February 14, 2020 — The Alaska Sea Grant Program wants to remind soon-to-graduate or recently finished graduate students interested in the science and policy that applications for their 2020 state fellowship program must be in by tomorrow.
Six positions are available — Alaska Sea Grant Mariculture Fellow, NOAA Alaska Fisheries Science Center, NOAA Fisheries Alaska Region, National Park Service, North Pacific Fishery Management Council, and the United States Geological Survey.
February 14, 2020 — One week ago, the Pebble Partnership unveiled a draft plan for mitigating the potential impacts of a proposed copper and gold mine in Southwest Alaska. The company says that just under 5 square miles of wetlands would be affected, with nearly 70% of that land facing irreversible changes. To combat the side effects of opening the mine, Pebble is focusing on three strategic projects related to it’s impact on the region – which is home to the largest sockeye salmon fishery in the world.
“In our review of some other projects up here, we looked at creative ways that we could, within the watershed, improve upon upon fish habitat and water resources within the areas that we will affect,” said Mike Heatwole, a spokesperson for the Pebble Partnership.
The three specific areas that Pebble plans to address will be: Improving the water treatment facilities in Newhalen, Nondalton, & Kokhanok- Clearing roughly 7 miles of coastline on the western side of the Cook Inlet- and improving accessibility for over 8.5 miles of salmon habitat to compensate for the streams expected to be affected by the mine.
Days after the publishing of Pebble’s mitigation plans, the preliminary version of a final environmental impact statement drew criticism from multiple groups who stand in opposition to the mine. Many of these organizations feel that the ACOE has rushed the process, ignoring important data and research regarding the impacts that the mine could have on Bristol Bay’s salmon.
February 13, 2020 — A new version of a federal environmental review for the proposed Pebble mine has angered the mine’s opponents and encouraged its developer.
The Army Corps of Engineers will use the final review to decide whether to give the controversial mine a key permit it needs before it can be built.
The Corps had provided the report to several cooperating agencies involved in the review process, such as state and federal agencies and tribal governments. The Anchorage Daily News obtained an executive summary of the Corps’ preliminary final environmental review that was leaked to reporters.
The report could foreshadow what’s to come.
Tom Collier, chief executive of developer Pebble Limited Partnership, is pleased. He said the report’s release, and its major conclusions, indicate the company will see a decision in its favor by mid-2020.
February 13, 2020 — Alaska is salmon country, where fish feed our communities in every way — sustenance, work, recreation, art, faith, family, tradition and culture. For us, second- and third-generation commercial fishermen raised on Cook Inlet, salmon is a complex livelihood and identity built on all of those things.
We are proud to wield the skills our fathers taught us, and proud that we are able to venture onto an unruly ocean and return with food for our communities. That is the core purpose of commercial fishing: the movement of healthy protein from the ocean to the people.
An incredible industry has grown around it, reaching from riverbed to global marketplace. But our first duty is as local harvester, as small business owners bolstering the food security and economic stability of coastal Alaska.
In Cook Inlet, commercial fishing provides essential coastal livelihoods through hundreds of small locally-owned businesses, and thousands of jobs in the harvesting, processing and marine trades sectors. Additionally, 79% of Cook Inlet fishermen are Alaska residents.
February 13, 2020 — On Wednesday, Feb. 12, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reportedly conceded that there may be a new hurdle on the horizon for Pebble Mine permitting.
On Feb. 6, the environmental group Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit seeking Endangered Species Act protection for Lake Iliamna harbor seals, one of only two harbor seal populations living exclusively in fresh water, whose population now numbers about 400, according to the center.
“Alaska’s unique and imperiled freshwater seals need federal protection,” said Kristin Carden, a scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The Pebble Mine threatens the very survival of the Iliamna Lake seals and the fish species they depend on to survive. Even if the mine is stopped, climate change will drive these rare and beautiful animals toward extinction.”
Subsistence hunters in the region harvest lake seals. The center advises that its lawsuit would not interfere with subsistence hunting or fishing by Alaska natives. Whether it may affect commercial fisheries in Bristol Bay remains to be seen.
February 12, 2020 — As expected, the International Pacific Halibut Commission set quotas down for 2020 at its annual meeting in Anchorage last week.
