December 27, 2018 — Hundreds of boats are gearing up for the January start of some of Alaska’s largest fisheries in waters managed by the federal government from 3 to 200 miles offshore.
Meanwhile, the government shutdown over President Donald Trump’s demand for $5 billion in funding for a border wall of “artistically designed steel slats” has sent hundreds of thousands of workers home.
Nine of the government’s 15 federal departments and several agencies were shuttered at midnight Friday, and there is no end in sight. That includes the Commerce Department, which houses NOAA Fisheries.
No one at NOAA in Juneau could speak about the impacts a government shutdown might have on upcoming fisheries. All questions were referred “to the White House.”
An emailed response from the White House Office of Management and Budget said that while “it can’t answer agency specific contingency questions,” as it stands now, Alaska’s big winter fisheries will get underway on schedule.
Fisheries management activities — including quota monitoring, observer activities and regulatory actions — are considered “essential activities” that will remain during the shutdown.