Saving Seafood

KRISTIN CARPENTER: Salmon hatcheries add resilience to Alaska’s seafood industry

July 16, 2021 — This past year hasn’t been an easy one. The impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic are widespread, affecting the ability of Alaskans to support their families in the same way they did before. With tourism shut down in 2020 and fluctuations in the price of oil and the ever-mounting threat of climate change on our daily lives, it’s no wonder Alaskans are deeply concerned about the state’s economy. But here in 2021, we are in a better spot than we were a year ago, and there is light at the end of the pandemic tunnel. One component of the state’s economy has served as a consistent economic driver throughout last year’s trials and will continue to do so far into the future — Alaska’s salmon hatcheries.

Seafood, tourism, and oil & gas make up the three-legged stool of our economy, according to economic models. Our seafood sector has been able to thrive through the pandemic, thanks partly to the long-term and sustainable production of the salmon hatcheries established in Alaska in the 1970s. Across the state, the seafood industry employs almost 60,000 workers, nearly half of whom are Alaska residents, and it contributed more than $172 million in 2019 in raw fish taxes for state and local governments. The economic benefits generated by the seafood industry ripple across the state, and from Prince William Sound across Southcentral Alaska, raising incomes and lowering the cost of living in many communities, not to mention increasing food security. Harvests from Prince William Sound specifically make up more than half of the state’s ex-vessel value from hatchery-raised fish harvests — $69 million out of a total of $120 million. Our Alaska salmon hatcheries contribute 1 billion meals of nutritious Alaskan salmon to Alaska and the world annually.

Even those without direct ties to seafood can look to hatcheries as drivers of economic opportunity. A recent report by McKinley Research Group — formerly McDowell Group — highlights the impacts that hatcheries have on economic outcomes throughout Alaska. Each year, Alaska hatcheries account for roughly 4,700 jobs, $218 million in labor income, and a total of $600 million in economic output. In Prince William Sound alone, hatcheries generate roughly 2,200 jobs, $104 million in labor income, and a total economic output of $316 million each year. Hatcheries drive economic impacts far beyond direct labor and income by benefiting thousands of fishermen, processing employees, and hatchery workers, not to mention thousands more support sector workers, and even sportfish charter operators and guides, who likely rely on hatchery production for some portion of their income.

It’s hard to overstate the far-reaching impacts of Alaska’s hatcheries, especially when it comes to additional tax revenue. Hatcheries and the fish they produce generate local revenue through taxes on raw fish, property, and sales paid by commercial and charter fishermen, seafood processors, hatchery associations, and support sector businesses and employees. These tax revenues help Alaskan communities to survive in the challenging years and thrive in the good years across the state.

Read the full opinion piece at the Anchorage Daily News

Biden administration proposes sweeping protections for Alaska’s Tongass National Forest

July 16, 2021 — The Biden administration announced sweeping protections for Alaska’s Tongass National Forest on Thursday, including an end to large-scale old-growth logging and a proposal to bar road development on more than 9 million acres.

The changes mark a major shift for a region that has relied on felling massive trees for more than a century, reversing one of former president Donald Trump’s biggest public land decisions and halting a significant source of future carbon emissions. The Tongass, part of one of the world’s last relatively intact temperate rainforests, is the only national forest where old-growth logging still takes place on an industrial scale.

The 16.7 million-acre forest — which once boasted major pulp mills but is now targeted for its fine-grain, centuries-old trees that are coveted for pricey musical instruments, expansive outdoor decks and elegant shingles — has been a political flash point for two decades. While Democrats have sought to scale back logging in the forest over time, the administration’s moves go further than any previous president’s efforts.

