Saving Seafood

ALASKA: Bering Sea fishing crews on edge about coming pollock opening after a tough 2020 of small fish and COVID-19

January 5, 2021 — Skipper Kevin Ganley spent most of the summer and fall pulling a massive trawl net through the Bering Sea in a long slow search for pollock, a staple of McDonald’s fish sandwiches. The fish proved very hard to find.

“We just scratched and scratched and scratched,” Ganley recalls. “It was survival mode.”

Ganley’s boat is part of a fleet of largely Washington-based trawlers that have had a difficult year as they joined in North America’s largest single-species seafood harvest. Their catch rates in 2020 during the five-month “B” season that ended Nov. 1 were well below long-term averages. They also encountered more skinny, small fish — fit for mince but not prime fillets — than in a typical year, according to a federal review of the season.

Meanwhile, COVID-19 greatly complicated the essential task of keeping crews healthy as one company, Seattle-based American Seafoods, was hit with outbreaks on three vessels. The pandemic also resulted in the cancellation of some research surveys that help scientists measure fish stocks in a body of water that has been undergoing climatic changes as temperatures warm.

This has added an unwelcome element of suspense as crews start their COVID-19 two-week quarantines before the Jan. 20 start of the “A” season.

Read the full story from The Seattle Times at the Anchorage Daily News

Picks and pans for 2020 in Alaska’s seafood industry

January 5, 2021 — This year marks the 30th year that the weekly Fish Factor column has appeared in newspapers across Alaska and nationally. Every year it features “picks and pans” for Alaska’s seafood industry – a no-holds-barred look back at some of the year’s best and worst fishing highlights, and my choice for the biggest fish story of the year. Here are the choices for 2020, in no particular order:

Best little known fish fact: Alaska’s commercial fisheries division also pays for the management of subsistence and personal use fisheries.

Biggest fishing tragedy: The loss of five fishermen aboard the Scandies Rose that sank southwest of Kodiak.

Biggest new business potential: Mariculture of seaweeds and shellfish.

Most daring fish move: Fishermen in Quinhagak formed a cooperative of 70 harvesters to revitalize commercial salmon fishing in Kuskokwim Bay, including members from Goodnews Bay, Platinum and Eek. It’s the first fishery since 2016 when the region’s “economic development” group abruptly pulled the plug on buying local fish.

Biggest fish challenge: Getting whaled. Many fishermen say they can lose up to 75% of their pricey sablefish catches when whales strip their lines.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

Congressman Don Young Fights for Alaska’s Fishermen, Reintroduces Magnuson-Stevens Act Reauthorization

January 5, 2021 — This week, on the opening day of the 117th Congress, Congressman Don Young (R-AK) introduced the Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act. This legislation reauthorizes the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery and Conservation Management Act – landmark fisheries management and conservation legislation first written by Congressman Young in 1975. The Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA) was last reauthorized in 2006.

“Alaska’s seafood industry is one of the primary drivers of our state economy, and for over forty years, the Magnuson-Stevens Act has allowed our fishermen, processors, and coastal communities to thrive,” said Congressman Young. “In 1976, I was proud to fight for our Nation’s fishermen alongside my dear friend Rep. Gerry Studds (D-MA) as we first drafted this bipartisan legislation, and I am proud to continue the fight. As the nature of our ecosystem and fishing industry changes, we must ensure our laws are updated to keep pace in an evolving world. COVID-19 has impacted Alaska’s fishermen and processors, and we need to help them bounce back from this public health crisis. One crucial way of securing economic opportunity is to manage our fisheries sustainably, so that our fishermen have product to bring to market in the first place. I am pleased to work with industry leaders, and stakeholders in Alaska and throughout the country to update this important law. Future generations must have access to our ocean’s renewable resources. Simply put, sustainability is not a partisan issue – Alaskans know that more than anyone else. This reauthorization takes important steps to protect one of our most important renewable resources, and ensures that generations of fishermen to come can earn a living by putting sustainable seafood on the tables of families across the country. I will be working diligently to earn bipartisan support for our reauthorization so that it gets across the finish line and is signed into law.”

“Congressman Young has always fought for Alaska’s fishing industry in Washington, D.C., and he knows first-hand how important sustainable fisheries are to our state,” said Clay Koplin, Mayor of Cordova, Alaska. “I am very pleased that he has introduced legislation to reauthorize the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which has had an incredibly positive impact on Alaska for over 40 years. Commercial fishing has a significant footprint here in Cordova, and this bill will help Alaska continue to be a model for the nation on sustainable seafood practices. I am very grateful for Congressman Young’s long-time leadership on this vital issue. For the sake of fishermen in Alaska and across the country, I call on Congress to help us get the job done by taking up Congressman Young’s MSA reauthorization bill.”

Read the full story at the Alaska Native News

Investors sue parent company behind gold mine in Alaska

January 4, 2020 — The company behind a proposed copper and gold mine in Alaska faces lawsuits from investors claiming it misled shareholders who have seen an 85% drop in stock value since the summer.

Two lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court in New York claim Northern Dynasty Minerals violated federal securities law when project executives did not fully provide information about the project, The Anchorage Daily News reported Friday.

Developer The Pebble Limited Partnership and parent company Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. sought to build a mine about 200 miles (320 kilometers) southwest of Anchorage and near the headwaters of the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery in Bristol Bay.

The project was criticized by environment groups and also condemned by Alaska Republican U.S. Sens. Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Seattle Times

Second COVID-19 relief bill includes money for fisheries

December 30, 2020 — The COVID-19 relief bill signed into law this week includes hundreds of millions of dollars more for the fishing industry.