Quotas for Pacific halibut will be reduced by just over 5 percent this year as a result of declining stocks. Alaska’s share of the 36.6 million pound total catch is 28.13 million pounds for all user groups. The halibut fishery will open on March 14 and close on Nov. 15.
Industry leaders predicted late in 2019 that the fishery had maxed out its value proposition and likely would not be able to expect a higher dock price to make up for a lower quota.
February 12, 2020 — Alaska lawmakers are making fast work of several fish bills that have wide support from Alaska’s fishermen.
“I was anticipating a somewhat slow start, but they’re organized and they’re diving right into these issues and taking these bills up. So there’s lots of opportunities to participate,” said Frances Leach, executive director of United Fishermen of Alaska.
The much-discussed bill (HB 35) that would resolve a conflict of interest fix at the state Board of Fisheries has been moving through committee hearings in Juneau and could finally be settled after a 14-year push.
“One of the reasons they’re chosen for that board is they may have a regional expertise or they may have a user group expertise. So we want them to be able to not vote, but participate and lend that expertise in deliberations to provide clarification to other board members who may not be as familiar with that region or fishery,” Leach said.
February 11, 2020 — The Association of Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers (GAPP) is seeking proposals for its first European Partnership Program, which are due on 15 March, according to a GAPP press release.
The European Partnership Program is an expansion of GAPP’s established North American Partnership Program. GAPP began soliciting proposals to drum up demand for Alaskan pollock in Europe after last year’s Groundfish Forum.
February 10, 2020 — Alaska’s Tongass and Chugach National Forests, which contain some of the world’s largest remaining tracts of intact temperate rainforest, contribute an average of 48 million salmon a year to the state’s commercial fishing industry, a new USDA Forest Service-led study has found. The average value of these “forest fish” when they are brought back to the dock is estimated at $88 million per year.
Led by the Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Research Station, the study used Alaska Department of Fish and Game data and fish estimates from 2007 to 2016 to quantify the number and value of Pacific salmon originating from streams, rivers, and lakes on the Tongass and Chugach, which are, respectively, the largest and second-largest national forests in the country. The study focused on five commercially important salmon species—Chinook, coho, sockeye, pink, and chum—caught primarily in four commercial salmon management areas adjacent to these two forests.
“Pacific salmon fisheries are absolutely central to Alaska’s economy and culture,” said Adelaide Johnson, a Juneau-based hydrologist with the Pacific Northwest Research Station and the study lead. “We suspected that many of the ocean-caught Pacific salmon that support the fishing industry likely began their lives in forest streams that drain the Tongass and Chugach National Forests.”
February 7, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
Women play an integral, multifaceted—and until now, largely invisible—role in Alaska fisheries. The first comprehensive study of women’s participation, incorporating gender into 30 years of existing data, shows women participate in Alaska fisheries differently than men.
“Women are really important players in Alaska’s commercial fisheries. They’re key in contributing to family adaptability and in turn to community resilience,” said Marysia Szymkowiak, the scientist who conducted the Alaska Fisheries Science Center study. “Knowing how women participate directly in fishing and within fishing families and communities is critical to predicting and understanding responses to fishery changes—from individuals, to families, all the way up to communities.”
Historically, fisheries data on participants have not included gender. Such a gender-blind approach limits our understanding of access, mobility, and empowerment issues and can actually lead to gender biases.
“Not examining fisheries participation for women and men separately implies that there are no differences between them in our fisheries. That’s a flawed assumption with potentially negative social and ecological implications if women and men participate differently—and this research shows that they do,” said Szymkowiak.
Beyond direct participation in the harvesting sector of commercial fishing, women perform many other jobs that are vital to fishing success. Women step in where needed to adapt to changing fishing and family situations. This includes shoreside employment, working on family boats, direct marketing, and engaging in the political process. This essential but “invisible” work is not captured in fisheries statistics.
“We cannot ignore the critical role that gender plays,” Szymkowiak said. “Understanding when, how, and where women fish, and what limits their participation, is essential if we are to maintain and promote community resilience in the face of huge ecological, market, and management changes in our fisheries.”