Alaska Archives - Saving Seafood

ALASKA: Relief and disappointment as Bristol Bay reacts to Army Corps’ Pebble permit denial

December 4, 2020 — When the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers last week denied the Pebble Limited Partnership a federal permit to develop a mine under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, it surprised people on both sides of the issue.

“I was ecstatic. I was elated. I was so happy to hear that it was finally over,” said Billy Trefon, Jr. from Nondalton, one of the villages closest to where the mine would have been built.

To the south, in Iliamna, Iliamna Development Corporation CEO Lisa Reimers said people feel hopeless.

“Well, we feel like it was — we were lied to by the Army Corps because they said politics wouldn’t be involved. And it ended up being politics,” she said. “The Army stated they’d recommend to build a mine, then out of nowhere they changed their minds.”

Pebble would have been one of the largest gold mines in the world. The Army Corps said last week that the mine proposal didn’t follow Clean Water Act guidelines.

For Trefon, in Nondalton, the project also went against the traditional teachings of elders.

“I was raised up listening to elders telling me that, if you take care of the land, the land will take care of you,” he said. “And it has been doing that for centuries, milleniums. So to us this land is important. The water is important.”

Read the full story at KTOO

Time for a Whale Disentanglement: Thanksgiving in Tenakee Springs

December 4, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

In the wee hours of the morning on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, residents of Tenakee Springs, Alaska were awakened by the unmistakable cries of distress.

The sound, which some Tenakee residents described as “squealing,” resonated across the water to the small, remote community of about 130 people in Southeast Alaska. It was a call from an adult humpback whale that was hogtied in crab pot gear just 200-300 yards from shore. The whale was severely entangled and stationary, but was able to surface to breathe.

By 8:15 a.m., residents had notified the Alaska Regional Office of NOAA Fisheries in Juneau to report the entanglement. Agency marine mammal experts deemed the entanglement to be very serious—the humpback could not move to pursue food—but not immediately life-threatening. Before a disentanglement operation could be attempted, NOAA Fisheries Protected Resources staff would need additional information about the complexity of the entanglement. Fortunately, two Tenakee residents already had NOAA Level 3 training in large whale entanglement response. Could they get underwater images?

New Study Shows Economic Importance of Alaska’s Whale-Watching Industry

December 3, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Once hunted to near extinction, whales used to be an important resource for their blubber, meat, and baleen. More recently, they have proven to be more valuable alive. Alaskan waters are rich feeding grounds for several whale species. They’ve also become an increasingly popular place for visitors to view these amazing creatures feeding, breaching, and socializing. Among Alaska’s 2.2 million summer visitors in 2019, about one quarter embarked on a whale watching tour.

According to a new study, more than half a million visitors—about 553,000 people—who came to Alaska last year spent an estimated $86 million on whale watching tours. This confirms that whale watching is an important economic driver.

The study was conducted by McDowell Group and funded by NOAA Fisheries. It measured the economic impacts of 55 businesses and 187 vessels engaged in paid whale watching tours in Alaska’s coastal waters from Ketchikan to Unalaska. Based on data from 2019, the study represents a pre-pandemic baseline:

Statewide, whale watching directly supported 850 jobs and $23.4 million in labor income
The multiplier effects of direct spending circulating in the Alaska economy resulted in an additional 255 jobs and $13.9 million in labor income
Statewide, industry employment impacts, including all multiplier effects, are estimated at 1,105 jobs and $37.3 million in labor income
The total economic footprint of whale watching in Alaska is estimated at $103 million in total output (a measure of all industry-related spending in Alaska)

Whale watching supports more than a thousand jobs in Alaska. This study demonstrates that healthy whale populations underpin important economic activity for people, businesses, and communities throughout coastal Alaska.

Read the full release here

Murphy, Murkowski Applaud Final Passage Of Save Our Seas 2.0

December 3, 2020 — The following was released by The Office of Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK):

U.S. Senators Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) applauded passage of Save Our Seas 2.0, legislation to combat marine debris. Murphy and Murkowski are both cosponsors of the bill, which was introduced and led by U.S. Senators Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island) and Bob Menendez (D-New Jersey). The legislation includes a Murphy-Murkowski drafted provision that allows for the establishment of a new Genius Prize to fund the development of materials to replace single use plastic and innovations that remove and prevent plastic waste.

