Saving Seafood

It’s Trump Jr. vs. Trump Sr. Over an Alaskan Mineral Mine

August 7, 2020 — Donald Trump Jr., President Trump’s eldest son, took a break this week from his relentless Twitter attacks on Democrats to express his concern toward a different target: his father’s administration.

The younger Mr. Trump and Nick Ayers, the former chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, tweeted on Tuesday their opposition to final government approval of the Pebble Mine, a vast gold and copper mine to be dug near salmon fisheries not far from the pristine Bristol Bay in Alaska.

The two men said they hoped the president would block development of the mine by a Canadian company in the interest of protecting the area’s sensitive environment.

“This should be stopped and I believe @POTUS will do so!” Mr. Ayers wrote.

Left unsaid was that the mine’s opening was set in motion three years ago by the president’s business-friendly administration, which has pushed the project forward ever since.

Read the full story at The New York Times

Trump Says He’ll Listen to Both Sides on Alaska Mine Project

August 6, 2020 — President Donald Trump said Wednesday he would “listen to both sides” after his eldest son and a campaign adviser urged him to intervene to block a proposed copper and gold mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay region.

Donald Trump Jr. on Tuesday agreed with a tweet from Nick Ayers, a former aide to Vice President Mike Pence and a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, expressing hope the president would direct the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to block the proposed Pebble Mine.

Trump Jr., in response, wrote: “As a sportsman who has spent plenty of time in the area I agree 100%. The headwaters of Bristol Bay and the surrounding fishery are too unique and fragile to take any chances with.”

The EPA has said the Bristol Bay watershed supports the largest sockeye salmon fishery in the world and contains significant mineral resources. An environmental review released by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers last month — and assailed by critics as deficient — stated that under normal operations, the alternatives it looked at “would not be expected to have a measurable effect on fish numbers and result in long-term changes to the health of the commercial fisheries in Bristol Bay.”

The corps has yet to make a permitting decision. When it does, it could issue a permit, approve a permit with conditions or issue a denial. The project, should it advance, also would face a state permitting process.

Read the full story at U.S. News

President’s son Donald Jr. on Twitter calls for blocking Alaska mine in sensitive fishing area

August 5, 2020 — The president’s namesake and the vice president’s former top staffer both tweeted Tuesday asking President Trump to block a giant gold and copper mine from being built at the headwaters of the world’s greatest sockeye salmon fishery in Alaska.

Just last month, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a final environmental analysis allowing a small Canadian firm to go ahead with its Pebble Mine near Bristol Bay. The Army Corps in its new report said the project would not cause grave harm to the region’s watershed.

But Nick Ayers, Vice President Pence’s former chief of staff, said in a tweet that “Like millions of conservationists and sportsmen, I am hoping @realDonaldTrump will direct @EPA to block the Pebble mine in Bristol Bay. A Canadian company will unnecessarily mine the USA’s greatest fishery at a severe cost. This should be stopped and I believe @POTUS will do so!”

Read the full story at The Washington Post

Sen. Cantwell Slams Pebble Project, Applauds President’s Son for Coming Out Against Proposal

August 5, 2020 — The following was released by The Office of Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA):

Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) released the following statement as more Republicans, including the president’s son, increasingly express concerns about the proposed Pebble Mine in Bristol Bay, Alaska, with some calling on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to review or halt the proposal:

“I’m glad to see at least one Trump believes the mine is too risky. The science is clear—you can’t put a gold and copper mine on top of the most productive salmon run in the world and not have substantial and permanent damage. Salmon and mining simply do not mix. The construction and operation of the Pebble Mine would have devastating impacts on salmon habitat, salmon populations, the Alaska Native communities that rely on subsistence fisheries, as well as the broader $1.5 billion commercial and recreational sockeye salmon fishery. Let’s prevent this disaster before it happens. I urge the EPA to follow the science, protect our fishermen, and use their authority under the Clean Water Act stop the Pebble Mine for good.”

Senator Cantwell has long fought to protect the Bristol Bay watershed and its important environmental and economic place in the Pacific Northwest. In January of 2014, she called on the Obama administration to protect Bristol Bay from mining after a report showed the proposed mine would threaten salmon runs and damage the commercial and recreational fishing industry. In July of 2014, Cantwell praised proposed science-based protections for the Bristol Bay watershed. In October of 2017, Cantwell and other members of the Washington state congressional delegation urged President Trump to listen to Washington fishermen and businesses before removing protections from Bristol Bay. In May 2018, Cantwell called on the Trump administration to hold public meetings in Washington state on the proposal and increase transparency for the permitting process. And in July 2019, Cantwell slammed the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw protections for Bristol Bay.

