Saving Seafood

These collapsible pots are helping Alaska fishermen keep whales from pirating pricey black cod

October 23, 2020 — Lightweight collapsible pots prevent whales from pirating pricey black cod from longline hooks and give a break to small boats.

“Getting whaled” is so pervasive that fishery managers allowed black cod, aka sablefish, fishermen to switch from baited lines to rigid pots in the Bering Sea in 2008 and in the Gulf of Alaska starting in 2017. (Interestingly, killer whales rob the hooks in the Bering Sea, while sperm whales are the culprits in the Gulf.)

“The whale predation has just been so horrible,” said Frank Miles of Kodiak, owner of 58-foot and 78-foot fishing boats. “The last couple years I tried to do it with hooks, and it just got to the point to where we left tens of thousands of pounds of black cod unharvested because we were going backwards feeding the whales. You can spread your strings 10 miles apart, and you might get one or two skates up and they find you. And then they pretty much strip you blind.”

Analyses from federal surveys in 2013 showed that when killer whales were present during annual sablefish stock surveys, the whales removed 54% to 72% from the hooks.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

US fishing fleet in Bering Sea rattled by Russian military exercises

October 23, 2020 — The U.S. Coast Guard has vowed to ramp up notifications of Russian military exercises in the northern Bering Sea after U.S.-flagged fishing fleets were driven off fishing grounds there the end of August.

At-Sea Processors Association (APA) Executive Director Stephanie Madsen said U.S. boats were fishing for pollock in the Bering Sea’s U.S. exclusive economic zone (EEZ) when they were startled by the nearby activities of Russian warships, submarines, and aircraft.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Gross receipts: Fishing takes centerstage in Alaska’s Senate race

October 23, 2020 — Health care was the issue that pushed Dr. Al Gross to challenge Alaska Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, who is running for a second term. But fisheries has been the hot-button issue as this senate race draws to a close.

Gross, from Juneau, has fished his whole life. His mother was the first executive director of the United Fishermen of Alaska.

Sullivan has the backing of the United Fishermen of Alaska in this race, though that declaration came in June, before much of the political fallout that has put Gross within striking distance of the seat. Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers endorsed Sullivan on Oct. 7. Gross is endorsed by the United Tribes of Bristol Bay, which has been an outspoken and vehement critic of the proposed Pebble Mine.

An Oct. 10 debate between the candidates hosted by the Kodiak Chamber of Commerce and ComFish via Zoom saw Pebble Mine rear its head in the first 10 minutes.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Alaska Supreme Court Hears Challenge To Fish Landing Tax

October 23, 2020 — Alaska’s Supreme Court is weighing the legality of a raw fish tax that’s pumped at least $25 million into coastal communities over the past five years. But a lawsuit filed by a Washington state catcher/processor could change that.

Since the 1990s the state has taxed seafood caught by factory trawlers and floating processors through the Fisheries Resource Landing Tax.

Even though the fish is caught outside the 3-mile line in what’s considered federal waters, it’s often brought to Alaska fishing ports before loaded on cargo vessels and shipped overseas.

But seafood company Fisherman’s Finest has challenged the state’s tax in court, arguing it violates a pair of provisions of the U.S. Constitution that restricts coastal states from imposing tariffs or duties on goods brought in and out of a state.

Attorney Jim Torgerson told the Alaska Supreme Court on Wednesday that the U.S. Supreme Court wrote in 1996, “it has never upheld a state tax assessed directly on goods in import or export transit.”

Read the full story at KUCB

NPFMC Narrows Focus on Abundance-Based Management for Pacific Halibut Bycatch in Bering Sea

October 20, 2020 — The North Pacific Fisheries Management Council clarified their focus to tie the management of halibut bycatch in the Bering Sea to abundance in a new motion that, after one amendment, was passed unanimously.

The final Council motion revised the purpose and need statement and the alternatives for an initial review analysis that will likely come at the April council meeting, scheduled for April 5-6, 2021.