“The amount of plastic flowing into our oceans poses a huge problem. That’s why I was proud to work with Senators Sullivan, Whitehouse and Menendez on the bipartisan Save our Seas 2.0 Act, which will reduce the amount of plastic in our oceans at home and abroad,” said Senator Murphy. “I am also grateful the final bill includes language I drafted with Senator Murkowski to allow for the establishment of a genius prize to clean up marine debris and replace single-use plastics. There’s more work to do, but this bill is an important step in the right direction.”

“Alaskans depend on healthy oceans and coastlines to support the marine resources that so many of our communities depend on. Whether it’s for our fisheries, tourism, or subsistence activities—maintaining a healthy marine environment is essential to our everyday lives. I applaud Senator Sullivan for his leadership on legislation to eliminate plastic waste polluting our oceans and am pleased by the Senate passage of Save Our Seas 2.0, legislation that I cosponsored,” said Senator Murkowski. “The bill includes a provision of mine with Senator Murphy to fund a new Genius Prize, which would reward innovation and creative strategies to combat the growing issue of marine debris. By creating incentives for the development of projects to clean up our oceans and shorelines, as well as to replace or improve single-use plastics, we are taking important steps to ensure healthier ocean environments for generations to come.”

SEATTLE TIMES: Salmon-rich Bristol Bay deserves permanent protection

December 2, 2020 — After the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ decision last week to reject a key permit for Alaska’s proposed Pebble Mine, it’s clear that federal protection is now needed to permanently preserve this uniquely valuable resource. The project threatened too much destruction to the immense salmon runs of Bristol Bay.

The list of reasons to protect the bay’s watershed is long. Its annual chinook and sockeye salmon runs are the largest on Earth. All five species of Pacific salmon live in Bristol Bay, and its watershed produces about half the world’s annual sockeye harvest. The commercial and recreational fisheries support large portions of the region’s economy, and Bristol Bay’s salmon have sustained Alaska natives for many generations. Thousands of Washingtonians fish those salmon each year, for work and recreation.

The bay’s diverse salmon runs feed other populations, too — from orcas to the thousands of brown bears on the Alaska peninsula. The mine was predicted to disrupt this food chain mightily in the name of extracting rich veins of copper and gold, and potentially molybdenum and rhenium.

Read the full story at The Seattle Times

Southeast Alaska organization asks the governor to declare a region-wide economic disaster

December 2, 2020 — An organization representing Southeast Alaska communities is asking that the governor declare a region-wide economic disaster due to the loss of the 2020 cruise ship season and “the collapse” of the salmon fishing season.

Southeast Conference sent a letter to Gov. Mike Dunlevy on Nov. 17, describing an economic disaster of “unprecedented proportions.”

“A disaster declaration will start the process to allow the hardworking Southeast Alaskans to get federal disaster aid. This help is vital to our regional communities and economy,” said Markus Scheer, the president of Southeast Conference.

It is not uncommon for a community or region to request for the governor to declare a disaster after a bad fishing season to access federal aid. It is also not uncommon for the governor to declare a disaster after a specific event like a wildfire, earthquake or winter storm.

Read the full story at Alaska’s News Source

ALASKA: Assembly to take up legislation opposing closure of federal inlet waters to commercial fishing

December 2, 2020 — The Kenai Peninsula Borough will consider at their Dec. 1 meeting legislation opposing the closure of federal waters in Cook Inlet to commercial fishing.

The resolution is a response to one of four proposed alternative amendments to the Fishery Management Plan for Salmon Fisheries in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone off Alaska known as “Alternative Four.”

Alternative Four would close federal waters in Cook Inlet to commercial fishing. Federal waters make up the southern half of the inlet, south of Kalgin Island, according to a memo from assembly member Brent Johnson. The water located south of Kalgin Island has traditionally been used by the drift gillnet fleet.

Other peninsula municipalities have recently taken action to oppose Alternative Four, including the Kenai City Council, which voted unanimously to oppose it.

Alternative Four was introduced near the end of the last meeting of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) last month by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game Deputy Commissioner.