ALASKA: Pandemic pushes fishing activists to call for more government support

July 30, 2020 — Before this year’s salmon season, federal disaster funding was mostly unavailable to small-boat fishing businesses. Then, Congress amended the Paycheck Protection Program at the beginning of July so that fishermen could apply. A little later, it extended the program’s application deadline until August 8.

That was a big relief for many fishermen in Alaska.

“My family and I are salmon fishermen,” said Jamie O’Connor, a Bristol Bay set-netter who fishes in Ekuk and serves as the Working Waterfronts director for the Alaska Marine Conservation Council. “It was really difficult for us to quantify our impacts before our season had happened, so we were really happy to see that there had been an extension and some alterations to the program to allow us to participate.”

At the peak of this year’s sockeye run, O’Connor’s processor put the fleet on limits — the company, and many others in Bristol Bay, told fishermen not to fish due to freezer and capacity issues.

“We missed probably half to a third of our season in those three days,” O’Connor said. “It was a hard thing to sit through, especially with all of the effort that went into preparing for this season. To have done more on the front end to make sure we could do this safely and then just sit out the run was crushing.”

Read the full story at KTOO

Sen. Cantwell Slams Trump Administration for Rushing to Approve Pebble Mine Despite Grave Risk

July 29, 2020 — The following was released by The Office of Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA):

In today’s Senate Commerce Committee hearing, Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-WA) slammed the Trump administration for ignoring more than a decade of scientific analysis on the devastating impacts the proposed Pebble Mine will have on Alaska’s Bristol Bay salmon fishery. Cantwell has been vocal about the disaster that the Pebble Mine would bring to the Pacific Northwest, and she has repeatedly criticized various members of the administration for downplaying the threat of the mine.

“Instead of focusing on getting recovery dollars out the door to protect the seafood sector, the administration is paving the way towards permitting the Pebble Mine,” Ranking Member Cantwell said in today’s hearing. “It is beyond unconscionable that the administration continues to threaten the largest salmon fishery in the world instead of focusing on the catastrophic failure that we are seeing because of the pandemic. This is like a one, two gut punch to the industry…So as I have said many times, we must let science lead, and the administration is not listening to science and NOAA is not sticking up for the science.”

The Pebble Mine threatens to permanently damage the Bristol Bay watershed, the 40-60 million salmon that return to it every year, and the fishermen and industries that rely on Bristol Bay salmon. A three-year study by the Environmental Protection Agency released in 2014 found that the mine as proposed would result in irreparable harm to Bristol Bay salmon and the fisheries that depend on them. This year, EPA Region 10 found that the mine even in the course of normal, safe mine operations, would destroy 3,560 acres of wetlands, 55 acres of lakes and ponds, 81 miles of streams and 11 acres of marine waters.

The seafood sector is the cornerstone of the 30 billion dollar maritime economy in Washington state. Fisheries and fishery related businesses, such as commercial fishing, seafood processing, shipbuilding, and gear manufacturing, make up 60 percent of Washington’s maritime economy, which as a whole supports over 146,000 jobs.

In her Q&A with the witnesses at the hearing, Cantwell asked Mr. Phil Anderson, Chair of the Pacific Fishery Management Council, what the Pacific Northwest and the U.S. maritime economy at large stands to lose from the impacts of the Pebble Mine. He responded, “The project, from some of the information I’ve read from the Army Corps of Engineers…from a fishery management perspective, and a harvesting perspective, and businesses that are dependent on renewable resources, this is a huge concern to those of us here in the Pacific Northwest.”

In her questioning with Dr. Paul Doremus, Deputy Assistant Administrator of Operations at NOAA, Cantwell criticized Neil Jacobs and NOAA for their lack of review of Pebble Mine’s impact saying, “Well I want you to hear that NOAA hasn’t fulfilled its role, Mr. Jacobs hasn’t fulfilled his role, and there’s a lot at stake.”

