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Andy Wink, a well-known Alaska seafood economist, will be joining the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association as its executive director on July 23.

Wink will replace interim director Cameo Padilla, a stand-in for Becky Martello who left the group earlier this year.

"Andy has nearly 10 years of experience in researching and analyzing the Alaska seafood industry, and comes to us with an extensive knowledge of the entire supply chain," the group wrote in its announcement newsletter.

Wink has worked for 10 years as an economist — first for the state of Alaska and then at Alaska consultancy McDowell Group as a senior research analyst from 2010 to 2017. He left that role last year to launch Wink Research and Consulting, his own firm.

"I'm very excited about joining BBRSDA. This is an amazing fleet and such an incredible place/resource. That's what's drawn me to this fishery. I can't wait to share those stories with a wider audience," Wink wrote in an email. "I'll be working with the board, staff, and our team contractors on a number of other fronts, too. But at the end of the day it's all about making sure fishery value and abundance are as healthy as possible."

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Samuel Hill is the former associate editor for National Fisherman. He is a graduate of the University of Southern Maine where he got his start in journalism at the campus’ newspaper, the Free Press. He has also written for the Bangor Daily News, the Outline, Motherboard and other publications about technology and culture.

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