Saving Seafood

ALASKA: Gov. Dunleavy Introduces Job Creating Infrastructure Bond

February 9, 2021 — The following was released by The Office of Governor Mike Dunleavy (R-AK):

Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy today introduced a job-creating $356 million infrastructure proposal – the first statewide bond proposal in nearly 10 years. Senate Bill 74 is a key piece of the Dunleavy administration’s Path Forward and will benefit Alaskans statewide, improving transportation, education, recreation, and communications systems throughout the state. Upon passage by the Legislature, the general obligation bond will go to a vote of the people.

“This statewide bond package is essential to stabilizing our economy and putting Alaskans back to work following the economic upheaval caused by the pandemic,” said Governor Mike Dunleavy. “Not only will this proposal create jobs, it will improve critical infrastructure for all Alaskans. I look forward to working with the Legislature to take this to a vote of the people following the 2021 legislative session.”

The proposal totals $356,405,952 and leverages a federal match of $1,003,471,000. Projects of interest included in the general obligation bond include:

  • $8.5M to West Susitna Road Access project
  • $25M to School Major Maintenance Grant Fund
  • $18.9M to Fairbanks Youth Facility
  • $2.4M to Fairbanks Pioneer Home
  • $19.5M to Alaska Vocational Technical Center upgrades
  • $12M to Alaska Public Safety Communication Services System upgrades
  • $13.2M to Fairbanks to Seward Multi-Use Recreation Trail Construction
  • $20M to Statewide Firebreak Construction Program
  • $2.4M to Alaska Wildlife Troopers Marine Enforcement repair and replacement
  • $4.2M to Bethel Airport
  • $8.3M to Craig Harbor
  • $28.8M to Dalton Highway repairs and upgrades
  • $540K to Denali Highway Mile Point 24-25 (Milepost 22)
  • $5.6M to Ketchikan South Tongass Highway
  • $29.9M to Sterling Highway Miles 8-25 (Milepost 45-60) Sunrise to Skilak
  • $9.3M to Unalaska Harbor
  • $29.6M to University of Alaska infrastructure projects

For more information on the general obligation bond proposal, including a comprehensive list of project proposals, click here.

Department of Justice serves subpoenas to Pebble mine developer and former chief executive

February 8, 2021 — The U.S. Department of Justice has issued a grand jury subpoena to the developer of the controversial proposed Pebble mine and the company’s former chief executive as part of an investigation involving already-disclosed private conversations about the project, according to a statement from the project’s parent company.

The Pebble Limited Partnership and its former CEO, Tom Collier, have each been served with a subpoena issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Alaska, according to an online statement from Northern Dynasty Minerals, Pebble’s parent company on Friday.

The company and Collier must “produce documents in connection with a grand jury investigation apparently involving previously disclosed recordings of private conversations regarding the Pebble Project,” the statement said.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

Sockeye salmon retail prices at record winter highs, but uncertainty looms

February 5, 2021 — Retail prices for sockeye salmon have been at historical highs for the past three months, largely driven by a 25 percent drop in global supply in 2020.

For Q1 up through 27 January, wild sockeye salmon fillets averaged USD 12.07 (EU 10.05), the highest quarterly average since 2012, according to figures cited by the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association (BBRSDA).

Read the full story at Seafood Source

New Coast Guard Cutter Named For Heroic Sailor Buried In Unalaska

February 5, 2021 — Near the base of Mount Newhall in Unalaska, among several weathered Russian Orthodox crosses, a tall stone marks the grave of seaman Charles Moulthrope.

Moulthrope was buried in Unalaska in 1896, at the age of 23, after he died during service in nearby waters. But 125 years later, his name lives on, as a recently commissioned U.S. Coast Guard cutter now carries the name Charles Moulthrope.

This will be the first modern Coast Guard cutter named for an enlisted member of the Revenue Cutter Service. The ship is meant to bring recognition to the sacrifices made by Moulthrope and other sailors who served in this precursor of the U.S. Coast Guard, according to Senior Chief Petty Officer Sara Muir.

“The first ten revenue cutters were ten oceangoing cutters,” Muir said. “We’re talking about wooden vessels with sails that were built at the behest of the United States Congress in the early 1790s, largely to crack down on smuggling.”

Moulthrope is recognized for heroically saving his crewmates, while they were serving off the Oregon coast.

Read the full story at KUCB

Unalaska fish processing plant reopens after COVID-19 outbreak forces monthlong shutdown

February 3, 2021 — Unalaska’s largest fish processing plant reopened Monday after a COVID-19 outbreak forced it to shut down for almost a month.

UniSea closed its doors Jan. 5 after a handful of workers tested positive for the virus, following a New Year’s gathering in company housing.

Since then, 66 of UniSea’s more than 900 workers tested positive for the virus, according to UniSea President Tom Enlow. Seventeen of those were during their two-week entry quarantine, and 49 were non-travel related cases, he said.

“The virus has not been eliminated just yet,” Enlow said in an email. “We have active cases in isolation that we are monitoring and close contacts in quarantine that we are continuing to test. But we feel very good about our response to the outbreak and containment thus far.”

The reopening is a bright spot for the Bering Sea fishing industry, which has been hampered by COVID-19 outbreaks at multiple boats and onshore plants.

Read the full story at KTOO

Outlook poor for 2021 Copper River, Upper Cook Inlet sockeye runs in Alaska

February 3, 2021 — Sockeye salmon forecasts for both the Copper River and the Upper Cook Inlet came in well below historical averages for the upcoming season, a blow to fisheries already reeling from poor runs and pandemic-related losses last season.

