Support UFA Business members on our website HERE.
Thanks to Reecia Wilson and the crew at the Twisted Fish and Hangar on the Wharf restaurants for their generous contribution to the Juneau annual Blessing of the Fleet – Saturday April 7 at the Alaska Fishermen’s Memorial, 155 S. Seward in Juneau. This year the annual Juneau Maritime Festival takes place on the same day… looking forward.
& Check out Trident Seafoods new website…
UFA News releases:
UFA announces Executive Committee & Committee chairs – effective April 15
Press Release: UFA Endorses Senator Lisa Murkowski (March 30)
UFA Fish Calendar: https://www.ufafish.org/calendar/
Help support UFA today! Visit ‘Become a Member’ on our website to see the various membership levels and benefits.
Brief Legislative Report:
- We have not seen any action on commercial fisheries related bills we have been tracking since Friday’s April 22 Legislative Update.
- Early this week the House rejected concurrence of Senate changes to HB137 that would increase sport fishing license fees, and a conference committee is being named.
- The House and Senate Conference Committee on HB256 for the operating budget continues to meet to reconcile Senate and House versions, including the Department of Fish and Game and ASMI budgets.
- Future meetings will be posted at http://www.akleg.gov/basis/Committee/Details/29?code=SHB256 (see Meetings tab).
- It is still not clear how long the legislature will continue in extended session in Juneau… see Statewide below for more…
Contents:
Inclusion of an item does not mean that UFA endorses or agrees.
Statewide
- Lawmakers to hold floor sessions in nearby gym after clearing Capitol
- New oil tax draft emerges from Alaska House, adds millions to savings
- Alaska’s Finances Concern Commercial Fisheries
- Alaska cities brace for reduced state funding
- Cheap oil creates a new frontier in Alaska—making ends meet
- Amid oil price plunge, Alaska’s economy braces for losers and survivors
- Ruffner confirmed for Board of Fisheries – Governor thanks legislators
- Commentary. Nope, sorry. Alaska’s Board of Fish process is actually broken
- Fishing officials work to get young people fishing permits
- BBDF and Naknek Family Fisheries Partner to Form Wild Side Salmon, LLC
- Processors pony up to fund herring surveys as budget cuts bite
- Board of Fish adjusts Bristol Bay setnet boundaries
- ADFG /BOF regulations changes in PWS, SE, Norton Sound personal use & subsistence fisheries
- Board of Fisheries Statewide Finfish and Supplemental Issues – March 8–11 meeting results
- Bristol Bay buyers say they can handle full sockeye run
- AK Sustainable Salmon Fund proposal deadline June 15 – Webinar May 11
- Conservation in the Age of Climate Change: The Case of the Disappearing Yukon Salmon
- 2016 Kuskokwim River Chinook Salmon Outlook
National
- Murkowski’s Appropriations Work Strengthens Alaska’s Communities, Fisheries
- Congressman Young, Sen. Sullivan Commemorate 40th Anniversary of Magnuson-Stevens Act
- Commentary – 40 years after Magnuson-Stevens, not all promises kept
- Gulf fishermen wary of Congressional intrusion into council process
- Washington rep, trawlers scuttle rumors of Gulf legislation
- NPFMC April Newsletter – items from April 4-11 meeting
- CIE peer review of AK Sablefish Stock Assessment –meetings May 10-12, Juneau
- NMFS posts final rule on Amendment 111 – BSAI Groundfish halibut bycatch limits
- IPHC Notifies Industry of Halibut Sales in 2016 and Seeks Buyers
- BSAI and Gulf of Alaska Final 2016 and 2017 Harvest Specifications for Groundfish
- NOAA posts Pacific Halibut Catch Sharing Plan
- NMFS final rule on cost recovery payment methods for Halbut & Sablefish IFQ and BSAI Crab programs
- NPFMC Crab Plan Team to meet May 9 – 12, Anchorage
- NPFMC Observer Advisory Committee to meet May 12-13 in Seattle
- NPFMC Electronic Monitoring Workgroup to meet May 11 by teleconference
- NMFS BSAI Crab Program Regulation Changes
- NOAA announces 2016 charter and commercial halibut management measures
- NMFS final rule on BSAI & GOA small catcher/processor observer requirements
- Agency debuts tools to track Alaska marine diets, ecosystems
- National Essential Fish Habitat Summit Public Meeting – May 17 – 19, Annapolis
- NOAA Status of Stocks 2015 – U.S. Fisheries Continue to Rebuild
- NOAA: Populations of salmon (WA & Columbia River), flounder added to overfishing list
- WA: State Tribes break off salmon talks again
- NOAA MMPA list of Fisheries for 2016 – two AK fisheries lowered, one heightened
- Survey of Federally-Funded Marine Mammal Research and Conservation
- USCG Automatic Identification System (AIS) and Notice of Arrival Regs now in effect
- Boating? Feds new spy program has eye on you
- NIOSH: BSAI Crab Fleet Much Safer
- Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee (MAFAC) Meeting April 25 -27, 2016 – Portland, OR
- Comment deadline May 23 on Revisions to the Regulations for ESA Petitions
- U.S. Supreme Court backs Alaska moose hunter in fight against feds over hovercraft use
Marketing
- Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute Marketing Update
- Alaska Flatfish Fishery Completes 2nd Annual Surveillance Audit for Alaska RFM Certification
- The faces behind the fish – Alaskans Own brings agrarian model to Southeast Seas
- Kenai Peninsula Food Hub offers local shopping online
- The Salmon Project spawns new book: Made of Salmon
- Rough Waters: Our North Pacific Small Fishermen’s Battle: A Fishing Family’s Perspective
- Deadline July 1 for USDA Value-Added Producer Grants – fish and seafood producers eligible
Fish Farm & Environmental
- Gov. Walker pushes reset button on water protection bills
- Group criticizes Alaska Gov. Walker on fisheries policy
- Hard-to-find retired EPA scientist tells where he’s been and why he fought Pebble
- Avoiding a new breach with Canada (Transboundary rivers)
- How B.C. mining could hurt Northwest fishermen
- Analysis of four B.C. mines questions tailings dam safety
- Murkowski, Young Host Genetically Engineered Salmon Briefing
- Center for Food Safety: Lawsuit Challenges FDA’s Approval of Genetically Engineered Salmon
- Supreme Court won’t hear Alaska’s challenge to Forest Service ‘roadless rule’
- Mid-sized sawmills face possible closures
- Local Land, Local Work –at Prince of Wales Forestry Training Academy
- A 100-foot-wide water line to California? Juneau entrepreneur envisions a moneymaker
- Mental Health Trust exploring Icy Cape beach mining prospect
- Bokan mine development slowed as rare earth prices dip
- Another study shows ocean acidification bad for crab stocks
- Federal commission questions Inlet permits over Belgua concerns
- PWS RCAC recertified
Aquaculture / Enhancement
- Hatcheries made up one-third of 2015 salmon harvest
- ADFG Regional Planning Teams meetings schedules
- Ocean farmers are using technology to start an economic revolution and save humanity
Subsistence
- Subsistence group files opposition to Ninilchik gillnet
- Federal Subsistence Board restores Saxman’s rural status
- FBS final rule simplifies rural determination process
- Come and get your roe!
Other
- Fish Biz- Financial and business tools for Alaska commercial seafood harvesters
- FishLines Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program newsletter for April 2016
- AMSEA Upcoming classes
- Laine Welch’s Fish Radio – Recent Items
Inclusion of an item does not mean that UFA endorses or agrees.
Statewide
- Lawmakers to hold floor sessions in nearby gym after clearing Capitol
Rashah McChesney, Associated Press – April 27
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Alaska legislators are moving into temporary digs due to ongoing renovation work on the state Capitol.
The building effectively needs to be cleared by Monday under the current construction schedule.
House Speaker Mike Chenault says legislators will move into the Bill Ray Center, which is a few blocks from the Capitol. He says floor sessions will be held in the gym of the Terry Miller Building, just up the hill from the Capitol.
The regular session was scheduled to end April 17 but lawmakers were unable to complete their work by then. Proposed changes to oil and gas tax credits have been a point of contention.
The offices of Gov. Bill Walker and Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott also are moving to an alternate space, about a block from the Capitol…
- New oil tax draft emerges from Alaska House, adds millions to savings
Nathaniel Herz, Alaska Dispatch News, April 26, 2016
JUNEAU — A new Republican effort to modify the state’s oil tax regime would save the state up to $75 million more in 2018 and 2019 than a previous version, but it still may not have enough support to pass the House.
The new draft version of the bill was written by the House Rules Committee, chaired by Rep. Craig Johnson, R-Anchorage, as a replacement for House Bill 247, originally sponsored by Gov. Bill Walker.
