Saving Seafood

32 members of US Congress call for veto of Alaska’s Pebble Mine permit application

September 8, 2020 — A group of 32 members of the U.S. Congress have asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to veto permits for Bristol Bay, Alaska’s Pebble Mine, a proposed open-pit copper and gold mine at headwaters that feed part of the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery.

U.S. Representative Jared Huffman (D-California) and U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Oregon) led the letter to EPA Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler, whose agency holds the power veto the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers’ Final Draft Environmental Impact Statement, a document that has been criticized as rushed and incomplete.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

ALASKA: Harbor porpoise bycatch near Point Barrow contributes to larger study on Bering Sea population

September 4, 2020 — When James Judkins began pulling up his fishing nets out near Point Barrow this month, the weight of the catch pulled back at him.

“Man, this is a really big fish,” Judkins thought. Then, he glimpsed the dorsal fin. Then another. “Dolphins?” he wondered.

Close. Harbor porpoises, a marine mammal resembling dolphins, but in the same family as whales, have made several appearances in Utqiaġvik recently.

In recent weeks, local fishermen have caught at least four porpoises in subsistence fishing nets near Point Barrow. Judkins recovered two, along with a seal, on Aug. 12 in Elson Lagoon. The other two were bycatches in Christian Stein and Charlie Sikvaguyak’s separate nets set in the same area. For some fishermen, it was their first time seeing the mammal.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

Seeking Nominations for Candidates for the Marine Mammal Atlantic Scientific Review Group

September 4, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries published a Federal Register Notice on September 3, 2020 soliciting nominations to three independent marine mammal scientific review groups.

The three independent regional scientific review groups, covering Alaska, the Atlantic (including the Gulf of Mexico), and the Pacific (including Hawaii), were established under section 117(d) of the Marine Mammal Protection Act to provide advice on a range of marine mammal science and management issues.

We would like your assistance to identify qualified candidates for the Atlantic (including the Gulf of Mexico) review group. We are seeking individuals with expertise in one or more of the following priority areas (not in order of priority): Protected species conservation, wildlife management, and policy/science interface especially in the non-governmental sector; line-transect methodology, mark-recapture methods, survey design, and quantitative ecology; life history and ecology, particularly large cetaceans and delphinid species; Gulf of Mexico cetacean population dynamics; Southeast U.S. cetaceans; Northeast U.S. Large Marine Ecosystem (LME); marine mammal health, physiology, energetics, and toxicology; genetics; fishing gear and practices, particularly fisheries with marine mammal bycatch, fishery bycatch estimation, and bycatch reduction; ecosystem climate impacts; and manatees.

As you consider nominating candidates, please remember

  • A Scientific Review Group member cannot be a registered Federal lobbyist or foreign agent;
  • Service is without pay, except for reimbursable travel and related expenses; and
  • Individuals serve for a term of three years, for no more than three consecutive terms if re-appointed.

Nominations are due by October 5, 2020.

On campuses closed by COVID-19, seafood workers trade freedom for paychecks

September 3, 2020 — Seafood companies bring thousands of seasonal workers to Alaska’s fishing towns every year, but this year’s summer workers were largely unseen. In Petersburg, due to COVID precautions, workers were restricted closed campuses — they were only allowed to go between the plant, dorms and cafeteria. Some workers said they felt resigned to it. Others said it felt like jail.

There are two major processing plants in Petersburg: OBI Seafoods — formerly Petersburg Fisheries, Inc — and Trident Seafoods. But before we get to the plants, we should start with the fishermen.

Nick Rahaim is a deckhand on a commercial fishing boat. During the pandemic, he and other fishermen have to stay on deck, away from the seafood processing workers who come on board to offload the catch.

“It’s been compared to the NBA bubble, like Disney World in Florida,” Rahaim said. “While it is a bubble, it’s very different because on the one hand you have people making millions, on the other you have people making close to minimum wage.”

