Saving Seafood

ALASKA: Murkowski, Peltola tell ComFish more needs to be done about ‘crisis’ levels of species decline

March 20, 2023 — Alaska’s congressional delegation says species collapse in Alaska’s fisheries is nearing crisis levels. Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Rep. Mary Peltola discussed the monumental challenges faced by Alaska’s fishermen and coastal communities during their legislative update on the opening day Thursday of Kodiak’s annual commercial fishing trade show, ComFish.

Murkowsi and Peltola kicked off ComFish’s federal legislative update with a brief acknowledgement of the Willow project’s recent approval — calling the $8 billion oil development a win for the state of Alaska. Sen. Dan Sullivan was not at Thursday’s forum due to a scheduling issue. He’ll speak on Saturday instead.

But much of their time was spent detailing the uncertainties caused by species collapse in the waters off Alaska’s coast. Murkowski said the declines in salmon, crab and halibut fisheries across the state are at crisis levels.

“I don’t like to use the word ‘crisis’ lightly, but I think crisis is the appropriate word here. I wish that we could tell you the exact causes, I wish there was one single thing to explain everything,” she said.

Read the full article at KTOO

ALASKA: Small businesses affected by Alaska crab crash may be eligible for low-interest federal loans

March 20, 2023 — The U.S. Small Business Administration is offering special disaster loans to some businesses hurt by the recent red king crab and snow crab closures.

The federal agency announced last month that certain entities, like small agricultural coops or aquaculture businesses, as well as most private nonprofit organizations are eligible for low-interest loans of up to $2 million. Interest rates range from below 2% to about 3%, depending on the type of organization.

The SBA declared a disaster following a relief request from Gov. Mike Dunleavy for the crab fisheries closures in the Bering Sea and Bristol Bay. Along with U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, Dunleavy requested a total of nearly $290 million from the federal government last year — the estimated total exvessel loss for both fisheries since 2021. It generally takes years for that kind of money to reach the hands of fishermen and others affected by similar disasters.

Read the full article at KTOO

ALASKA: Measuring up in Bristol Bay

March 19, 2023 — On Feb. 14 of this year the Alaska Wildlife Troopers  (AWT) office gave notice to participants in the Bristol Bay salmon fishery that in the coming 2023 season, drift gillnet boats will be measured to ensure they conform to the 32-foot limit.

In the letter, Col. Bernard Chastain wrote: “The Alaska Wildlife Troopers are aware of the increasing concern fishermen have regarding drift gillnet vessel lengths in the Bristol Bay Salmon Fishery. AWT has inspected multiple vessels post-season and have noted several areas of concern regarding overall length in the fleet.

“The Bristol Bay vessel specifications are described in 5AAC 06.341 (a provision in Alaska state regulations). The regulation limits drift gillnet vessels to 32 feet in overall length, with a few exceptions.”

The exceptions include anchor rollers that extend less than 8 inches from the bow, drop out baskets and outdrives, among other things that fall within strict definitions.

What concerns many fishermen, boatbuilders and Pacific West Refrigeration in particular, is the last bullet on the list of things that are not exempted.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

ALASKA: State lawmakers join call to feds to intervene in Canadian mining upriver of Alaska

March 19, 2023 — Southeast Alaska lawmakers are joining tribal and municipal governments, calling on the federal government to stop – at least temporarily – British Columbia’s mining activities in transboundary watersheds.

Southeast Alaska’s major river systems – the Taku, Unuk and Stikine – originate in British Columbia. Those transboundary watersheds are peppered with mineral claims, active mines and shuttered former mining operations.

How the mines are regulated and cleaned up has long been a point of concern and tension across the international border. Recent studies have shown wide-ranging impacts from mines hundreds of miles downstream.

At a press conference March 8, Ketchikan independent Rep. Dan Ortiz explained one mine cleanup in particular has been in question since he was a freshman legislator – the Tulsequah Chief mine on the Taku.

“They said they were gonna get right on it. And that was over eight years ago,” Ortiz stated.

After meeting with two British Columbia government officials – Acting Deputy Minister Laurel Nash from the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Andrew Rollo, Acting Assistant Deputy Minister of Mines Health, Safety and Enforcement – Alaska legislators announced they were calling on the U.S. to intervene.

Read the full article at Alaska Public Media

Board of Fish limits sockeye fishing to conserve Nushagak kings

March 14, 2023 — The Board of Fisheries has approved an action plan to help conserve the Nushagak River’s king salmon runs, which have declined sharply in recent years even as huge sockeye returns to the district have broken records. The board voted unanimously to adopt a plan that curbs fishing time when larger sockeye runs are forecast.

The Nushagak’s king salmon have not been doing well. In recent years, the runs have failed to meet the minimum goal for sustainability. The in-river count has fallen short for five out of the last six years. Last fall, the state declared Nushagak kings a stock of concern and created an action plan to conserve them.

But deciding exactly what that plan would look like wasn’t easy.

King salmon runs across the state have declined over the past two decades. As of April 2022, more than a dozen king runs across the state were stocks of concern. That doesn’t include runs to the Chignik and Nushagak rivers, which were designated as such later that year.