The new bill emerged Tuesday following a series of secret meetings of a bipartisan working group that involved establishment Republicans like Johnson and Rep. Lance Pruitt, R-Anchorage; minority Democrats; and one member of the “Musk Ox Coalition,” an informal, moderate faction within Johnson’s Republican-led House majority. ..
http://www.adn.com/article/20160426/new-oil-tax-draft-emerges-alaska-house-adds-millions-savings
&
Overtime in Juneau: ‘Musk ox’ caucus causing headaches for House leadership – AK Journal of Commerce, April 22:
- Alaska’s Finances Concern Commercial Fisheries
…Gunnar Knapp, the current director of ISER, noted in a presentation to ComFish 2016 in Kodiak on April 1, that the state is currently spending four times as much as it receives in revenues and paying for the deficit by drawing down on its savings…
To survive in fishing, the fishing industry needs to pay attention to fish politics, and in these times, also to pay attention to state politics, and be prepared to respond, he said. “Now is the time to make the case for the fishing industry,” he said. “This is a big deal. The fishing industry needs to pay attention and get involved.”
…The issue for the fisheries industry is as the pressure builds to cut state spending it will affect state agencies that have a big role in commercial fisheries in Alaska, from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and Department of Commerce, which includes the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute and commercial fishing loan programs. Knapp warned that there would also be intense pressure to find new revenues through fisheries taxes, user fees like fisheries permits, and other taxes, including those on income and motor fuels…
http://fnonlinenews.blogspot.com/2016/04/alaskas-finances-concern-commercial.html
- Alaska cities brace for reduced state funding
By Elizabeth Jenkins April 26, 2016
Alaska’s larger cities could see a drop in state funding as Community Revenue Sharing is scaled down. Anchorage takes the biggest hit. Juneau could lose over a million dollars in the next few years. Meanwhile, some rural communities could receive more. But as legislators squabble about how to fill the state’s budget void, the uncertainty has some municipalities wondering if they’ll be fine, or have to close entirely…
http://www.ktoo.org/2016/04/26/alaska-cities-brace-for-reduced-state-funding/
SB 210 bill & tracking: http://www.akleg.gov/basis/Bill/Detail/29?Root=SB%20210
- Cheap oil creates a new frontier in Alaska—making ends meet
…”We know that the state is … having problems, and we’re willing to step up to the plate, but we got to see what the total thing is going to be on the industry, which is a lot smaller than oil and gas,” said Jerry McCune, president of United Fishermen of Alaska, which represents 35 commercial fishing organizations across the state.”
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/04/21/cheap-oil-creates-a-new-frontier-in-alaska-making-ends-meet.html
- Amid oil price plunge, Alaska’s economy braces for losers and survivors
Alaska’s $3.5 billion deficit — roughly two-thirds of its budget — reads like a classic boom-bust tale. With the collapse in crude prices, lower oil revenues are hitting Alaska hard. Roughly 90 percent of the state government and one-third of all state jobs comes from oil money…
- Ruffner confirmed for Board of Fisheries – Governor thanks Legislators
By Elizabeth Earl, Peninsula Clarion, April 16, 2016
Without a single objection, the Legislature approved the three candidates for the Board of Fisheries in a joint session Friday….
http://peninsulaclarion.com/news/2016-04-16/ruffner-confirmed-for-board-of-fisheries
&
Governor Walker Thanks Legislature for Confirming Board and Commission Appointees
April 16, 2016
JUNEAU – Governor Bill Walker thanked the Alaska Legislature today for confirming his board and commission appointees. Lawmakers confirmed 94 of 95 of the Governor’s appointments during a joint floor session of the House and Senate yesterday afternoon. The legislature also confirmed Governor Walker’s appointment of Dean Williams as Commissioner of Department of Corrections…
Governor Walker Press release April 16:
We appreciate Mr. Ruffner’s and other Board of Fisheries members willingness to serve in this most challenging of volunteer service to Alaska.
- Commentary. Nope, sorry. Alaska’s Board of Fish process is actually broken
ADN Commentary by Dan Kingsley, March 30, 2016
I agree with Karl Johnstone fully when he said in a commentary (ADN, March 16), that the Alaska Board of Fisheries process could be a very valuable public process for various user groups to express their concerns and opinions regarding the management of their fishery of interest. However, the appointed board members are so politically polarized that “Fish First” policies in regards to implementing allocation and management objectives are blatantly disregarded…
http://www.adn.com/article/20160330/nope-sorry-alaskas-board-fish-process-actually-broken
- Fishing officials work to get young people fishing permits
KODIAK, Alaska (AP) – People in the fishing industry are looking for ways to help young fishermen join the workforce.
The Kodiak Daily Mirror reports (http://bit.ly/1V0E6KY ) that during the ComFish conference in Kodiak industry officials talked about ways to help young people overcome barriers to entry, such as permit loans, a sustainable fisheries trust and possibly community permit banks.
http://www.ktuu.com/news/news/fishing-officials-work-to-get-young-people-fishing-permits/38833138
Related resources:
Alaska Division of Economic Development Commercial Fishing Loans program.
Preparing to Work On-board Fishing Vessels – What Crew Members On-board Fishing Vessels in Alaska Need to Know
From Ak department of Labor Alaska Job Center Network
- BBDF and Naknek Family Fisheries Partner to Form Wild Side Salmon, LLC
The Bristol Bay Development Fund (BBDF), a subsidiary of Bristol Bay Native Corporation, is pleased to announce its fifth investment in a Bristol Bay-based business. BBDF and Naknek Family Fisheries, LLC, based out of Naknek, Alaska, are forming a new 50-50% partnership called Wild Salmon, LLC.
Naknek Family Fisheries has been owned and operated by Bristol Bay entrepreneur Izetta Chambers and her family members since 2006. The new business – Wild Side Salmon, LLC – will continue to use the Naknek Family Fisheries brand. BBDF investment dollars will be used to upgrade the existing fish plant facility, build an employee bunkhouse, and provide operating capital. ..
Alaska Business Monthly April 14:
- Processors pony up to fund herring surveys as budget cuts bite
By Laine Welch – Fish Factor – Alaska Journal of Commerce, April 27
Cuts affecting Alaska’s fisheries will be spread across all regions and species, depending on the final budget that is approved by state legislators.
As it stands now, the total commercial fisheries budget for fiscal year 2017 from all state and federal funding sources is about $64 million, a drop of $10 million over two years.
“With cuts of that magnitude, everything is on the table,” said Scott Kelley, director of the Commercial Fisheries Division at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
Last year 109 fishery projects were axed, and another 65 are on the cut list for the upcoming fiscal year that begins on July 1, Kelley said. They include a golden king crab observer project and coho salmon evaluation plans in the Southeast region, a major salmon stock assessment program near Nome, numerous salmon enhancement pilot projects, crab research at Chignik, reduced time on the Nushagak River and loss of counting towers at Bristol Bay, cutbacks at the genetics lab and positions left unfilled at fish headquarters in Juneau, to name a few.
“That’s just a flavor of what we are talking about. Once the governor signs off on a budget and the dust settles, we will know our allocations from all funding sources,” Kelley said…
- Board of Fish adjusts Bristol Bay setnet boundaries
Molly Dischner, Bristol Bay Times, March 20, 2016
Months after the issue was first raised, the state Board of Fisheries made a decision on setnet sites affected by erosion.
In December, Bristol Bay setnetters went to the board looking for help after erosion had taken its toll on boundaries at their commercial fishing sites. And on March 11, at its statewide meeting and the final regular meeting for board members Fritz Johnson and Bob Mumford, the board agreed to adjust the lines as requested by the affected fishermen, with some modifications…
http://www.adn.com/article/20160320/board-fish-adjusts-bristol-bay-setnet-boundaries
- ADFG /BOF regulations changes in PWS, SE, Norton Sound personal use & subsistence fisheries
Notice of Proposed Changes in Certain Subsistence and Personal Use Fishery Harvest Limit Regulations of The Alaska Board of Fisheries
The commissioner of the Department of Fish and Game, under a delegation of authority issued by the Alaska Board of Fisheries (board) under AS 16.05.270, proposes to adopt regulation changes in Title 5 of the Alaska Administrative Code (AAC), related to harvest limits for certain subsistence and personal use fisheries in the Norton Sound – Port Clarence Area, Yukon Area, Prince William Sound Area, including the upper Copper River drainage and upper Susitna River drainage, and the Southeastern Alaska Area, including the following…
Online Public Notice:
https://aws.state.ak.us/OnlinePublicNotices/Notices/View.aspx?id=180723
& related BOF findings and delegation of authority to adopt and amend regulations:
https://aws.state.ak.us/OnlinePublicNotices/Notices/View.aspx?id=180741
- Board of Fisheries Statewide Finfish and Supplemental Issues – March 8–11, 2016 – meeting results
Meeting Summary (PDF 422 kB)
Statewide finfish meeting page
Board of Fisheries home page: http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=fisheriesboard.main
- Bristol Bay buyers say they can handle full sockeye run
Molly Dischner, Bristol Bay Times, April 10, 2016
Salmon season may be a few months away, but the Alaska Department of Fish and Game has been prepping for the coming season, and processors have said they’re ready to handle the full run that’s expected.