Read the full story at the Peninsula Clarion

NEW YORK TIMES: Good News for Salmon, Bad News for Prospectors

December 2, 2020 — The Trump administration’s indifference to the environment and President Trump’s hostility to the laws providing clean water and air, protecting endangered species and keeping public lands and forests free from commercial intrusion have been so unsparing that one had to blink twice at what, finally, after nearly four years, was a piece of undiluted good news.

Yet there it was: a decision by the Army Corps of Engineers to deny a permit for a massive gold and copper mine in Alaska proposed for the headwaters of Bristol Bay, the heart of a multimillion-dollar regional fishing industry. This is a devastating blow for the project and a triumph for conservationists, Native tribes and commercial fishing interests that believed, quite rightly, that the mine and its discharges would not only destroy a delicate marine ecosystem but also gravely threaten one of the richest salmon fisheries in the world.

The project was proposed roughly two decades ago by a Canadian-British mining consortium (only one of the original partners remains) that promised to add 1,000 permanent jobs to Alaska’s struggling economy while unearthing $300 billion in copper, gold and molybdenum. In 2008, the people of Alaska came very close to blocking the proposal in a referendum supported by three former governors, including two Republicans, and the then-powerful dean of the state’s congressional delegation, Senator Ted Stevens. A huge advertising campaign by the mining industry and a last-minute pro-mining push by then-Gov. Sarah Palin turned the tide in the mine’s favor.

Over time, however, the scientific evidence turned decisively against the project, and in 2014 the Environmental Protection Agency determined that even a carefully designed operation, in the words of Gina McCarthy, the E.P.A. administrator, would most likely cause “irreversible negative impacts on the Bristol Bay watershed and its abundant salmon fisheries.”

Read the full opinion piece at the New York Times

Electronic monitoring grants will benefit Alaska fisheries

November 30, 2020 — Two Alaska fisheries are among the beneficiaries of new national grants to modernize data management systems to ensure sustainable fisheries in the Gulf of Alaska, Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands through electronic monitoring.

One grant for $185,104 went to the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association which matched those funds with another $213,500, for a total of $398,604.

The other, for $908,862, went to United Catcher Boats in Seattle, which added $1,385,854, for a total of $2,294,716.

ALFA will use its share to develop lower cost electronic monitoring hardware, test automated real-time feedback to vessels on image quality and support stakeholder engagement in fisheries management forums relevant to electronic monitoring in the Alaska fixed gear fishery. The project will also explore ways to improve image quality and cost effectiveness of electronic monitoring through the development of new electronic monitoring systems and deployment methods, ALFA officials said,

UBC will focus on scaling up existing efforts to evaluate the feasibility and cost efficiency of using electronic monitoring systems on Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska Pollock pelagic trawl catcher vessels to monitor compliance with retention regulations. The project will demonstrate the feasibility of electronic monitoring at scale and improve data quality, timeliness and cost-efficiency for salmon bycatch accounting and detecting and quantifying groundfish discards, according to UBC.

Read the full story at The Cordova Times

ALASKA: Bristol Bay Fishermen Thank USACE for Pebble Mine Permit Decision

November 27, 2020 — In an unexpected turn, the Army Corps of Engineers has denied a Clean Water Act permit for the proposed Pebble Mine, an open-pit copper extraction project located near the headwaters of the world’s largest sockeye salmon run. The Pebble site contains one of the largest undeveloped copper and gold deposits in the world, and its backers have signaled their intention to appeal.

“In its record of decision, USACE determined that the applicant’s plan for the discharge of fill material does not comply with Clean Water Act guidelines and concluded that the proposed project is contrary to the public interest,” the agency’s Alaska District said in a statement.

Pebble Partnership’s share price fell from $0.87 to $0.40 within hours of the announcement. The project’s opponents hailed the decision as a recognition of the Pebble Mine’s risk to the billion-dollar-per-year Bristol Bay fishery.

“A permit denial from the Army Corps is a triumph for the people of Bristol Bay who have fought tirelessly against Pebble mine for well over a decade,” said Bristol Bay Native Corporation (BBNC) president and CEO Jason Metrokin. “We thank the Corps for acknowledging this reality in its decision.”

“Sometimes a project is so bad, so indefensible, that the politics fall to the wayside and we get the right decision. That is what happened today,” Tim Bristol, the executive director of SalmonState, which represents Alaska’s salmon fishing industry.

Read the full story at The Maritime Executive