SavingSeaFood - NOAA Chief Hears Alaskans' Concerns

News

NOAA Chief Hears Alaskans' Concerns

ANCHORAGE - The head of NOAA, Dr. Jane Lubchenco, is in town. She’s one of President Barack Obama's top environmental scientists and has the influence in Washington D.C. to affect major decisions involving Alaska’s resources.

Lubchenco is covering a lot of ground on this latest visit. Oil companies, fishermen, and conservation groups have all been trying to get a valuable few minutes with her.

Part of her focus, Wednesday, was on Cook Inlet -- specifically beluga whales, which NOAA is protecting under a critical habitat designation.

Industry representatives told Lubchenco and Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) that they did not think they should be unfairly punished with permitting delays or denials, when they say it's not entirely clear what's caused a decline in the beluga population.

“We're not just pulling hypotheticals out of the air when we're doing a critical habitat designation. We use the best available information we have about what's likely to have an impact,” Lubchenco said in response.

Read the complete story from KTUU

MELISSA WOOD, NATIONAL FISHERMEN: Meting out the meager

May 22, 2012 - Listening to the New England Council's Groundfish Advisory Panel talk about how that industry is going to pay for monitoring costs is kind of like trying to figure out how to pay your bills when you've just lost your job. Though monitoring is important keeping costs down is critical. As Panel Member Gary Libby pointed out, "If we had 100 percent monitoring we probably wouldn't have an industry."

More Opinion >