Read the full article at Alaska Public Media

ALASKA: Mining Company Seeks Permit Near Pebble Deposit

March 16, 2023 — The Alaska Department of Natural Resources announced last week that Stuy Mines has applied for a hardrock exploration permit along Kaskanak Creek, southwest of the Pebble deposit The Stuy Mines company, registered in Washington state, is proposing a multiyear hardrock exploration program, which would include 12 holes a year The activity could start after the state issues a permit and continue through 2027. To access the site, the company has plotted a pathway that it says mostly follows existing gravel bars along Iliamna Lake and that it would grade existing gravel only where necessary.

Stuy Mines’s primary owner is a company called Love and Above. Manager Greg Ellis has also worked as a screenwriter and a home developer in Washington state, according to his Linkedin profile.

Read the full article at Seafoodnews.com

ALASKA: Board of Fisheries votes on Bristol Bay king salmon management plan

March 14, 2023 — The Alaska Department of Fish & Game Board of Fisheries voted on a final version of the King Salmon Management Plan that will take effect in the Bristol Bay area.

The Board unanimously voted on a plan via an amended version of Proposal 11 written by the Nushagak Advisory Committee, which limits bag counts for king salmon when fishing.

“There were some proposals that were maybe less collaborative that would have had, I believe, unintended consequences on other user groups,” Bristol Bay set netter Jamie O’Connor said.

Read the full article at Alaska News Source

ALASKA: Seaweed farming inspires high hopes in Alaska for economic and environmental benefits

March 14, 2023 — To optimists, the plants that grow in the sea promise to diversify the Alaska economy, revitalize small coastal towns struggling with undependable fisheries and help communities adapt to climate change – and even mitigate it by absorbing atmospheric carbon.

Cultivation of seaweed, largely varieties of kelp, promises to buffer against ocean acidification and coastal pollution, the promoters say. Seaweed farms can produce ultra-nutritious crops to boost food security in Alaska and combat hunger everywhere, and not just for human beings.

“Kelp is good for everybody. It’s good for people. It’s good for animals,” Kirk Sparks, with Pacific Northwest Organics, a California company that sells agricultural products, said in a panel discussion at a mariculture conference held in Juneau in February by the Alaska Sea Grant program.

But before it achieves these broad benefits, Alaska’s mariculture industry must first address significant practical issues, including an American consumer market that has yet to broadly embrace seaweed.

Seaweed farming is a bright spot in an Alaska coastal economy roiled by climate change, habitat disruptions and uncertain fish returns.

It is part of an expanding mariculture industry in Alaska that, until recently, was almost exclusively about oyster farming. Commercial seaweed production in the state has grown in volume from virtually zero in 2016 to about 650,000 wet pounds in 2022, according to the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation.

Read the full article at the Alaska Beacon

ALASKA: Alaska’s House, Congressional Delegation throw weight behind defense of troll lawsuit

March 13, 2023 — Alaska’s Congressional Delegation has filed an amicus brief, in a federal lawsuit that threatens to shut down salmon trolling in Southeast Alaska this summer.

The brief is meant to be friendly guidance for the court, but at least one of Alaska’s senators is not feeling especially friendly about the possible threat to an Alaskan way of life.

The amicus brief from Alaska’s Congressional Delegation comes just as some major players have stepped up in support of trollers, including the two largest hatcheries in Southeast Alaska, and the full House of Representatives.

Lawyers for Senators Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski, and Representative Mary Peltola, filed the brief on March 6 in the US District Court of Western Washington. The lawsuit was brought three years ago by the Seattle-based Wild Fish Conservancy against the National Marine Fisheries Service. The Conservancy argues that Southeast salmon trollers in Alaska intercept king salmon crucial to the survival of an endangered population of killer whales in Puget Sound, in violation of the Endangered Species Act. The court is now considering whether or not to vacate the permit that allows the summer and winter troll fisheries in Alaska to operate, until the violation has been remedied.

An amicus brief doesn’t argue either side of the case, but is more like friendly advice to the court. During a recent visit to Wrangell, however, Sen. Dan Sullivan was not feeling very amicable toward the Wild Fish Conservancy.

“This lawsuit is ridiculous,” he said. “Think about what they’re trying to do: shut down this fishery. Estimates are that could impact Southeast by $100 million for orca problems in Puget Sound. They’re not asking for the fishery in Puget Sound to be shut down. They’re not asking about the pollution in Puget Sound. They’re looking at shutting down our fishery here. Idiotic — and an abuse of the Endangered Species Act.”

Read the full article at at KCAW

Threatened Coho Salmon at Risk Due to Federal Mismanagement, Groups Allege

March 9, 2023 — A few weeks ago, federally threatened coho salmon swam up the Klamath River, spawned and laid egg nests. But some of these nests, or redds, holding as many as 4,000 eggs, may never hatch, owing to reduced water levels in the river.

It’s the result of a severe water management bungling, say critics, by the Bureau of Reclamation, which controls how much water flows from Upper Klamath Lake into the river.

“My jaw is dropping right now at the way things are being managed,” said Michael Belchik, senior water policy analyst employed by the Yurok Tribe.

Tribal nations and commercial fishing groups argue the agency violated the Endangered Species Act when it reduced river flows in mid-March below a minimum level set in a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration biological opinion, a series of recommendations and requirements meant to help the salmon recover and ensure river management decisions don’t push the species to the brink of extinction. The bureau blamed years of drought in the Klamath Basin.

The Yurok Tribe and the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations have alerted the Bureau of Reclamation that they intend to sue.

Read the full article at KQED