Ranking Member Cantwell has led the fight to protect Alaska’s Bristol Bay, one of the largest salmon fisheries in the world. In October of 2017, Cantwell and other members of the Washington state congressional delegation urged President Trump to listen to Washington fishermen and businesses before removing protections from Bristol Bay. In May 2018, Cantwell called on the Trump administration to hold public meetings in Washington state on the proposal and increase transparency for the permitting process. In July 2019, Cantwell slammed the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw protections for Bristol Bay. And just this month, Cantwell criticized an environmental analysis released by the Trump administration that could pave the way for approval of the proposed Pebble Mine.

A video of Ranking Member Cantwell’s opening statement can be found HERE and audio HERE.

A video of Cantwell’s Q&A with witnesses can be found HERE and audio HERE.

Number of COVID-19 cases across global seafood industry surpasses 1,000

July 28, 2020 — There are now over 1,000 workers across the global seafood industry who have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to data released by companies and government agencies that IntraFish has been tracking since coronavirus outbreak began.

The largest outbreaks in the past few weeks have been occurring in Alaska, where Bristol Bay and other salmon fisheries have been facing a challenging season. Most recently, over 40 percent of the 134 employees at Copper River Seafoods’ (CRS) Anchorage processing plant have tested positive for COVID-19.

Almost all of the 56 employees who tested positive between July 17-22 are residents of Anchorage, Alaska, according to the city.

“This is a concerning situation for the people of Anchorage,” said Dr. Bruce Chandler, the Anchorage Health Department’s chief medical officer. “With so many workers now testing positive, it is likely that this outbreak has been in progress for some time and that transmission has already occurred among family, friends and others in the community.”

Read the full story at IntraFish

ALASKA: As Pebble closes in on federal permit, supporters and critics disagree on impacts

July 28, 2020 — The Pebble Limited Partnership is now one step away from receiving a federal permit for the proposed Pebble Mine, a deeply controversial development that would tap large copper and gold deposits at the headwaters of Bristol Bay.

Pebble CEO Tom Collier says the finished environmental impact statement shows the mine can be built without harming the environment.

“The final EIS is the first time that a federal agency has engaged in a rigorous review of the specific plan that we intend to use to build this project,” Collier said. “After doing that, in the draft and preliminary final, they concluded that the project won’t damage the fishery.”

The report says construction of the mine will impact up to 200 miles of streams and 4,000 acres of wetlands.

Lisa Reimers is a board member of Iliamna Natives Limited. She supports Pebble’s development and says the environmental impact statement provides enough safeguards to protect the environment around the project. Reimers says this affects her on a personal level as well.

Read the full story at KTOO

ALASKA: Bristol Bay setnetters get their hands dirty (and sometimes lose a finger) to put salmon on your dinner table

July 27, 2020 — Most Alaskans know that commercial fishing is very important to the economy of our state. A small number of folks understand the ins and outs of a commercial gillnet operation. Fewer still understand what a setnet fishery is.

When one speaks of the gillnet fishery, the picture that comes to mind is one of a picturesque vessel with a long line of glistening white floats strung out behind. That is a semi-accurate depiction.

The setnet fishery bears little resemblance to that picture.

Setnetting is hard, dirty work — at least in Bristol Bay. If you are wearing name-brand raingear, few would recognize it because it would be covered in mud.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

Trump administration signals controversial mine can move ahead, reversing Obama-era position

July 27, 2020 — A controversial gold and copper mine proposed in Alaska was given a major push forward Friday as the Trump administration issued a final report concluding the Pebble Mine project would not cause long-term harm to one of the world’s largest remaining salmon runs.

The new report, by the Army Corps of Engineers, is a sharp reversal to the Obama administration Environmental Protection Agency’s conclusions of the project, which essentially blocked progress on the mine because of environmental concerns by citing the potential for permanent damage to the pristine Bristol Bay watershed.

The Pebble Mine project has been a lightning rod for controversy for some two decades and has been widely assailed by numerous interest groups in Alaska and the lower states, and also faced opposition from many Alaskans.

The new report by the Army Corps is a major triumph for the project developers, illustrating the Trump administration’s opposite approach to the project from the Obama administration and echoing other large environmental reversals it has ordered on other findings from the previous administration.

Perhaps the new report’s most striking finding is that the colossal mine and its development “would not be expected to have a measurable effect on fish numbers and result in long-term changes to the health of the commercial fisheries in Bristol Bay.”

Read the full story at CNN