Read the full story at The Washington Post

Habitat Benefits from Shellfish and Seaweed Aquaculture

July 15, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The growing aquaculture industry has exciting implications for Alaskan communities, both human and marine. In recent years, the State of Alaska has seen a significant increase in aquatic farm applications and notably, the farm acreage amount applied for. According to the 2021 Mariculture Task Force Final Report (PDF, 169 pages), if the state approved all applications currently under review, it would result in approximately an 850 percent increase in the acreage for aquatic farms in state waters over the last five years. Not only does this growth have exciting economic implications, research is increasingly showing the ecological benefits of aquatic farming. As Alaskans apply for more and bigger farms, that means more habitat for everything from crab to salmon smolt to barnacles and mussels.

Read the full release here

Bristol Bay sockeye catches called ‘unprecedented’ by Alaska fishery managers

July 13, 2021 — “Unprecedented” is how fishery managers are describing sockeye catches at Bristol Bay, which topped 1 million fish for seven days straight at the Nushagak district last week and neared the 2 million mark on several days.

By July 9, Alaska’s statewide sockeye salmon catch was approaching 32 million, of which more than 25 million came from Bristol Bay. The only other region getting good sockeye catches was the Alaska Peninsula, where nearly 4.6 million reds were landed so far.

The Alaska Peninsula also was far ahead of all other regions for pink salmon catches with over 3.3 million taken out of a total statewide tally of just over 5.4 million so far.

Pink salmon run in distinct two year cycles with odd years being stronger, and the preseason forecast calls for a total Alaska harvest of 124.2 million pinks this summer.

The timing for peak pink harvests is still several weeks away; likewise for chums, and most cohos will arrive in mid-August.

Alaska salmon managers are projecting the 2021 statewide salmon catch to top 190 million fish, a 61% increase over last year’s take of about 118 million salmon. By July 9, the statewide catch for all species had topped 41 million fish.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

Fish Out of Water: How Capture Affects Sablefish Health, Reflexes, and Survival

July 13, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Sablefish is a high-quality, deepwater fish that supports a valuable Alaska fishery. The fishery has seen dramatic changes in recent years. The highest abundance of young  sablefish in decades arrived with warming temperatures. At the same time, a rapidly-growing pot fishery has emerged alongside traditional hook-and-line fishing in the Gulf of Alaska. A new study shows that, with careful handling, they are able to withstand the stresses of capture on hook-and-line gear—but their.reflexes could be impaired.

In the directed sablefish fishery, commercial fishermen must retain all sablefish (regardless of size) until individual fishing quotas are filled. Then, all remaining catch is returned to sea. To accurately assess the fish stocks to set sustainable catch limits, managers need to estimate how many of the fish caught and released will survive.

A new collaborative study provides information essential for sustainable management of  the sablefish fishery as it evolves and adapts to changing conditions. NOAA Fisheries  Alaska Fisheries Science Center scientists teamed up with a veterinary professor at Oregon State University. They looked at how the stress of capture and time out of water affects the health and reflexes of sablefish, and whether that contributes to delayed mortality. Their findings provide a better understanding of mortality after release from pot fishing. They provide information essential for the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to evaluate the implications of proposed “careful release” of small sablefish before fishing quotas are filled.

Read the full release here

On an Alaskan island, a mayor fights for fur seals – and a new future

July 13, 2021 — Fifty years ago, Patrick Pletnikoff spent his summers stripping blubber from the carcasses of seals clubbed to death in Alaska’s annual harvest, competing with other young men to show who wielded the fastest blade.

Now he’s fighting for a bigger prize: to transform his native St. George Island’s fortunes and protect dwindling colonies of northern fur seals by creating Alaska’s first marine sanctuary in the surrounding waters – a move that would empower local people to limit fishing for the seals’ prey.

Commercial sealing was once the lifeblood of St. George, a treeless speck of volcanic rock far from the U.S. mainland. But the indigenous Unangan community has struggled to find a new niche in the decades since the trade was banned, and there are now less than 60 inhabitants left.