Read the full story at KTOO

Alaska fishing industry likely incurred tens of millions of dollars in coronavirus-related expenses

September 2, 2020 — Alaska seafood processors are paying tens of millions of dollars extra to cover costs from the COVID-19 pandemic, and most of it is coming out of pocket.

Intrafish Media provides a first, in-depth look at how costs for providing protective gear like masks and gloves, testing thermometers, extra staff to handle sanitizing demands between work shifts, and modifying worker lines for social distancing are playing out in the nation’s seafood processing sector.

At Bristol Bay, for example, where around 13,000 workers from outside Alaska come to work on fishing boats and in 13 plants of varying sizes, it’s estimated that all major processors combined likely spent $30 million to $40 million on COVID-related costs during the two peak fishing months of June and July this summer.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

More MSC Certified Supplements Hitting Shelves, Steward Supplements Launches 100% MSC Certified Product Line

September 2, 2020 — The following was released by the Marine Stewardship Council:

Cod liver oil and salmon oil in new Steward Supplements products are now 100% MSC certified sustainable, joining more than 170 other fish oil products in the US market that carry the MSC blue fish logo. Steward Supplements launched the new product line today with fish oils sourced from certified US fisheries, with all products manufactured in Dutch Harbor, Alaska.

The MSC is recognized as the world’s leading certification program for sustainable, wild-caught seafood. For products to be sold as MSC certified, seafood from MSC certified fisheries can only be handled, processed and packaged by organizations with a valid Chain of Custody certificate. These companies are audited regularly by independent certification bodies to ensure that they comply with the MSC Chain of Custody Standard. This requires that MSC certified seafood is only purchased from certified suppliers and is always identifiable, segregated from non-certified seafood and sold with the correct paperwork identifying it as certified. Steward Supplements is a MSC certified Chain of Custody holder.

“More than ever, consumers want to support companies that are socially and environmentally responsible, and by providing MSC certified products, Steward Supplements is achieving that desire”, said Brian Perkins, regional director for the Americas at the MSC. “Products that carry the MSC blue fish label are traceable to a sustainable source so shoppers can trust that it is good for them and good for the ocean.”

Stewards marine superfoods are comprised of an array of pro-resolving mediators, natural high levels of Vitamin A & D as well as a portfolio of omega-3 fatty acids. All the products contain no synthetic additives, with only non-GMO ingredients, and with each purchase, 1% of the proceeds go to protecting our oceans.

“Steward Supplements believes in sustainability, transparency, & quality. It is our responsibility to meet the MSC’s global standards for sustainable harvesting of marine ingredients in creating our health products. We are proud to have the MSC eco-label on all of our products,” said Tommy Little, Steward Supplements Co-Founder.

The MSC standard was established in 1997 and is the only wild caught seafood standard and ecolabeling program to meet United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UNFAO) guidelines as well as meet Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI) benchmarking criteria. The standards used to evaluate fisheries have been developed in deliberation with scientists, industry, and conservation groups, and reflect the most up-to-date fisheries science and management practices.

Pink Salmon May Benefit as Pacific Arctic Warms

September 1, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The Pacific Arctic is undergoing a rapid transformation. As temperatures rise and sea ice melts, some species will do better than others. A new study suggests that pink salmon may be one of those species.

“Our results suggest that warming is both increasing freshwater habitat and improving early marine survival of pink salmon in the northern Bering Sea,” said Ed Farley, NOAA Fisheries biologist at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center, who led the study.

The study provides insight into the response of pink salmon to climate change. The findings are valuable information for commercial and subsistence fisheries, and fishing communities, preparing for future changes.

“Subsistence harvesters would like to know what foods may be available to them now and into the future,” Farley said.

“The importance of fish in Arctic subsistence economies cannot be overstated; they are some of the most commonly eaten foods,” said coauthor Todd Sformo, biologist at the North Slope Borough Department of Wildlife Management.