Read the full story at Seafood News

Scientists complete Pacific halibut survey despite COVID restrictions

October 20, 2020 — A “resounding success” is how scientists summed up this summer’s Pacific halibut survey, despite it being shortened and scaled down due to constraints related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The so-called fishery-independent setline survey uses standardized methods to track population trends in the Pacific halibut stock, which ranges from the U.S. West Coast to British Columbia, Canada, and the far reaches of the Bering Sea.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

State asks federal court to dismiss suit over Metlakatla tribal members’ fishing rights

October 20, 2020 — State attorneys are asking a federal court judge to dismiss a fishing rights case brought by Metlakatla Indian Community at the southeastern tip of the state.

The state’s sole native reserve — that’s similar to Lower 48 reservations — argues Congress granted it the right to fish in its traditional waters — even outside the marine boundaries of the Annette Islands Reserve. The tribe says the state thus doesn’t have the right to require state fishing permits for tribal members in state waters.

But in a 38-page filing Thursday, Department of Law attorneys argue that’s not the case.

“…in 1891, did Congress intend to grant off-reservation fishing rights to the Metlakatlans? The answer is ‘no,’” state attorneys write.

They say the full text of the 1891 law establishing the Annette Islands Reserve as a permanent home for native Tsimshian people, and congressional debate around that time show that lawmakers never intended to grant residents the right to fish outside the reserve’s boundaries.

Read the full story at KRBD

7.5-magnitude “shaker” prompts tsunami warning from Aleutians to Kenai Peninsula

October 20, 2020 — Residents of coastal Alaska, from Sand Point to Kodiak, scrambled for higher ground and motored boats into deeper water Monday afternoon after a magnitude 7.5 earthquake hit near Sand Point and triggered a tsunami warning.

Large waves did not appear, but life in the communities was disrupted by the emergency.

Residents from Unalaska to the Kenai Peninsula reported to the USGS that they’d felt the earthquake. The National Weather Service downgraded the warning to an advisory toward the end of the afternoon.

Raynelle Gardner, who works at the Sand Point School, said residents felt the violent shaking of the first quake. She hadn’t felt any aftershocks because she had been driving, but as she spoke on the phone, she watched the Alaska Earthquake Center website as it ticked off one that rippled through the area.

Read the full story at Alaska Public Media

Re Trump’s May Executive Order: North Pacific Council Prioritizes Surveys and Catch Monitoring

October 19, 2020 — In response to Last May’s Executive Order 13921, the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council (NPFMC) submitted a list of prioritized recommendations to “reduce burdens on domestic fishing and to increase production within sustainable fisheries.” At the top of their list is groundfish surveys in the Gulf and Bering Sea, and improved observer coverage and electronic monitoring.

The president’s order “Promoting American Seafood Competitiveness Economic Growth” tasked each of the nation’s eight regional management councils with providing ways to reach four goals and asked them to provide recommendations by November 2. Implementation plans for the changes are to be submitted within a year of the President’s May 7, 2020 order.

Read the full story at Seafood News

Murkowski says she’ll use appropriations to block Alaskan mine

October 19, 2020 — Sen. Lisa Murkowski issued her strongest objection to date against the Pebble Mine project, a proposed mining site of copper, gold and molybdenum near the ecologically sensitive Bristol Bay, pledging to use the federal appropriations process to protect the region.

Speaking virtually at a convention of the Alaska Federation of Natives on Thursday, Murkowski, R-Alaska, chairwoman of the Senate Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, said she would use spending legislation to protect Bristol Bay, home to the world’s biggest salmon run and one of its largest commercial fisheries. She is also chairwoman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

“I simply think that this is the wrong mine in the wrong place,” Murkowski said. “We need longer-term protections for the region that can also provide enduring value for Alaskans.”

Murkowski submitted language in the fiscal 2020 Interior-Environment spending bill that directed the Army Corps of Engineers to conduct a more rigorous environmental assessment of the project’s risks. “I plan to build on my appropriations language from last year to make sure that the Bristol bay region remains protected,” she said Thursday.

Read the full story at Roll Call