The department published its annual salmon outlook for the bay in early April, shortly after the late-March release of its processor survey.
http://www.adn.com/article/20160410/bristol-bay-buyers-say-they-can-handle-full-sockeye-run
- AK Sustainable Salmon Fund proposal deadline June 15 – Webinar May 11
AKSSF is announcing its 2016 statewide call for proposals (CFP) which opens April 13, 2016. The amount of funding available is not yet known, but is expected to be about $4 million. The following partial list of conditions applies to this CFP:
Proposals must be submitted through our website (www.akssf.org ) which will contain all required forms, templates, and reference documents on April 13.
All proposals must be received by 12 p.m. (noon) Alaska Daylight Time on June 15, 2016.
Proposals submitted any time before 12 p.m. (noon) Alaska Daylight time on June 1, 2016, will be provided with a courtesy administrative pre-review.
Notification letters (i.e., funding decision letters) will be sent to applicants by December 16, 2016.
Proponents must contribute a 35% non-federal match.
Projects must be completed by November 30, 2019.
Projects must directly relate to one or more objectives included in the CFP for the region in which the project takes place (objectives will be available when the call opens).
Please refer to the CFP summary document and frequently asked questions section at www.akssf.org for further guidance after the call opens on April 13. AKSSF is offering a webinar on May 11 (9:00 – 11:00 a.m.) to help applicants understand the proposal development and project selection processes (please contact Debbie Maas at debbie.maas@alaska.gov/907-465-6134 if you wish to attend). This workshop is a great opportunity to get your questions answered while learning how to avoid common proposal pitfalls.
Online Public Notice: https://aws.state.ak.us/OnlinePublicNotices/Notices/View.aspx?id=180633
- Conservation in the Age of Climate Change: The Case of the Disappearing Yukon Salmon
By Jacqueline Ronson, Pacific Standard
If climate change has caused the dramatic decline in Yukon River Chinook, can anything fix it?
For nearly 20 years, there has been a mystery playing out on the banks of the Yukon River and its tributaries: What happened to all the chinook salmon? Chinook (or king) salmon are prized for their large size and rich, oily flesh. Before 1997 the Yukon River runs averaged 300,000 fish, but there hasn’t been a run of 100,000 in a decade. In 2013, the return was just 37,000 fish.
Getting to the bottom of the mystery is a massive technical challenge. The Yukon River watershed covers 320,000 square miles of Alaska and Canada’s Yukon Territory, the majority of which is inaccessible by road
https://psmag.com/the-case-of-the-disappearing-salmon-3a483dc59b9#.b9cqgimyf
- 2016 Kuskokwim River Chinook Salmon Outlook
The 2016 Kuskokwim River Chinook salmon forecast is for a range of 125,000–219,000 fish. The drainage-wide Chinook salmon escapement goal is 65,000–120,000. Average subsistence Chinook salmon harvest is 84,000. If the run comes back within the forecast range, then there may be enough Chinook salmon to provide for escapement and subsistence needs…
&&
2015 Kuskokwim King Salmon Escapement Better Than Last Year
http://kyuk.org/2015-kuskokwim-king-salmon-escapement-better-than-last-year/
National
- Murkowski’s Appropriations Work Strengthens Alaska’s Communities, Fisheries
The Senate Appropriations Committee approved the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Fiscal Year 2017 appropriations bill, which contains several priorities U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski secured for Alaska. As a member of this subcommittee, Murkowski included provisions to strengthen Alaska’s fisheries and support justice services and law enforcement efforts throughout the state.
“The funds contained in this bill support a wide array of key programs in Alaska—including components to help sustainably maintain our world-class fisheries, keep our waters safe for mariners and fisherman, and improve the quality of life in our rural communities,” said Senator Murkowski. “In a time of much financial uncertainty in the state, these dollars will go a long way.”…
Senator Murkowski supported robust funding levels for:
- Data collection, surveys and assessments: $163.8 million.
- Regional councils and fisheries commissions: $34.2 million, approximately $1 million above last year.
- Salmon management activities: $31.5 million and $12 million for the Pacific Salmon Treaty. Murkowski also secured report language directing NOAA to report all fees charged by the agency when handling money appropriated to the Pacific Salmon Treaty, due to concerns over excessive overhead charges.
- Electronic monitoring and reporting: Advancements in electronic monitoring and reporting have the potential to cut costs and improve data collection for U.S. fisheries. Murkowski secured report language that directs the National Marine Fisheries Services to prioritize electronic monitoring and reporting and expedite to the fullest extent possible the transition to full electronic monitoring.
- Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund: Provides $65 million, $5 million above last year, to restore Pacific salmon populations.
- National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) –Alaska Region: Murkowski secured report language directing NOAA to report costs associated with the travel of personnel to and from Alaska to conduct fisheries, marine mammal, and habitat research.
- NOAA Fish Watch: Murkowski secured report language prohibiting NOAA from adopting, using, or promoting any third-party certification scheme for seafood sustainability and instead continue providing consumers with independent and accountable information generated within NOAA.
Senator Murkowski Press release:
&
UFA press release: UFA endorses Lisa Murkowski for U.S. Senate
https://www.ufafish.org/press-release-ufa-endorses-senator-lisa-murkowski/
- Congressman Young, Sen. Sullivan Commemorate 40th Anniversary of Magnuson-Stevens Act
“Today marks the 40th anniversary of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, an act that “Americanized” our fisheries and created wealth and certainty for our coastal communities and state. As many may know, it was our Alaskan fishermen that spearheaded these efforts – calling upon Congress to develop reforms that protected Alaska’s fisheries resources and pushed foreign fleets off our shores – a fight Senator Stevens and I gladly took on.”
…On June 1, 2015, the House passed H.R. 1335, the Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act (introduced by Congressman Young), which represents more than four years of work by Young and the House Natural Resources Committee to update the premier law government commercial and recreation fishing in U.S. federal waters…
Press release:
http://donyoung.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398666
H.R. 1335 pdf (House version passed June 1, 2015): http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-114hr1335rfs/pdf/BILLS-114hr1335rfs.pdf
&&&
Sullivan Commemorates the 40th Anniversary of the Magnuson Stevens Act
WASHINGTON, DC …on the 40th anniversary of the passage of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK) released the following statement:
“It’s difficult to overstate the positive impacts the Magnuson-Stevens Act has had on the state of Alaska and its importance to our fishing industry,” said Senator Sullivan. “More Alaskans are employed by the fishing industry than any other industry in the state. Countless Alaska communities rely on the health and abundance of our fisheries. The prosperity and jobs provided by our fisheries was made possible because of the science-based, stakeholder-driven management of the resource established by the Magnuson-Stevens Act. Suffice it to say, Alaska would not be the superpower of seafood it is today without the vision and hard-work of those that crafted the Act that passed 40 years ago – namely the late Senator Ted Stevens and Congressman Don Young. As Alaska’s Senator serving on the Commerce Committee, I take seriously my role in preserving their great legacy in crafting the law that has successfully managed our nation’s fisheries for future generations.”
- Commentary – 40 years after Magnuson-Stevens, not all promises kept
Guest commentary- Alaska Journal of Commerce – April 20 by David Martin, United Cook Inlet Drift Association
The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act turned 40 last week and federal and state fishery managers marked that event with an opinion piece in the Alaska Dispatch News on April 12 extolling the successes of the Magnuson-Stevens Act and its implementation in Alaska as a “global model of sustainability.”
As the authors point out, the Magnuson-Stevens Act sets up a “transparent governing process” intended to ensure that “science is behind every fishery management decision” in Alaska.
Indeed, the Magnuson-Stevens Act sets up national standards ensuring that all fisheries are managed to achieve “optimum yield from each fishery” with management decisions “based on the best scientific information available,” and guided by carefully considered fishery management plans.
We can all find common ground in recognizing the benefits associated with management under the Act, as well as many of the successes of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (the council) and NOAA Fisheries in ensuring the long-term stewardship of Alaska’s fisheries.
The problem is that many important fisheries have been left out of the fold of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. The Cook Inlet salmon fishery is a prime example. Every year, some 10 to 30 million salmon pass through federal waters in Cook Inlet, in route to their native streams.
These are some of the largest wild salmon runs in the world, and they go largely unharvested.