That legislation appropriates nearly $900 billion for COVID-19 aid and was part of the consolidated measure passed by Congress this month and signed by the president this week.

It will mean another payment of $300 million for fishery assistance nationwide. That mirrors the amount in the first stimulus bill from earlier in the year. Alaska Republican Dan Sullivan says the money will help Alaskans in the industry.

“Of course the Alaska fishing community in my view needs this very significantly, which is why we put it in the CARES Act originally — and this is just a plus up to that exact program,” Sullivan said in a teleconference with reporters before Christmas.

Alaska permit holders and companies could see a total of $50 million from the CARES Act in March, and this new bill will mean additional payments.

Read the full story at KTOO

Due to COVID-19, Drone Survey Powers NOAA’s Bering Cod Assessment

December 30, 2020 — Every other year, NOAA Fisheries conducts an acoustic-trawl survey from crewed research vessels to measure pollock abundance in Alaska’s eastern Bering Sea. As a result of COVID-19, many research surveys were canceled, and we weren’t able to conduct our walleye pollock surveys. Data collected from these surveys are critical to manage pollock, which comprise the nation’s largest commercial fishery.

NOAA Fisheries scientist Alex De Robertis at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center developed a contingency plan: conducting the survey with saildrone wind- and solar-powered ocean-going robots. The hope was to collect some data despite the vessel survey cancellation.

For the past several years, De Robertis and colleagues at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center have been working with partners at NOAA Research’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory,  Saildrone and Kongsberg. They use uncrewed surface vehicles equipped with low-power sonar (acoustic) sensors to conduct research in the Bering and Chukchi Seas. The pollock survey contingency plan was an opportunity to apply what they had learned to collect data for resource management.

Read the full story at The Maritime Executive

ALASKA: Bristol Bay sockeye a high point in the state’s unpredictable salmon season

December 30, 2020 — More than 58 million sockeye salmon returned to Bristol Bay this summer. It’s another in a series of enormous runs for the fishery. The commercial harvest was just as impressive. Bristol Bay’s fleet hauled in 39.5 million fish, the fifth-largest harvest on record.

But while the Bay’s run exceeded 50 million fish for the sixth year in a row — 46% above the 20-year average — many other parts of the state were far below their forecasts.

“When you take Bristol Bay out of the picture and look at sockeye harvests in Alaska, the non-Bristol Bay sockeye harvests this year were the lowest on record since 1976,” said Dan Leash, an economist with the McDowell Group.

Across all species, the value of the state’s commercial salmon season dropped more than 50% from last year — 56% below last year. The 2020 season was valued at $295.2 million, while last year was valued at $673.4 million. Harvests were also down by 44%.

“Sometimes when you have a low harvest year, the prices will rise. But that didn’t happen this year,” Leash said. “It was sort of a death by a thousand cuts in terms of the impact of the seafood on the harvesters this year.”

Read the full story at KTOO

Alaska’s commercial fishery managers appear to be spared big budget cuts next year

December 29, 2020 — As Alaska faces its toughest budget squeeze ever, the state’s commercial fisheries are set to get a bit of a breather. But it is due more to fund swapping than lawmakers’ largess.

For the commercial fisheries division, the largest within the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the preliminary FY2022 budget released by Gov. Mike Dunleavy reflects a slight increase to $72.8 million, compared to nearly $68 million last year.

“I think we did really well this year,” said Sam Rabung, commercial fisheries division director, speaking last week at a United Fishermen of Alaska webinar. “Where we’re at right now, the legislature actually restored many of the cuts that we sustained in FY20 and the governor didn’t veto all of them so we got some funds back in FY21,”

“In a nutshell, we are being reduced $783,500 in general funds but to offset that, we are being granted $855,000 in increased authority for using what we call GFP, our general fund program receipts from commercial crew licenses,” he added. “We’ve been collecting more revenue from crew licenses every year than we have authority to use. It’s kind of like creating a piggy bank and it keeps building and that money rolls forward. We’re going to be able to utilize those funds now in lieu of general funds. So it’s pretty much a wash.”

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

Sen. Dan Sullivan highlights final passage of second ocean cleanup bill

December 29, 2020 — Alaska Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan is highlighting the passage of his bipartisan legislation aimed at cleaning up plastic in the ocean and reducing sources of plastic pollution.

The bill, called Save Our Seas 2.0, builds on the first version of the bill, which was approved in 2018. This update was introduced by Sullivan and Democratic Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Bob Menendez of New Jersey.

Congress finalized the bill this fall, and President Trump signed it on Dec. 18.

“It’s an issue that everybody cares about, cleaning up the oceans,” Sullivan said during a recent teleconference with reporters. “It’s going to be huge for Alaska and our fisheries but really important for America. It puts our country in the lead again on this issue, and it’s a solvable issue. Ten rivers in Asia and Africa are estimated to be responsible for up to 80% of all the plastic pollution in the world, and this targets that.”

Read the full story at KTOO

2020 was an eventful year for the Pebble Mine project

December 28, 2020 — It was a momentous year for people who have fought for and against the proposed Pebble Mine.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in November denied Pebble’s request for a federal permit, stopping the mine likely for good. The decision was met with mixed emotions from people in Bristol Bay.

Sue Anelon works for the Iliamna Development Corporation. She said the mine would have been a significant boost to village economies.

“I’ve seen the good and the bad,” she said. “When Pebble was here and a lot of people were working, they were paying for their own groceries, they were paying their own fuel. They were buying trucks, they were buying Hondas. People were paying for things. Now they can’t do that. They have to rely on the government.”

Billy Trefon Jr., a Nondalton resident, was elated by the decision.

Read the full story at KTOO