“In the past on the North Slope, salmon have been used for dog food and even considered nuisance fish when interfering with preferred species such as aanaakliq or broad whitefish in the inland rivers. Recently, there seems to be a change both qualitatively and quantitatively in the use of salmon as a main dish and for smoking.

“Participating in this study allowed me to present a subsistence perspective, learn how fellow researchers measure production dynamics, and better understand how pink salmon are responding to climate warming in the northern Bering Sea. While this research is further south than the waters surrounding the North Slope, it is a beginning of our attempt to account for potential change in subsistence fishing.”

Read the full release here

Alaska’s Salmon Fisheries Confront COVID-19

September 1, 2020 — Northwest summers mean salmon on the grill. While Alaskans fill freezers with their own catch – our freezers are filled with enough salmon to last until next summer – those grilling elsewhere must buy either farm-raised salmon or wild sockeye salmon caught in Bristol Bay, Alaska.

Wild salmon return from the ocean to restart a life cycle that has persisted for millions of years. Wild Alaska sockeye (a favorite species of salmon) is caught over the course of a four- to six-week season, from mid-June through July, when the largest remaining wild salmon population returns to Bristol Bay.

These fish have been harvested by Alaska native peoples for thousands of years. Sockeye have been smoked, filleted, canned and frozen – and given, traded, sold and eaten – for generations.

Read the full story at U.S. News

A Rare Salmon Type Is in the Crosshairs of Alaska’s Proposed Pebble Mine

August 31, 2020 — The sockeye salmon that come from the Koktuli River aren’t like most other fish in Alaska’s Bristol Bay, where a thriving fishery provides nearly half of the world’s wild sockeye. These salmon represent a rare class of sockeye with unique genes and a singular life strategy that sets them apart from the millions of fish that spawn in the rivers and streams that feed into Bristol Bay. Now, Koktuli River sockeye are in the spotlight because the Pebble Mine, a copper and gold mine proposed for southwest Alaska, is slated for the water in which they live.

On Monday, August 24, the latest development arrived in the long and controversial story of the Pebble Mine. The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the agency in charge of permitting the mine, posted a letter officially informing the project’s developer, Pebble Limited Partnership (PLP), that the open-pit mine, as proposed, would “cause unavoidable adverse impacts” to the surrounding watershed, resulting in “significant degradation.”

That determination would be a death knell for the project per the Clean Water Act—unless the company takes appropriate steps to mitigate or offset the damage it will cause to more than 1,300 hectares of wetlands and nearly 300 kilometers of streams, most of which lie within the Koktuli River watershed. In recent weeks, prominent Republicans, including President Trump’s oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., and Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson, have voiced opposition to the mine, feeding speculation ahead of Monday’s letter that the administration might block or delay the project.

Read the full story at Hakai Magazine

State now has an opportunity to veto Pebble Mine. Pebble foes aren’t getting their hopes up.

August 31, 2020 — Opponents of the Pebble Mine say it’s not enough that the Army Corps of Engineers announced last week that the project, as proposed, can’t get a wetlands permit. Anti-Pebble advocates want a veto. The Environmental Protection Agency has that power. And as of this week, the state has that authority, too. But it won’t last long.

The Corps of Engineers has asked the state for a “certificate of reasonable assurance” that the Pebble Mine will comply with federal and state water quality laws. The Army Corps can’t grant Pebble’s permit if the state refuses to issue that certification.

Salmon State campaign strategist Lindsey Bloom says the state should seize the moment.

“This is the state of Alaska’s one and only opportunity in the Clean Water Act permitting process to really red-light or green-light the permit,” said Bloom, a commercial fisherman from Juneau who works on salmon conservation issues.

As she and other Pebble opponents see it, the mine can’t meet Alaska water quality standards because, according to the environmental report the Army Corps released in July, the mine and its transportation corridor would impact nearly 200 miles of streams and thousands of acres of wetlands.

Read the full story at KTOO