But the North Pacific Fishery Management Council and NOAA Fisheries plainly don’t want anything to do with Cook Inlet salmon fisheries, despite their obligation under federal law…
- Gulf fishermen wary of Congressional intrusion into council process
By: DJ Summers, Alaska Journal of Commerce, Wed, 04/06/2016 – 3:55pm
Editor’s note: Stephen Taufen of Groudswell Fisheries Movement did not write the petition distributed by AMCC. This article refers to a seperate memo of his own distributed to interested parties in which he alludes to Rep. Beutler.
Gulf of Alaska fishermen suspect that Washington, D.C., politics might come into play for fisheries regulations they want left to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council.
A letter circulated by the Alaska Marine Conservation Council and signed by 250 Gulf of Alaska fishermen and residents was sent to each of Alaska’s three congressional delegation members…
http://www.alaskajournal.com/2016-04-06/gulf-fishermen-wary-congressional-intrusion-council-process
- Washington rep, trawlers scuttle rumors of Gulf legislation
By: DJ Summers, Alaska Journal of Commerce, April 13
A Washington congresswoman’s office and members of the North Pacific trawl industry deny rumors that they are collaborating on federal fishing legislation that would circumvent the North Pacific Fishery Management Council process.
- NPFMC April Newsletter – items from April 4-11 meeting
The Council Newsletter is now available online.
Documents, handouts, and motions are still available through links on that meeting’s Agenda.
Topics include:
Halibut Charter RQE, Salmon bycatch, Scallop assessment, AI Groundfish Limited Access, Cooperative Reports, Groundfish Management, BSAI Halibut PSC limits, and discount code for June 6 – 14 NPFMC meeting in Kodiak.
NPFMC home page: http://www.npfmc.org/
- CIE peer review of AK Sablefish Stock Assessment –meetings May 10-12, Juneau
NMFS has requested the Center for Independent Experts (CIE) to conduct a peer review of the agency’s stock assessment of Alaska Sablefish (Anopoploma fimbria). The CIE is a group affiliated with the University of Miami that provides independent peer reviews of NMFS science nationwide, including reviews of stock assessments for fish and marine mammals. The Alaska Sablefish stock assessment is reviewed annually by the Alaska Fisheries Science Center, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) Plan Team, and the NPFMC Scientific and Statistical Committee. The CIE review will examine whether the assessment incorporates the best scientific information available for making management decisions and provides a reasonable approach to understanding the population dynamics and stock status of Alaska Sablefish. The public is invited to attend and observe the presentations and discussions between the CIE panel and the NMFS scientists who collected and processed the data, and designed the underlying model…
The public meeting will be held from May 10 through May 12, 2016, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Alaska Daylight Time…at the Ted Stevens Marine Research Institute, 17109 Pt. Lena Loop Rd, Juneau, AK…
Federal Register April 28: https://federalregister.gov/a/2016-09908
AFSC Alaska Stock Assessments: http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/REFM/Stocks/assessments.htm
- NMFS posts final rule on Amendment 111 – BSAI Groundfish halibut bycatch limits
NMFS issues this final rule to implement Amendment 111 to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area (FMP). This final rule reduces bycatch limits, also known as prohibited species catch (PSC) limits, for Pacific halibut in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) groundfish fisheries by specific amounts in four groundfish sectors: The Amendment 80 sector (non-pollock trawl catcher/processors); the BSAI trawl limited access sector (all non-Amendment 80 trawl fishery participants); the non-trawl sector (primarily hook-and-line catcher/processors); and the Western Alaska Community Development Quota Program (CDQ Program). This final rule establishes the following halibut PSC limits: 1,745 mt for the Amendment 80 sector; 745 mt for the BSAI trawl limited access sector; 710 mt for the BSAI non-trawl sector; and 315 mt for the CDQ Program. This results in an overall BSAI halibut PSC limit of 3,515 mt. This action is necessary to minimize halibut bycatch in the BSAI groundfish fisheries to the extent practicable and to achieve, on a continuing basis, optimum yield from the BSAI groundfish fisheries…
Federal Register April 27: https://federalregister.gov/a/2016-09680
Previous announcement January 20: https://alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/node/53471
- IPHC Notifies Industry of Halibut Sales in 2016 and Seeks Buyers Interested in IPHC Research Fish
April 06, 2016
The International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) will be conducting research operations off northern California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and Alaska during 2016 and will be selling halibut caught and sampled during the operations to offset costs associated with conducting the research. This news release is intended to notify the industry of the IPHC plan to sell fish and to update lists of interested buyers in ports where IPHC-chartered boats will offload catch…
IPHC announcement April 6: http://www.iphc.int/news-releases/451-nr20160406.html
- BSAI and Gulf of Alaska Final 2016 and 2017 Harvest Specifications for Groundfish
Federal Register March 18 – BSAI: https://federalregister.gov/a/2016-06182
– GOA: https://federalregister.gov/a/2016-06183
NPFMC BSAI / GOA Groundfish home page: http://www.npfmc.org/bering-seaaleutian-islands-groundfish/
- NOAA posts Pacific Halibut Catch Sharing Plan
The Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), on behalf of the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC), publishes annual management measures governing the Pacific halibut fishery recommended as regulations by the IPHC and accepted by the Secretary of State. This action is intended to enhance the conservation of Pacific halibut and further the goals and objectives of the Pacific Fishery Management Council and the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC)…
The IPHC’s 2016 annual management measures are effective March 14, 2016. The 2016 management measures are effective until superseded…
Federal Register March 16: https://federalregister.gov/a/2016-05948
&&& Pacific Halibut Catch Sharing Plan for Area 2A:
Federal Register April 1: https://federalregister.gov/a/2016-07438
- NMFS final rule on cost recovery payment methods for Halbut & Sablefish IFQ and BSAI Crab programs
NMFS issues regulations to revise the authorized methods for payment of cost recovery fees for the Halibut and Sablefish Individual Fishing Quota Program and the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Crab Rationalization Program. These regulations are necessary to improve data security procedures and to reduce administrative costs of processing cost recovery fee payments…
Effective May 23, 2016…
Federal Register April 22: https://federalregister.gov/a/2016-09308
- NPFMC Crab Plan Team to meet May 9 – 12, Anchorage
The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) Crab Plan Team (CPT) will meet May 9, 2016 through May 12, 2016… in the Birch/Willow room at the Hilton Hotel, 500 W. 3rd Ave., Anchorage, Alaska…
NPFMC BSAI Crab Team page: http://www.npfmc.org/fishery-management-plan-team/bsai-crab-plan-team/
Federal Register April 22: https://federalregister.gov/a/2016-09364
- NPFMC Observer Advisory Committee to meet May 12-13 in Seattle
The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) Observer Advisory Committee (OAC) will meet May 12 through May 13, 2016…
in the Traynor Room, Building 4 at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center, 7700 Sand Point Way NE., Seattle, WA.
NPFMC Observer Program page: http://www.npfmc.org/observer-program/
Federal Register April 26: https://federalregister.gov/a/2016-09662
- NPFMC Electronic Monitoring Workgroup to meet May 11 by teleconference
The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) Electronic Monitoring Workgroup (EMWG) will hold a telephonic meeting on May 11, 2016…
Federal Register April 26: https://federalregister.gov/a/2016-09661
- NMFS BSAI Crab Program Regulation Changes
NMFS issues a rule that modifies regulations governing the Crab Rationalization (CR) Program. This final rule is comprised of three actions. Under the first action, this final rule modifies regulations to create an exemption for participants in the Western Aleutian Islands golden king crab (WAG) fishery from the prohibition against resuming fishing before all CR Program crab have been fully offloaded from a vessel. The first action is intended to allow participants in the WAG fishery to offload live crab to remote ports near the fishing grounds to supply live crab markets. Under the second action, this final rule amends CR Program regulations to clarify current document submission requirements for persons applying to receive captain and crew crab quota share, called C shares, by transfer. Under the third action, this final rule amends License Limitation Program (LLP) regulations to remove the requirement for endorsements on crab LLP licenses for specific crab fisheries in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) that are no longer managed under the LLP…
Federal Register April 26: https://federalregister.gov/a/2016-09678
NOAA Fisheries BSAI Crab page: https://alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/fisheries/crab
- NOAA announces 2016 charter and commercial halibut management measures
NOAA Fisheries is providing notice of the immediate effect of regulations of the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC). The commercial IFQ halibut season opens Saturday, March 19, 2016.
https://alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/node/53808
- NMFS final rule on BSAI & GOA small catcher/processor observer requirements
NMFS issues this final rule to implement Amendment 112 to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area (BSAI FMP) and Amendment 102 to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA FMP) and revise regulations for observer coverage requirements for certain small catcher/processors in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) and Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area (BSAI). This final rule modifies the criteria for NMFS to place small catcher/processors in the partial observer coverage category under the North Pacific Groundfish and Halibut Observer Program (Observer Program). Under this final rule, the owner of a non-trawl catcher/processor can choose to be in the partial observer coverage category, on an annual basis, if the vessel processed less than 79,000 lb (35.8 mt) of groundfish on an average weekly basis in a particular prior year, as specified in this final rule. This final rule provides a relatively limited exception to the general requirement that all catcher/processors are in the full observer coverage category, and maintains the full observer coverage requirement for all trawl catcher/processors and catcher/processors participating in a catch share program that requires full observer coverage…
Federal Register March 29: https://federalregister.gov/a/2016-07019
- Agency debuts tools to track Alaska marine diets, ecosystems
Rashah McChesney | Associated Press, March 29, 2016
JUNEAU — Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have debuted two databases designed to give researchers data on marine fish species diets and ecosystem trends in Alaska.
