High carbon emissions could affect fishing industry

Today marks the 200th day of the Recovery Act, one of the first laws signed by President Obama.   The Recovery Act seeks to create jobs and mitigate the impact of the economic recession on American families. Today, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis talked about the administration´s efforts to create jobs.

“During my first 100 days in office, my department released $45 billion of the $46 billion for recovery act efforts. We moved immediately to protect workers who lost their jobs and provided new worker training opportunities for those looking to upgrade their skills. We made $220 million available to help dislocated workers transition into high growth sectors. We are providing $500 million for high job training. And we rewarded $114 million to community groups across the country to provide education and training to young people.”

Despite these programs, recovery is slow.   The US unemployment rate still hovers around ten percent and experts say it would be over 16 percent if those who have given up looking for a job were also counted.  The sub-prime mortgage loan crisis and the ensuing financial breakdown have hit construction workers and manufacturers the hardest.

The fishing industry is another sector that´s concerned about job losses and some are pointing to climate change as the problem, connecting high carbon emissions to a decline in fish stocks.  In Alaska, fish industry workers and green groups are coming together to target this issue. This Labor day weekend, they´ve planned a visual protest out in the water involving dozens of fishermen and boats.

FSRN spoke to environmental activist Brad Warren.  Warren works for the Sustainable Fisheries Initiative and he´s one of the organizers of Voices of the Ocean, the event that will take place in Homer, Alaska this weekend.