As the long-serving mayor, Pletnikoff has spent years lobbying the federal government to add St. George to the network of 15 U.S. marine sanctuaries, hoping that a designation will kick-start a new “conservation economy” based on eco-tourism, scientific research and sustainable fishing.

Read the full story at Reuters

ALASKA: Back to Bristol Bay project

July 9, 2021 — This past weekend, a crew assembled to raise the sail on a traditionally restored Bristol Bay double-ender.

The boat was part of the Fourth of July parade in Homer but the plan is to sail it back to Bristol Bay where it served as salmon gillnetter in the early 1900s.

The crew of the Back to the Bay project is rigging a wooden double-ender with a spritsail in Nomar’s parking lot on Pioneer Avenue in Homer. Bumpo Bremiker is splicing line to make loops to hold the rings that will secure the sail while Dave Seaman explains.

“…splicing up some eye splices in the sheet attachment point on the sail. John Breiby, a nautical historian on Alaska wrote a little pamphlet called Rigging the Bristol Bay Double-ender.  We’ve approximated the best we can,” said Seaman.

This year the boat is on a trailer, preparing to sail down Homer’s Fourth of July Parade route. Next year they hope to put out from Homer harbor, travel under sail –  west across Cook Inlet to Williamsport. Then, they’ll take the 26 mile portage to Iliamna Lake, sail the lake and the Kvichak River, visiting a series of villages on the way to their destination, Fishtival 2022 in Naknek.

Read the full story at KBBI

Alaska fishermen join sleep deprivation study

July 9, 2021 — For commercial fishermen, the difference between getting a few more hours of sleep or not can sometimes be a question of livelihood.

That’s what Jerry Dzugan explains in his classes. He’s the executive director of the Alaska Marine Safety Education Association, or AMSEA, based in Sitka.

“The less you sleep, the more money you make in some sense,” he said. “And that’s a really hard thing to overcome. Because everybody wants to make more money.”

It’s one of the factors driving the issue of sleep deprivation among fishermen, he said. AMSEA and several other organizations are studying 200 commercial fishermen over the next two years to quantify the problem, and gauge fishermen’s concerns when it comes to how their sleep patterns affect their overall health.

Read the full story at Alaska Public Media

New Tribal Research Coordinator for the Alaska Fisheries Science Center

July 8, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries is pleased to announce that we have hired a new Tribal Research Coordinator. Mabel Baldwin-Schaeffer joins the Alaska Fisheries Science Center’s Communications Program and will be based in Anchorage, AK.

Baldwin-Schaeffer will provide technical support to help enhance existing communications and outreach efforts. She will also foster relationships with subsistence communities and fishing sectors to identify opportunities for scientific collaboration and co-production of research.

“This is a first for us and we couldn’t be more excited to have Mabel working with us. Mabel was very successful in building partnerships with diverse stakeholder groups to co-produce data when she was at the Fisheries, Aquatic Science and Technology Laboratory at Pacific University,” said Robert Foy, Director of the Alaska Fisheries Science Center. “We know our efforts to identify research needs and to more effectively communicate with and design collaborative research projects with Alaska Indigenous communities, Tribal governments, and Alaska Native organizations will benefit greatly from Mabel’s knowledge and experience.”

Baldwin-Schaeffer has both a science background—a Bachelor’s degree in Sustainability Studies and a Master’s degree in Environmental Science from Alaska Pacific University—and ties to local communities. Given her direct experience with Alaska Native community cultures, traditions, and ways of communicating, Baldwin-Schaeffer will help to strengthen collaborative relationships with Indigenous communities in Alaska. She will also build staff capacity at Alaska Fisheries Science Center to engage effectively in these efforts. This will help facilitate greater information sharing and opportunities to develop mutually beneficial research priorities.

“I am committed to making positive steps in improving collaboration within and between Alaska’s tribal communities and the institutions and agencies committed to supporting sustainable subsistence-based livelihoods and healthy marine ecosystems,” said Baldwin-Shaeffer.

Read the full release here