According to a NOAA news release, the databases could be used to help manage marine resources.
Included among the data are more than one million diet records of fish caught during research surveys in Alaska. For some fish species, the predator-prey relationship data dates back more than 30 years…
http://www.adn.com/article/20160329/agency-debuts-tools-track-alaska-marine-diets-ecosystems
- National Essential Fish Habitat Summit Public Meeting – May 17 – 19, Annapolis
The National Marine Fisheries Service will host a public meeting, consisting of representatives from the Regional Fishery Management Councils, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and interested members of the public. The purpose of the meeting is to identify and share opportunities, challenges, and successful approaches for the effective implementation of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act Essential Fish Habitat authorities. Registration is required, and participation may be limited. See http://www.fisheriesforum.org/our-work/special-projects/efh-summit for more information and to register…
Federal Register: https://federalregister.gov/a/2016-06414
NOAA EFH page: http://www.habitat.noaa.gov/ourwork/efh.html
Summit home page: http://www.fisheriesforum.org/our-work/special-projects/efh-summit
- NOAA Status of Stocks 2015 – U.S. Fisheries Continue to Rebuild
As a result of the combined efforts of NOAA Fisheries, the regional fishery management councils, and all our partners, in 2015 we rebuilt two stocks, and the number of stocks listed as subject to overfishing or overfished remains near an all-time low.
- Status of Stocks 2015 Report
- Press release
- Additional details on managed stocks and past reports
- Celebrating 40 Years of the Magnuson-Stevens Act
On the 40th anniversary of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, we recognize that our dynamic, science-based management process is proving to be successful at ending overfishing and rebuilding stocks, helping us realize significant benefits to the economy…
Announcement April 20: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/publications/feature_stories/2016/status_of_stocks_2015.html
http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/publications/feature_stories/2016/status_of_stocks_2015.html
NOAA Status of Stocks home page: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/fisheries_eco/status_of_fisheries/status_updates.html
- NOAA: Populations of salmon (WA & Columbia River), flounder added to overfishing list
By Patrick Whittle, The Associated Press
The federal government has added several populations of economically important food fish, including stocks of salmon and flounder, to its list of fish stocks that are being subjected to overfishing.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Wednesday that three regional populations of Chinook salmon and one regional population each of Coho salmon, summer flounder, yellowtail flounder and winter flounder are suffering from overfishing…
The Chinook salmon populations that are being added to the overfishing list are along the Washington coast and in the Columbia River Basin of the Pacific Northwest. The Coho salmon population also is located along the Washington coast…
http://www.mailtribune.com/article/20160420/NEWS/160429919
- WA: State Tribes break off salmon talks again
The state Department of Fish and Wildlife will not work with area Native American tribes to get the federal permit to hold salmon fisheries in Puget Sound, the agency announced Tuesday. The department met with tribal leaders Tuesday in Shelton, but the talks reached an impasse, according to a state news release.
Tribal officials announced Wednesday morning they would seek their own federal permit as well…
The Olympian – April 19: http://www.theolympian.com/outdoors/article72768487.html
- NOAA MMPA list of Fisheries for 2016 – two AK fisheries lowered, one heightened
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) publishes its final List of Fisheries (LOF) for 2016, as required by the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). The final LOF for 2016 reflects new information on interactions between commercial fisheries and marine mammals. NMFS must classify each commercial fishery on the LOF into one of three categories under the MMPA based upon the level of mortality and serious injury of marine mammals that occurs incidental to each fishery. The classification of a fishery on the LOF determines whether participants in that fishery are subject to certain provisions of the MMPA, such as registration, observer coverage, and take reduction plan (TRP) requirements. In addition, NMFS begins publishing online fact sheets for Category III fisheries on a rolling basis…
NMFS reclassifies the Category III Alaska Bering Sea/Aleutian Island Pacific Cod Longline Fishery as Category II.
NMFS reclassifies the Category II Alaska Kodiak Salmon Purse Seine Fishery as Category III.
NMFS reclassifies the Category II Alaska Cook Inlet Salmon Purse Seine Fishery as Category III.
(note Category III indicates a remote likelihood of or no known incidental mortality and serious injury of marine mammals)
Federal Register April 8: https://federalregister.gov/a/2016-08114
NOAA MMPA List of Fisheries home page: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/interactions/fisheries/lof.html
- Survey of Federally-Funded Marine Mammal Research and Conservation
The Marine Mammal Commission, as part of its duties under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), conducts a survey of federal agencies to determine the nature of the marine mammal research and conservation these agencies conduct and fund. The survey asks agencies to describe their marine mammal-related activities, including information on the nature of the research, the species and areas studied, the threats and issues addressed, and the funding expended…
2014 Report (released April 20, 2016): http://www.mmc.gov/wp-content/uploads/FY14-FFR-Report.pdf
Marine Mammal Commission announcement: http://www.mmc.gov/grants-and-research-survey/survey-of-federally-funded-research/
- USCG Automatic Identification System (AIS) and Notice of Arrival Regs effective as of April 7
– affects vessels over 65 ft… vessels under 14 knots qualify for lower cost B units.
The Coast Guard announces that it has received approval from the Office of Management and Budget for an information collection request associated with automatic identification system requirements in a final rule we published in the Federal Register on January 30, 2015. In that rule we stated we would publish a document in the Federal Register announcing the effective date of these collection-of-information related paragraphs. This rule establishes today as the effective date for those paragraphs…
Revised paragraphs (b) and (c) of § 164.46, published in the Federal Register on January 30, 2015 (80 FR 5282), are effective April 7, 2016…
Federal Register April 7: https://federalregister.gov/a/2016-07958
Regulations.gov docket: http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=USCG-2005-21869
Pdf document (1.8 mb):
Final Regulatory Analysis and Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis for the Final Rule
AIS Requirements: http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=AISRequirementsRev
USCG Nationwide Automatic Identification System page: http://www.uscg.mil/acquisition/nais/
&&&
Fish Safe West Item: Automatic Identification System (AIS)
By March 1, 2016, self propelled commercial fishing vessels, fish tender vessel and fish processing vessels that are 65 feet or greater are required to have installed either a Class A or Class B (AIS) in accordance with (33 CFR 164.46(b)(1)(i)). If you have questions please refer to the USCG Navigation Center website at http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=AISmain .
USCG Fish Safe West F/V safety page: http://www.uscg.mil/d13/cfvs/default.asp
&&
US Coast Guard expands vessel safety requirements
USCG Press release April 21: http://www.uscgnews.com/go/doc/4007/2812058/
- Boating? Feds new spy program has eye on you
Privacy group protests plans to build sea travel database…
The Electronic Privacy Information Center said this week it settled its Freedom of Information Act lawsuit with DHS over the “Nationwide Automatic Identification Systems,” which tracks and locates boaters.
But the organization said that according to documents it obtained, the DHS believes boaters have “no expectation of privacy with regard to any information transmitted” about the location of their boats…
http://www.wnd.com/2016/04/boating-feds-new-spy-program-has-eye-on-you/
- NIOSH: BSAI Crab Fleet Much Safer
A new National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health report says a US Coast Guard decision to begin crab vessel dock checks was a major factor in greatly improved safety for crew working in the Bering Sea/Aleutian Island fisheries.
