disaster.
“The last three years have been difficult on commercial fishermen without the opportunity to fish crab and salmon,” Boeckmann explained. “It was my belief that the large-scale pink salmon fishery, with Icicle as a buyer, could offset the disastrous seasons we’ve been experiencing.”
Boeckmann said the purse-seine fishery showed promise despite a slow pink season.
“We saw that a purse-seine fishery can be facilitated without adverse effects on subsistence fishers or on the commercial gill net fleet here,” he said. “I really hope Icicle returns next year, and I appreciate the investment they made in the economy of Alaska’s western coastal communities.”
It is unusual to NSEDC to vote to remove a sitting representative prior to the end of their term.
“NSEDC has not done this since I’ve been here,” explained Nome’s City Clerk Bryant Hammond. As city clerk, Hammond is responsible for organizing the municipal election in Nome and for facilitating the NSEDC election. “I learned [last week] they would have an election in Nome this year, but it is off cycle for them. Their next election was not scheduled until 2022.”
Adem Boeckman’s seat will remain empty until the special election is held on October 5.
“In cooperation with the City of Nome, a special election will be held to fill the vacancy for the remainder of the term which ends in November 2022,” Ivanoff told the Nugget. “This election will be held on Tuesday, October 5, concurrently with Nome’s upcoming municipal elections.”
Nomeites are invited to apply to be a candidate to fill the seat.  Candidacy packets are available at Nome City Hall and individuals interested in running can file their applications between August 13 and August 30 at 3 p.m.
The NSEDC board of directors is comprised of 15 board members from as many member communities and is responsible for managing economic development projects within the region.