Saving Seafood

New NOAA reports on Alaska’s oceans highlight disruptive warming trends

December 27, 2021 — The annual Ecosystem Status Reports from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration collect a wide range of data to better assess maritime trends and help steer fisheries management.

Elizabeth Siddon, who edited a report on the eastern Bering Sea, called the annual documents “anthologies of the ecosystems as we know them” — collaborative efforts pulling information from scientists, community members and industry groups, among others. The reports released this week also cover the Gulf of Alaska and Aleutian Islands.

If there’s any theme in this year’s detailed surveys of Alaska’s marine systems, it’s heat. The three areas assessed all involve “sustained warm conditions” that are affecting environment dynamics like sea ice and water columns, as well as the composition of animal stocks thriving and failing in recent years. The assessments factor into harvest policies set by the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council and touch any Alaskans who depend on sea animals, whether for work or food.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

 

First round of coronavirus relief funding distributed to Alaska fisheries

December 23, 2021 — “The check is in the mail” for Alaskan fisheries approved for the first round of funding from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Securities Act, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G).

Eligible participants should receive their checks in a few weeks, the ADF&G said in a news release Wednesday.

Alaska received $50 million of the $300 million of CARES Act funding set aside for the U.S. fisheries industry. The approved Alaskan applicants will split $49,371,189 of the funds after administrative costs. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) received $349,700 for the “assessment on federal grants,” the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission received $201,121 for administrative fees and ADF&G received $68,900 in administrative fees, according to information on ADF&G’s website.

Read the full story at The Center Square

Fishery council adopts tighter Bering Sea halibut bycatch limits based on stocks

December 22, 2021 — The governing body in charge of regulating halibut bycatch limits in the Bering Sea has adopted a new management system based on stocks of the valuable groundfish.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council adopted the policy earlier in the month on an 8-3 vote. It’s set to go into effect in 2023.

Currently, there is a static cap on halibut bycatch for the Amendment 80 trawl fleet. If the fleet hits that cap, the fishery would close.

Advocates of tighter bycatch limits have said the current cap is too high. Since 2015, when the council last amended bycatch regulations, they have pushed for them to be lowered.

Read the full story at KTUU

 

Prime Time: Alaska native community proposes co-managed marine sanctuary

December 21, 2021 — Citing observable and worrisome marine ecosystem changes, the Unangax̂ (Aleut) community of St. Paul Island has proposed co-management with the federal government and the community of St. George Island of a new marine sanctuary around the Pribilof Islands of Alaska, “encompassing 100 nm centroid boundaries around the two inhabited islands of St. Paul and St. George,” according to an official nomination proposal that was released Monday, Dec. 20.

For now, the sanctuary would be named Alaĝum Kanuux̂* (pronounced ahl-ah-GOOM ka-NOH), meaning Heart of the Ocean, and encompass nearly 53,000 square miles of waters, excluding a quarter-mile buffer zone around the St. George and St. Paul Harbors and all shoreside and submerged industrial facilities on both islands. The shoreward boundary would be the mean high tide line.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

 

NOAA Releases 2021 Ecosystem Status Reports for the Eastern Bering Sea, Gulf of Alaska, and Aleutian Islands

December 21, 2021 — These reports are a compilation of inputs from our own research and the work of many contributors from fishing, coastal and Alaska Native communities, academic institutions, the State of Alaska and other federal agencies.

Today, NOAA Fisheries released three key reports on the state of Alaska’s marine ecosystems. For more than two decades, Alaska has been using this ecosystem information to inform fisheries management decisions. To assess the status of Alaska’s marine ecosystems, scientists look at a variety of indicators.

For instance, they monitor oceanographic conditions. These include sea surface temperatures and temperatures near the sea floor, plankton, and wind and weather patterns in the Bering Sea, Gulf of Alaska, and Aleutian Islands annually and over time.

Read the full story at NOAA Fisheries

 

Fishing council ties bycatch limits on Bering Sea trawlers to halibut abundance

December 16, 2021 — The council that manages fishing in federal waters voted this week to link groundfish trawl fishing in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands to halibut abundance. The action caps — at least for now — a six-year debate about curbing halibut bycatch in Alaska.

For many who have been following that debate, the decision comes as a surprise because it’s expected to deal what trawlers say is a crushing blow to their fishery.

But members of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council said it was also important for them to consider how high levels of bycatch hurt small-boat halibut fishermen in Western Alaska — even if they didn’t go quite as far as advocates from those communities had hoped.

The action that ultimately passed Monday came from Rachel Baker, the deputy Fish and Game commissioner who represents Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration on the council. She said it will incentivize the trawl industry to reduce the halibut they incidentally catch in their nets.

When halibut stocks are low, the cap on prohibited species catch, or PSC, will also drop.