The NIOSH report, released on April 14, noted that back in the 1990s, the BSAI was the most hazardous commercial fishing in the United States, with 73 crew members killed on the job from vessel disasters, falls overboard, or on-board injuries.
http://fnonlinenews.blogspot.com/2016/04/bsai-crab-fleet-much-safer.html
NIOSH Report – Assessment of Safety in the Bering Sea/Aleutian Island Crab Fleet: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2016-112/
NIOSH Alaska: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/contact/im-alaska.html
- Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee (MAFAC) Meeting April 25 -27, 2016 – Portland, OR
The meeting is convened to hear presentations and discuss policies and guidance on the following topics: Proposed Columbia Basin Partnership Task Force, hatchery genetic management plans, draft National Bycatch Reduction Strategy, fishing community and coastal resilience, and strategic planning. The meeting will include updates on electronic monitoring on the west coast, recreational fishing regional implementation plans, and the budget outlook for FY2016-2017; discussion of various MAFAC administrative and organizational matters; and may include meetings of standing subcommittees and working groups…
MAFAC home page: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/ocs/mafac/
- Comment deadline May 23 on Revisions to the Regulations for ESA Petitions
We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service (Services), announce revisions to the May 21, 2015, proposed rule that would revise the regulations pertaining to submission of petitions and the reopening of the public comment period…
We will consider comments received or postmarked on or before May 23, 2016…
The proposed changes will improve the quality of petitions through expanded content requirements and guidelines, and, in so doing, better focus the Services’ resources on species that merit further analysis. However, in response to the comments and information we received during the May 21, 2015, proposed rule’s public comment period, the Services are revising the proposed rule to streamline the process for according States notice of petitions, to reduce the amount of information that would need to be submitted with petitions, and to provide additional clarifications. It is our intent to discuss here only those topics directly relevant to the changes we are making to the proposed rule…
For a list of the proposed revisions see Federal Register April 20: https://federalregister.gov/a/2016-09200
- U.S. Supreme Court backs Alaska moose hunter in fight against feds over hovercraft use
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court handed an Alaska moose hunter a significant victory… overturning a lower-court decision that barred him from operating a hovercraft in the Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve.
But whether John Sturgeon can use his long-mothballed hovercraft for his next hunt will remain a question for the appeals court, to which the Supreme Court left several substantive legal questions regarding state sovereignty and federal authority.
Nevertheless, the case is a win for the state of Alaska, which joined the case in support of Sturgeon, amid a series of long-running disputes over federal land and animal management in the Last Frontier…
Sturgeon, who has a background in the timber industry and with fighting federal regulations in Alaska, gained support in the state and from Alaska’s congressional delegation, among others. They argue that a provision in ANILCA limits federal control to federal lands within park boundaries, and that the state owns the waters and the land beneath them…
U.S. Supreme Court: Docket for 14-1209
Slip Opinion: http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/15pdf/14-1209_kifl.pdf
Marketing
- Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute Marketing Update (April 22)
Alaska Seafood Takes New York
Wild Alaska Salmon Featured in Martha Stewart Living Magazine
ASMI’s Seafood Truck Makes Appearance at German Food Festival
Alaska Seafood Debuts at Brazil Art Exhibition
Alaska Seafood E-commerce Promotions Gain Momentum
Online at:
http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=bcd6d5bec392f12ce703f7e00&id=d382a810a5&e=bb1781f3f7
&&
Updated ASMI Whitefish Buyers Guide – (9.8 mb pdf):
- Alaska Flatfish Fishery Completes 2nd Annual Surveillance Audit for Alaska RFM Certification
The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) is pleased to announce the Alaska flatfish fishery completed the second annual surveillance audit for Alaska Responsible Fisheries Management (RFM) certification. Originally certified in December 2013, the objective of the audit is to monitor any changes since the previous assessment. For a copy of the second annual audit report click here. The client for the Alaska flatfish fishery RFM certification is the Alaska Seafood Cooperative.
The flatfish fishery is conducted in two separate management areas: the Bering Sea/Aleutians Islands (BSAI) and Gulf of Alaska (GOA). The RFM Certified Alaska flatfish catch is comprised of the following species: Yellowfin Sole, Northern Rock Sole, Southern Rock Sole, Flathead Sole, Rex Sole, Kamchatka Flounder, Arrowtooth Flounder, Alaska Plaice, and Greenland Turbot.
Comments and information are welcome from interested stakeholders. For instructions on how to submit into the assessment process click here.
As the certification of Alaska’s fisheries progress, we will continue to provide email updates and update the website. We welcome any feedback or questions you may have at rfm@alaskaseafood.org.
For more information on Alaska RFM certification go to www.alaskaseafood.org
- The faces behind the fish – Alaskans Own brings agrarian model to Southeast Seas
Most Americans don’t know where their food comes from. Alaskans have it better, thanks to subsistence lifestyles and programs like Alaskans Own, a Sitka-based community supported fishery (CSF)…
http://juneauempire.com/local/2016-04-15/faces-behind-fish
- Kenai Peninsula Food Hub offers local shopping online
By Kelly Sullivan, Peninsula Clarion, April 26
Starting this season, Kenai Peninsula communities will have the unique option of shopping for local produce, seafood and handmade goods online.
The Kenai Peninsula Food Hub Pilot Program website will launch Friday in Homer and May 12, in Soldotna, and will likely run through early autumn, or until yields are diminished…
Robbi Mixon, local foods coordinator for Cook Inletkeeper, which is hosting the website, said she is hopeful the new service may make sustainable impacts…
http://peninsulaclarion.com/news/2016-04-26/food-hub-offers-local-shopping-online
Cook Inlet Local Food Network –
http://inletkeeper.org/clean-water/local-foods
- The Salmon Project spawns new book: Made of Salmon
Close your eyes. Speak the word “salmon.” Where does it take you?
This is how the organizers of The Salmon Project introduce their research in a new book called “Made of Salmon: Alaska Stories from The Salmon Project… http://www.nationalfisherman.com/blogs/coastlines/6514-salmon-stories
The Salmon Project: http://salmonproject.org/
- Rough Waters: Our North Pacific Small Fishermen’s Battle : A Fishing Family’s Perspective
Paperback by Nancy Danielson Mendenhall, – November 2015
Get an insider’s look at the massive threats facing West Coast small-boat fishermen in Nancy Danielson Mendenhall’s fascinating new book, Rough Waters…
Mendenhall delves into the root causes and effects of the industry’s problems through stories, photos, in-depth interviews with those most affected, and analysis from biologists and social researchers…
http://www.amazon.com/Rough-Waters-Pacific-Fishermens-Perspective/dp/0692502785
- Deadline July 1 for USDA Value-Added Producer Grants
This Notice announces that the Rural Business-Cooperative Service (Agency) is accepting fiscal year (FY) 2016 applications for the Value-Added Producer Grant (VAPG) program. Approximately $44 million is available to help agricultural producers enter into value-added activities for FY 2016…
You must submit your application by July 1, 2016… Electronic Applications: June 24…
This includes meeting the definition requirements at 7 CFR 4284.902 for one of the following applicant types: Independent Producer, Agricultural Producer Group, Farmer or Rancher Cooperative or Majority-Controlled Producer-Based Business…
(Note that the definitions include producers of fish and seafood and producer groups, co-ops etc. )
Federal Register April 8: https://federalregister.gov/a/2016-08028
USDA Value Added Producer Grant home page: http://www.rd.usda.gov/programs-services/value-added-producer-grants
USDA Rural development Alaska home page: http://www.rd.usda.gov/ak
Fish Farm and Environmental
- Gov. Walker pushes reset button on water protection bills
By Emily Files, KHNS – Haines April 15, 2016
Gov. Bill Walker wants to “press the reset button” on bills that would require legislative action to grant a body of water the highest level of protection. Walker himself introduced the bills, which set up a process for nomination and evaluation of what are called Outstanding National Resource Waters.
One of four pending nominations in Alaska is for the Chilkat River. The bills have gone through multiple committee hearings, but now Walker wants to put them aside to work toward a more “broadly acceptable” proposal.
Walker said Senate Bill 163 and its companion House Bill 283 are the only pieces of legislation he’s taken this kind of effort to put on hold this session.
“It became evident to us that we had not spent enough time with various constituent groups in preparation for this,” Walker said. “We thought we were creating a more public process, obviously either we weren’t or a lot of folks felt we were not doing it the correct way, so we said, well, let’s push the reset button and start this process over again.”
Walker wrote letters to House Speaker Mike Chenault and Senate President Kevin Meyer asking for their cooperation. Walker said both have agreed to honor his request…
http://www.ktoo.org/2016/04/15/gov-walker-pushes-reset-button-on-water-protection-bills/
UFA comments on SB 163 concerning nominations as Outstanding National Resource Waters (March 4, 2016)
UFA will continue to work with administration on creating a process for ONRW.
- Group criticizes Alaska Gov. Walker on fisheries policy
Rashah McChesney, Associated Press, March 24, 2016
JUNEAU — Fishermen, Alaska Native tribal members and clean water advocates on Wednesday criticized Gov. Bill Walker’s administration over its handling of fisheries and water issues.
The group held a teleconference to discuss concerns and call on the administration to prioritize “fish first” policies.