For the Copper River, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) predicted a total run of nearly 1.3 million sockeye salmon. That number would be 37.4 percent short of the most recent 10-year average of around 2.1 million sockeye, and comes on the heels of a 2020 sockeye season where Copper River fishermen scarcely put their nets in the water.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

ALASKA: Bristol Bay leaders call to close the door on Pebble Mine

February 3, 2021 — With appeals flying in efforts to overturn the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ denial of the Pebble Mine permit in Alaska’s Bristol Bay, Bristol Bay’s Tribes and residents have released a call for permanent protections for the region.

On Jan. 8, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced the state’s intentions to appeal the decision. The Pebble Partnership followed with a Jan. 21 filing, requesting the Army Corps of Engineers to reverse its denial of the proposed mine’s Clean Water Act dredge and fill permit.

The appeals, say local leaders and fishery stakeholders, highlight the need for durable, long-term, lasting protections for the Bristol Bay region, as well as the need for an EPA veto of the proposed Pebble Mine itself.

“While science prevailed when the Army Corps rejected the proposed Pebble Mine’s Clean Water Act permit, this appeal shows that the Trump administration left the door open for the Pebble Partnership and Bristol Bay is far from safe,” said SalmonState Executive Director Tim Bristol. “The first step is for the Biden administration to reestablish the Clean Water Act Protections previously in place. The second step is for Congress to protect the waters of Bristol Bay in perpetuity, as called for in Bristol Bay Tribes’ and organizations’ Call to Protect Bristol Bay.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Alaska scallopers manage with covid quarantines, but clams stay in the sand

February 3, 2021 — Alaska scallopers fished on a guideline harvest level of 277,500 pounds of shucked meat for the 2020-21 season. That’s up from the GHL of 271,300 pounds from the year before. Harvests, however, have been declining, and the 2019-20 landings of 224,765 pounds were the lowest since the 1993-94 season.

Scallops mature into the fishery at 4 years old, and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game conducts population surveys in rotating areas each year, according to Andrew Olson, an area management biologist, in Yakutat. Of the management areas lying in the waters offshore of Yakutat, Kodiak, the Alaska Peninsula, Dutch Harbor and Bristol Bay, the area near Yakutat has maintained the highest GHL in recent years. The GHL for the Yakutat in the 2020-21 season had been set at 145,000 pounds, shucked.

Like many other fisheries, covid caused some ripples in this year’s season, primarily with lining up observers for the two vessels that fish the scallops in a cooperative harvest agreement. As per federal regulations, the scallopers operate under 100 percent observer coverage. This year that meant quarantining the observers before they boarded. After that, the season went off without a hitch and fishing began.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

CHINOOK OBSERVER: Crabbing families deserve TLC in this tough year

February 2, 2021 — In normal times, this year’s disastrous Dungeness crab season would be big news beyond the coast. Even in this abnormal year, it’s time for elected officials and agencies to pay closer attention to how local families are being hurt by lack of crabbing.

Typical measures of economic pain fail to capture the extent of damage. Last week it was wrenching to see Pacific County with the worst joblessness in Washington state. But the reported rate of nearly 11% was largely pinned on the pandemic-struck hospitality industry. Based on statistical modeling, county-level job reports often fall short in revealing exactly what’s going on — and that is surely true of crabbing.

The most immediate problem for both commercial crabbing and recreational clamming is the marine toxin domoic acid, created by ocean microorganisms run amok. Federal rules ban crab harvests when the toxin rises above 30 parts per million in the yellowish viscera — also sometimes called crab butter — that some people eat. Some crab sampled off Long Beach have been unsafe, leading to what is now the longest-ever delay in starting the season. (Meanwhile, from the central Oregon coast south into California, toxin levels have been acceptable and crabbing is ongoing.)

Read the full story at the Chinook Observer

OP-ED: Governor’s Pebble appeal ignores the law, science and voices of Alaskans

February 2, 2021 — While Alaskans are looking ahead to a bright future for Bristol Bay, Gov. Mike Dunleavy continues to look backward and is seeking to keep the proposed Pebble Mine project alive through dubious legal tactics. The latest example of this is the state’s appeal of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ decision to deny a key Clean Water Act permit for the project. The appeal is wrong on the law. It is wrong on science. And it is wrong for Alaskans.

Let us start with the legal arguments. The applicable regulations specify that only the party denied a Clean Water Act Section 404 permit can file an administrative appeal of that decision. Corps of Engineers guidance on the appeal process is equally specific, the process “provides permit applicants with an opportunity to seek a timely and objective reconsideration of an adverse permit decision,” and “there is no third-party involvement in the appeal process itself.” This is black and white. Moreover, the Pebble Limited Partnership (PLP), the permit applicant, has already filed an appeal. At best, the state’s appeal is duplicative. At worst, it is an unlawful and wasteful action.

Second, the Corps’ permit denial is based on science and grounded in longstanding precedent. Pebble, even under the conservative 20-year mining plan that PLP itself acknowledges will expand considerably, would impact nearly 200 miles of streams and more than 4,500 acres of wetlands – with no plan to replace these significant losses. These streams and wetlands are part of the unique ecosystem that allows 50 million-plus sockeye salmon to return annually, supporting $1.5 billion in economic output and a millennia-old Alaska Native way of life. The Corps’ finding that the mine would cause significant damage to aquatic resources and is not in the public interest is wholly consistent with extensive scientific data and evidence.

Read the full opinion piece at the Anchorage Daily News