Read the full story at KTOO

Sullivan-Whitehouse Provision in Defense Bill Aimed at Cracking Down on Pirate Fishing

December 16, 2021 — The following was released by the The Office of Dan Sullivan:

U.S. Senators Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) today announced passage of their maritime security proposal as part of the Fiscal Year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which has now cleared Congress and is expected to be signed into law by the President. The senators’ amendment requires the Secretary of the Navy to produce a report on maritime security measures related to illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

“As the largest producer of seafood in the nation—roughly sixty percent of American seafood comes from our waters—Alaska is undoubtedly the super power of seafood for our country,” said Sen. Sullivan, honorary co-chair of the Senate Oceans Caucus. “I intend to do all I can to keep it that way, including ensuring that we have an all-of-government effort to crack down on illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. This provision will help protect America’s fishing fleet, as well as the seafood industry across the globe, against bad actors, particularly as China continues to use its fishing fleet to project power in the Indo-Pacific and, increasingly, around the world. I look forward to continue working with Senator Whitehouse on pirate fishing and on cleaning up our oceans. Our work together is a model for how two senators, from different sides of the aisle, can work together to get big things done for our nation.”

“We need to protect Rhode Island’s hardworking fishing industry by rooting out unfair competition from illegal pirate fishing,” said Sen. Whitehouse, a co-founder of the Senate Oceans Caucus. “I look forward to continuing to work with Senator Sullivan and colleagues on both sides of the aisle to curb illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing.”

The amendment will require the U.S. Navy to share information about steps taken to support the dissemination of unclassified information and data to regional partners, best practices learned from public-private partnerships, and any new authorities or capabilities needed to support counter-IUU efforts in order to guide future legislative efforts.

The legislation builds on maritime security provisions Whitehouse secured in last year’s NDAA. Whitehouse championed measures in the previous defense bill that required the Department of Defense to update Congress on previously enacted measured to combat illegal fishing, directed the Navy to work with the Coast Guard to assess solutions for tracking vessels engaged in unlawful activity at sea, and requested that the Office of Naval Intelligence provide an update on foreign governments using distant-water fishing fleets to undermine American interests.

Each year, IUU fishing produces between 11 and 26 million tons of seafood, resulting in global economic losses valued between $10 billion and $23 billion.

The bipartisan Senate Oceans Caucus works to find common ground in protecting oceans and coasts. Thanks to the caucus’s leadership, Congress has taken steps to guard against IUU fishing, including ratifying a series of key IUU treaties with partner nations and passing implementing legislation to bring those treaties into effect.

 

‘For the first time in its history, the council has ignored science’: Decision to reduce halibut bycatch leaves Alaska groundfish fleet reeling

December 15, 2021 — Major fishing companies targeting the Alaska flatfish sector blasted the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) this week for a decision it says could cost thousands of jobs and millions in lost revenue.

Members of the NPFMC voted Monday to tie halibut bycatch limits to Eastern Bering Sea (EBS) abundances, a decision that will have significant consequences on several major companies targeting the Alaska flatfish sector.

The council voted 8-to-3 in favor of a measure that will lower the current bycatch cap between 20 to 35 percent, depending on the levels of halibut in the Eastern Bering Sea. It is estimated the measure won’t go into effect for the Amendment 80 fleet until 2023.

The council action followed several days of often emotional testimony in an ongoing fisheries battle over the scope of the trawlers’ catch of a revered flatfish found off the US West Coast, British Columbia and Alaska. Surveys indicate halibut have been in decline over the past 15 years.

When halibut abundance is very low, the prohibited species catch, or PSC limit, decreases for the Amendment 80 fleet by 35 percent from the current cap amount of 1,745 metric tons, according to the motion.

The Bering Sea-Aleutian Islands halibut abundance-based management, or ABM, is not currently in place for the Amendment 80 fleet. The cap is fixed and is not adjusted to halibut abundance. If the fleet exceeds that cap, they have to stop fishing.

Read the full story from Intrafish

Council cuts Alaska halibut bycatch caps for groundfish fleet

December 14, 2021 — With four proposed alternatives on the docket to amend the management of halibut bycatch in Alaska’s Amendment 80 groundfish trawl fleet, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council voted Monday, Dec. 13, to approve a compromise between Alternatives 3 and 4.

“The preferred alternative balances the interests of the two largest halibut user groups in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands — the directed commercial halibut fishery and the Amendment 80 sector — by establishing abundance-based halibut [bycatch] limits for the Amendment 80 sector,” said Rachel Baker, deputy commissioner of the Alaska Department of Fish & Game, who devised and presented the compromise to the council.

The bulk of public comments called for significant changes, with many halibut stakeholders urging council members to support Alternative 4.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

 

Halibut cuts threaten the livelihood of thousands of fishermen

December 13, 2021 — We are two captains with a combined experience of more than 70 years in Alaska’s groundfish trawl fisheries.

In that time, we’ve been a part of a trawl fishery that has evolved and innovated heavily to meet several regulatory challenges. This is thanks to a collective commitment of the 2,200 fishermen and women who participate in our fishery. Our families are fishing families, too – as important as any other. We believe we are true stewards of the North Pacific resources. But cuts to our halibut bycatch caps under consideration by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council at its upcoming December meeting threaten our fishery and our way of life.

Our fleet has achieved a 49% reduction in halibut bycatch mortality since Amendment 80 rationalization in 2007. Halibut now represents 0.4% of our catch, which is among Alaska’s lowest bycatch rates, and far lower than Canada’s West Coast fisheries, which are often held up as an example of low bycatch rates. But it has not been easy to get here.

Read the full op-ed at the Anchorage Daily News