Chief among their criticisms was a bill that Walker proposed to give the state Legislature deciding power over which waters in the state could be classified as so-called outstanding natural resource waters and offered special protections. Alaska must establish a process for designating such waters under the federal Clean Water Act, the state Department of Environmental Conservation has said…
- Hard-to-find retired EPA scientist tells where he’s been and why he fought Pebble
Lisa Demer, Alaska Dispatech News, April 4, 2016
A retired government scientist who has been described as elusive and secretive by those backing the proposed Pebble mine is now speaking up in force about why he so opposes the project and what he did to block it…
North, a retired EPA ecologist and the agency’s point person for Bristol Bay during the years at issue, says he did nothing wrong, was never in hiding and doesn’t regret his work helping tribes with a petition urging EPA to veto the mine…
- Avoiding a new breach with Canada (Transboundary rivers)
By Bruce Wallace – comment for The Hill
Our hemisphere is stronger when Canada and the United States lead based not just on a shared border but on shared values. Beyond the handshakes, speeches and state dinner, there’s now a new looming environmental issue that should be addressed constructively and maturely between Prime Minister Trudeau and President Obama. They should make sure that mining in Western Canada does not become the new tar-sands oil from Alberta. They should pledge to avoid “the next Keystone” and speak candidly about the mining boom in British Columbia (B.C.) and the best mechanism to mitigate its fall-out now, before it irreversibly threatens neighboring Southeast Alaska.
In Northwest B.C., a modern-day Gold Rush is underway that could jeopardize Southeast Alaska’s salmon, rivers, fishing and tourism jobs, and unique way of life. Weakened Canadian environmental regulations, the construction of a massive new power line and at least ten large-scale mines undergoing advanced exploration or development is turning this wild, rugged region of Canada into one of the world’s largest mining districts…
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/energy-environment/272263-avoiding-a-new-breach-with-canada
- How B.C. mining could hurt Northwest fishermen
By Joel Brady-Power, Special to The Seattle Times (March 17)
AS a second-generation commercial fisherman my life has always revolved around salmon. Although a resident of Washington, I have spent summers fishing in Southeast Alaska since I boarded my parents’ boat as a 2-week-old.
My livelihood depends on healthy salmon runs, something we have struggled to maintain here in Washington. Now, Alaska’s salmon also face major threats, from unprecedented development proposals across the border in British Columbia…
http://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/how-bc-mining-could-hurt-northwest-fishermen/
- Analysis of four B.C. mines questions tailings dam safety
by Katarina Sostaric, KSTK News
A coalition of environmental groups released a new report last week claiming that four British Columbia mine projects near Southeast Alaska do not follow safety recommendations made by experts after the Mount Polley tailings dam disaster…
http://www.kstk.org/2016/04/01/analysis-of-four-b-c-mines-questions-tailings-dam-safety/
Report: Post-Mount Polley Tailings Dam Safety in Transboundary British Columbia March 2016:
https://www.earthworksaction.org/files/publications/Post-MountPolleyTailingsDamSafety.pdf
- Murkowski, Young Host Genetically Engineered Salmon Briefing
Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Congressman Don Young (R-AK) hosted a genetically engineered salmon briefing to discuss the potential risks of the world’s first FDA-approved genetically engineered animal for human consumption. This effort took steps to educate and build awareness about the inappropriate approval process taken by the FDA, the potential ecological impacts, health risks, and the dangers of not properly labeling genetically engineered (GE) salmon. The briefing also was aimed at garnering support for legislation addressing the issue.
The briefing brought together a group of panelists which included representatives from Food and Water Watch, Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, Alaska Trollers Association, Consumers Union, and the Center for Food Safety…
Senator Murkowski press release 4/21:
- Center for Food Safety: Lawsuit Challenges FDA’s Approval of Genetically Engineered Salmon
A broad coalition of environmental, consumer, and commercial and recreational fishing organizations today sued the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approving the first-ever genetically engineered (GE) food animal, an Atlantic salmon engineered to grow quickly. The man-made salmon was created by AquaBounty Technologies, Inc. with DNA from three fish: Atlantic salmon, Pacific king salmon, and Arctic ocean eelpout. This marks the first time any government in the world has approved a GE animal for commercial sale and consumption.
The plaintiff coalition, jointly represented by legal counsel from Center for Food Safety and Earthjustice, includes Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, Institute for Fisheries Resources, Golden Gate Salmon Association, Kennebec Reborn, Friends of Merrymeeting Bay, Ecology Action Centre, Food & Water Watch, Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth, Cascadia Wildlands, and Center for Food Safety…
&&&
Salmon suit shows GMO divide – Agweek April 11
http://www.agweek.com/news/nation-and-world/4006658-salmon-suit-shows-gmo-divide
- Supreme Court won’t hear Alaska’s challenge to Forest Service ‘roadless rule’
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court … declined to hear a case brought by the state of Alaska over the so-called Forest Service “roadless rule,” ending a major long-running court battle over the state’s attempts to be exempt from the logging regulation.
The state had asked the Supreme Court to consider reversing a lower-court decision that tossed Alaska’s “exemption” from a regulation barring road-building in protected forest areas. While the high court’s decision is a major setback for the state, a similar effort to overturn the rule is still brewing in another federal court…
The Alaska Dispatch News (March 28):
(Also see remaining case in DC)
- Mid-sized sawmills face possible closures
(SitNews) – Southeast Alaska’s last remaining mid-sized sawmill may close if the Forest Service forces a transition to young growth before the timber is of marketable size according to the Board of Directors of Southeast Conference…
http://www.sitnews.us/0316News/033016/033016_sawmills.html
- Local Land, Local Work –at Prince of Wales Forestry Training Academy
By:Quinn Aboudara For the Capital City Weekly
April 4 began early for Prince of Wales resident Buck Grasser. A single father of two living in Craig, he was busy getting his children ready for school while hastily checking that he had everything prepared for his first day of training at the Forestry Training Academy. “It’s a long drive from Craig to Thorne Bay, but I’m excited that this opportunity is available,” he said as he buckled his children into the car.
The Forestry Training Academy is an intense two-week course made possible by a collaboration between Sealaska’s Haa Aaní, LLC, the Sustainable Southeast Partnership, Kai Environmental, the United States Forest Service and the State of Alaska. Its goal was to provide Prince of Wales residents with free forestry skills training.
Organizers chose eight people to attend training in Thorne Bay through a competitive application and interview process open to all residents on Prince of Wales Island…
http://www.capitalcityweekly.com/stories/042716/ae_1268183345.shtml
- A 100-foot-wide water line to California? Juneau entrepreneur envisions a moneymaker
KETCHIKAN — A Juneau entrepreneur is asking the state to approve his plan to collect fresh water south of Ketchikan and transport it to drought-stricken California.
Steven Bowhay’s application to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, which he filed four years ago, has gone through two public comment periods. The second ended Wednesday, the Ketchikan Daily News reported.
Under Bowhay’s River Recycler System plan, a system of buoys, anchors and sheeting would be deployed to trap fresh water on the ocean surface in Boca de Quadra, an inlet between the Ketchikan and the Canadian border. The project would be spread across more than 6 million square feet…
Online Public Notice – scroll to bottom for Application document with diagram & descriptions:
http://notice.alaska.gov/180686
- Mental Health Trust exploring Icy Cape beach mining prospect
The Alaska Mental Health Trust Land Office is evaluating a heavy mineral prospect near Yakutat that could change the course of the agency for generations.
Icy Cape is a long stretch of beach owned by the trust at the entrance of Icy Bay that appears to hold world-class deposits of several heavy minerals, according to Trust Land Office Executive Director John Morrison.
“It’s difficult to quantify the value of (Icy Cape) in terms of heavy minerals; it’s just mind boggling,” Morrison said in an interview. “There’s enough heavy minerals there to run a really large mine operation for over 100 years and we’re talking about hundreds of millions of dollars every year.”
The minerals are literally grains in the beach sand on a parcel of coastline that stretches for more than 30 miles and totals roughly 48,000 acres, Morrison described…
http://www.alaskajournal.com/2016-04-20/mental-health-trust-exploring-icy-cape-prospect
- Bokan mine development slowed as rare earth prices dip
By Elwood Brehmer, Alaska Journal of Commerce, April 20
Development of the Bokan Mountain rare earth mine is on hold as the company leading the project focuses on a new processing technology and waits for rare earth metal prices to rebound.
http://www.alaskajournal.com/2016-04-20/bokan-mine-development-slowed-rare-earth-prices-dip
- Another study shows ocean acidification bad for crab stocks
By: Laine Welch – Fish Factor/For the AK Journal of Commerce, April 20
Increasingly corrosive oceans are raising more red flags for Bering Sea crab stocks.
Results from a first ever, two year project on baby Tanner crabs show that higher ocean acidity (pH) affects both their shell production and the immune systems. Bairdi Tanner crab, the larger cousins of snow crab, are growing into one of Alaska’s largest crab fisheries with a nearly 20 million pound harvest this season…
The first year of exposure didn’t show many effects, he said, but the second year really had an impact on the tiny crabs’ ability to molt, which they do weekly or monthly depending on their growth stage. It takes five to seven years for a Bairdi Tanner to reach its mature, two-pound size.
