For Immediate Release: July 11, 2017
Contact: Lindsey Bloom, UFA Program Manager, (907) 723-3662
UFA’s Salmon Habitat Program Launches Sweepstakes to Bring Habitat Info to Fishermen
Text “ufaship” to 313131 or predict Bristol Bay’s sockeye harvest to win Alaska Airlines or LFS Gift Cards
JUNEAU – UFA’s Salmon Habitat Information Program (SHIP) has launched two summer sweepstakes to connect with commercial fishermen for important information regarding salmon habitat. Winners will be selected from fishermen who enter the drawing through a text campaign or Facebook comments to win Alaska Airlines and LFS, Inc gift certificates. Fishermen can text “ufaship” to 313131 and UFA will text back four chances to win, or participants can go to UFA’s SHIP Facebook page and predict Bristol Bay’s total sockeye salmon harvest. The contests offer prizes of $200 Alaska Airlines or $100 and $50 Alaska Airlines Gift Cards and present exciting ways for fishermen to stay up-to-date.
“Since the start of this program we have heard from thousands of Alaska fishermen. Fishermen care deeply about all issues related to salmon habitat, from ocean acidification and water quality to in river impacts such as dewatering and blocked fish passage. We have also learned that fishermen have a variety of preferred communication styles – texting, social media or email – and we created these sweepstakes to increase our reach to fishermen through multiple channels,” said Lindsey Bloom, UFA’s SHIP Program Manager.
The texting program is a new way for fishermen to receive updates on salmon habitat topics. About once a month, SHIP will send text updates right to fishermen’s phones.
“We all know fishermen rely on their phones to do business and stay in touch with family. Now, fishermen can opt-in and receive texts with important salmon habitat information that require quick action,” Bloom added.
SHIP also invites fishermen to visit their Facebook page and guess this summer’s total Bristol Bay sockeye harvest. SHIP’s “Predict the Bay” contest celebrates Bristol Bay’s healthy salmon habitat that supports tens of millions of salmon that return to its prolific rivers annually.
“Largely unaltered from any kind of habitat impacts, Bristol Bay’s intact rivers support a $1.5 billion fishery and over 14,000 jobs every year,” Bloom explained. “This year’s harvest prediction is 27 million sockeye salmon and we want to highlight and celebrate this world-class fishery. We’ll see what the final tally is and give a $50 Alaska Air gift card to the closest guess from our Facebook page.”
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Connect with UFA’s Salmon Habitat Information Program (SHIP):
- Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/UFAAlaskaSalmonHabitat/
- Website – https://www.ufafish.org/salmon-habitat/