YUKON DELTA ENDORSES LISA MURKOWSKI

Yukon Delta Fisheries Development Association, the Community Development

Quota group representing the western Alaska villages of Emmonak, Alakanuk,
Kotlik, Mountain Village, Nunam Iqua and Grayling endorse Senator Lisa
Murkowski for reelection to the United States Senate. YDFDA represents
these villages with a population of over 3,200 people as part of the Western
Alaska CDQ program.

YDFDA endorses Senator Murkowski and supports her write-in candidacy. It

commends Senator Murkowski for her achievements on behalf of Western
Alaskans and our fishing communities in her nearly eight years of service. It
believes that Senator Murkowski has time and time again demonstrated her
unique ability to accomplish her objectives in the US Senate to safeguard the
interests of all of Alaska. Her efforts and time spent in western Alaska help the
CDQ program fulfill its mandate of economic development in one of the poorest
areas in the country, on a self-supporting basis without fiscal support from
federal or state funds.

YDFDA notes that Senator Murkowski was instrumental in modernizing the

CDQ program in 2006, allowing it to increase its economic development efforts
in Western Alaska by revising outdated federal regulations. They add that she
has constantly fought on the CDQ program’s behalf to ensure that their
programs will retain their ability to direct a part of the profits of the Bering Sea
fishery to Alaskan residents and not letting it leave the state. Apart from her
efforts on behalf of the CDQ program, Senator Murkowski was instrumental in
securing $5 million is disaster relief funding for Yukon River salmon fishermen
that were hard hit by the salmon disaster years in 2008 and 2009.

“Lisa has a firm understanding of the needs and unique challenges of Alaska’s
rural communities. She has travelled to our region and listened to our
concerns. Our villages have to overcome the lack of roads, energy grids and
the basic infrastructure that is taken for granted in the continental United States.
Representing Alaska in Washington DC takes skillful leadership, experience,
and the strong desire to fight for sustainable communities in rural Alaska,”
stated Ragnar Alstrom, Executive Director of Yukon Delta Fisheries
Development Association. "This endorsement is in recognition of Senator
Murkowski's record and her effectiveness in assisting our region’s families.”

For more information about YDFDA see www.ydfda.org or call Ragnar Alstrom, Executive Director, Yukon
Delta Fisheries Development Association, at 907-644-0326.

YDFDA's 2010 Board of Directors

 ABOUT THE CDQ PROGRAM

The Western Alaska Community Development Quota Program is widely viewed as one
of the most successful rural development programs ever undertaken in Alaska. The
program represents 65 western Alaska communities and over 27,000 Alaska
residents. Devised by western Alaska community leaders and Governor Wally Hickel
in 1992 as a means to develop economic opportunities for 65 communities along the
coast of the Bering Sea, federal law now mandates that 10% of the quota of the fisheries
of the Bering Sea be directed to the eligible villages in western Alaska so that these
villages can participate and invest in Bering Sea fisheries occurring right on their
doorsteps, and to use this revenue to support economic development in the region and
alleviate poverty. Western Alaska faces discouraging circumstances: limited economic
opportunities, high unemployment, heavy reliance on subsistence activities, poverty
rates far above state and national averages, geographic isolation, and a daunting cost of
living. Over the past 18 years, the CDQ program has generated more than $290 million
in wages, payments to fishers, and scholarships and training benefits. Additional
benefits from the program accrue to local, borough and state governments.

In 2009, the CDQ program was responsible for the creation of 1,996 unique jobs,
over $27 million in wages, over $17 million in fish payments to local fishermen,
and over $10 million in wages paid to regional fishermen participating in the
fisheries of the Bering Sea. The jobs created by the six CDQ entities are having
positive impacts on Western Alaska villages and residents.

For more information about the CDQ program see www.wacda.org.