- Federal commission questions Inlet permits over Belgua concerns
By: Elizabeth Earl, Morris News Service-Alaska/Peninsula Clarion
Proposed geotechnical work has raised concerns for the beluga whale habitat from the federal agency tasked with enforcing the act protecting marine mammals.
The Marine Mammal Commission, an independent government agency that enforces the Marine Mammals Protection Act, has taken issue with the National Marine Fisheries Service for approving permits for oil and gas operations that may disturb several species of marine mammals in Cook Inlet. The commission asserts that the agency should not allow the permits because the cause of the decline of the Cook Inlet beluga population is still unknown…
- PWS RCAC recertified
The purpose of this notice is to inform the public that the Coast Guard has recertified the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council (PWSRCAC) as an alternative voluntary advisory group for Prince William Sound, Alaska. This certification allows the PWSRCAC to monitor the activities of terminal facilities and crude oil tankers under the Prince William Sound Program established by statute…
Federal Register April 5: https://federalregister.gov/a/2016-07658
PWSRCAC home page: http://www.pwsrcac.org/
Aquaculture & Enhancement
- Hatcheries made up one-third of 2015 salmon harvest
By: Elizabeth Earl, Morris News Service-Alaska/Peninsula Clarion, April 6
KENAI — Though hatcheries are a major part of the commercial fishing industry statewide, they’ve remained a small portion of the harvest in Cook Inlet.
Fish from Alaska’s salmon hatcheries made up a third of the total commercial fishery harvest in 2015, mostly in pink and chum salmon. However, in Cook Inlet, hatchery fish made up less than 2 percent, according to a report from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
The report, which is updated annually, provides a broad picture of the state of Alaska’s 28 producing hatcheries. Since their beginnings in the 1970s, the hatcheries have grown to be a substantial part of the fishing industry and contributed 93 million salmon to the commercial fishery last year, nearly a third of the 264 million total fish, according to the report…
http://www.alaskajournal.com/2016-04-06/hatcheries-made-one-third-2015-salmon-harvest
- ADFG Regional Planning Teams meetings schedules
Salmon fishery enhancement planning in Alaska is the responsibility of Regional Planning Teams (RPTs). Regional Planning Teams prepare comprehensive salmon enhancement plans, review hatchery management plans, and provide recommendations on hatchery permit alterations and applications for new hatcheries. Regional Planning Teams are composed of fishermen, representatives from regional aquaculture associations, and regional ADF&G staff…
Regional planning team meeting notices, agendas, and additional materials will be posted below as they become available.
http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=fishingHatcheriesPlanning.regional
- Ocean farmers are using technology to start an economic revolution and save humanity
I’m a fisherman who dropped out of high school in 1986 at the age of 14. Over my lifetime, I’ve spent many nights in jail. I’m an epileptic. I’m asthmatic. I don’t even know how to swim. This is my story. It’s a story of ecological redemption…
But then in the early 1990s the cod stocks crashed back home: thousands of fishermen thrown out of work, boats beached, canneries shuttered. This situation created a split in the industry: the captains of industry, who wanted to fish the last fish, were thinking 10 years down the road, but there was a younger generation of us thinking 50 years out. We wanted to make our living on the ocean. I want to die on my boat one day—that’s my measure of success…
So we all went on a search for sustainability. I ended up in Northern Canada on an aquaculture farm. At that point aquaculture was supposed to be the great solution to overfishing, but when I got there I found more of the same, only using new technologies to pollute local waterways with pesticides and pumping fish full of antibiotics…
So I kept searching and ended up on Long Island Sound, where there was a program to attract young fishermen back into the industry by opening up shell-fishing grounds for the first time in 150 years. I signed up, leased some grounds from the state of New York, and re-made myself as an oysterman.
Subsistence
- Subsistence group files opposition to Ninilchik gillnet
By: DJ Summers, Alaska Journal of Commerce, April 20
Federal subsistence groups upriver from a controversial subsistence gillnet have asked that the Federal Subsistence Board rescind its 2015 to allow it.
The Cooper Landing and Hope Federal Subsistence Community has filed a proposal change in the 2017-2019 Federal Subsistence Board proposal book that would eliminate Ninilchik Traditional Council’s gillnet on the Kenai River. The gillnet, the Cooper Landing and Hope filers said, has a direct impact on them.
The gillnet has not yet been in the water on the Kenai after the operational plan was not approved last summer and fishing for king salmon was prohibited by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manager.
“We maintain firmly that the Federal Subsistence Board’s approval, which allows Ninilchik to place a community gillnet in the Kenai River, aggrieves the federal subsistence priority and right of Cooper Landing and Hope subsistence users,” the proposal states…
http://www.alaskajournal.com/2016-04-20/subsistence-group-files-opposition-ninilchik-gillnet
- Federal Subsistence Board restores Saxman’s rural status
By: DJ Summers, Alaska Journal of Commerce
Wed, 03/16/2016 – 2:09pm
The Federal Subsistence Board has ended a decade-long struggle for the Southeast Alaska village of Saxman by restoring its rural designation.
As a formally recognized rural village, Saxman residents now regain subsistence hunting and fishing rights they lost in 2007 when the board declared the village “nonrural.”
Tribal leaders expressed relief, saying their practical survival and cultural survival depend on subsistence rights.
“The importance of being recognized as a rural community is acute for Saxman and is crucial to survival,” said Lee Wallace, Tribal President of the Organized Village of Saxman, in a release. “Subsistence is an essential cultural practice, a traditional worldview that is at the heart of surviving and thriving in Saxman,”…
The Federal Subsistence Board voted unanimously to adopt the rule proposed by the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture giving the board the authority to restore subsistence rights to Saxman under a new flexibility to make the numerous designations in Alaska that require rural or nonrural designation as a matter of policy…
- FBS final rule simplifies rural determination process
The Federal Subsistence Board is adopting, without change, a direct final rule that revised the list of areas in Alaska determined to be nonrural for purposes of the Federal Subsistence Program to the list that existed prior to 2007. Accordingly, the community of Saxman and the area of Prudhoe Bay were removed from the nonrural list. The following areas continue to be nonrural, but their boundaries returned to their previous borders: The Kenai Area; the Wasilla/Palmer area; the Homer area; and the Ketchikan area. Because we received no substantive adverse comments on the direct final rule, it is now effective…
Based on this information, the Board, at their public meeting held on April 17, 2014, elected to recommend a simplification of the process by determining which areas or communities are nonrural in Alaska; all other communities or areas would, therefore, be rural. The Board would make nonrural determinations using a comprehensive approach that considers population size and density, economic indicators, military presence, industrial facilities, use of fish and wildlife, degree of remoteness and isolation, and any other relevant material, including information provided by the public. The Board would rely heavily on the recommendations of the Councils. The Board developed a proposal that simplifies the process of rural determinations and submitted its recommendation to the Secretaries on August 15, 2014.
On November 24, 2014, the Secretaries requested that the Board initiate rulemaking to pursue the regulatory changes recommended by the Board.
The Departments published a proposed rule on January 28, 2015 (80 FR 4521), to revise the regulations governing the rural determination process in subpart B of 36 CFR part 242 and 50 CFR part 100. Following a process that involved substantial Council and public input, the Departments published the final rule on November 4, 2015 (80 FR 68249).
Federal Register, March 10: https://federalregister.gov/a/2016-05317
- Come and get your roe!
by Emily Kwong, KCAW
The F/V Lady Louise handed out 5000 lbs. of freshly harvested roe to Sitkans today (03-29-16). The crew distributed the salty subsistence food at New Thompson Harbor…
F/V Lady Louise was hired to harvest by the Southeast Herring Conservation Alliance. As in year’s past, said SHCA Executive Director Steve Reifenstuhl, permit holders with the sac roe herring fishery funded the giveaway operation. The fishery closed on Monday, due to small fish and fast spawning…
http://www.kcaw.org/2016/03/29/come-get-your-roe/
Other
- Fish Biz- Financial and business tools for Alaska commercial seafood harvesters
…brought to you by the Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program
http://fishbiz.seagrant.uaf.edu/
- FishLines Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program newsletter for April 2016
Get your Feet Wet events and curriculum
Fresh Sea Lion Data
RSW Training
Aleutian Life Forum Call for Abstracts
…and more, online at https://seagrant.uaf.edu/news/fishlines/2016/april.php
- AMSEA Upcoming safety classes
AMSEA home page & upcoming classes schedule: http://www.amsea.org/
- Laine Welch’s Fish Radio – Recent Items
AK seafood industry shows good growth
Copper River gets set to officially kick off AK salmon season!
AK legislature puts onus on fishermen to fund budget shortfalls by ‘test fishing’
Budget cuts outlined for AK fisheries; Togiak herring takes a first hit
Fish Tech Training Goes Mobile
These items and more, online at http://www.alaskafishradio.com/
Inclusion of an item does not mean that UFA endorses or agrees.
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Compiled by staff of United Fishermen of Alaska
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