August 12, 2019 — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency changed its position on the Pebble Mine project after Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy met with President Donald Trump, according to a CNN report.
Although the EPA’s decision not to oppose the mining project was made public on 30 July, staff scientists at the agency learned of the decision a month before, soon after the meeting. Dunleavy met with Trump while Air Force One was in Alaska on 26 June on the way to the G20 summit in Japan.
August 8, 2019 — It’s been one year, so how’s that trade war with China working out for the nation’s seafood industry?
As with farmers, there’s not much winning and ongoing tweeted skirmishes have global fish markets skittish.
The quick take is the 25 percent retaliatory tariff imposed by China on U.S. imports last July caused a 36 percent drop in U.S. seafood sales, valued at $340 million, according to an in-depth analysis of Chinese customs data by Undercurrent News.
“Chinese imports of US seafood fell from $1.3 billion in the 12 months prior to tariffs (July 1, 2017-June 30, 2018), to $969 million in the 12 months after (July 1, 2018-June 30, 2019), underlining the heavy impact of weaker demand for U.S. seafood subject to tariffs, while poor catch of U.S. wild-caught seafood was also to blame,” the News wrote.
August 7, 2019 — It’s been one year, so how’s that trade war with China working out for the nation’s seafood industry?
As with farmers, there’s not much winning, and ongoing tweeted skirmishes have global fish markets skittish.
The quick take is the 25 percent retaliatory tariff imposed by China on US imports last July caused a 36 percent drop in US seafood sales, valued at $340 million, according to an in-depth analysis of Chinese customs data by Undercurrent News.
“Chinese imports of US seafood fell from $1.3 billion in the 12 months prior to tariffs (July 1, 2017-June 30, 2018), to $969m in the twelve months after (July 1, 2018-June 30, 2019), underlining the heavy impact of weaker demand for US seafood subject to tariffs, while poor catch of US wild-caught seafood was also to blame,” the News wrote.
August 1, 2019 — The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will withdraw protections implemented by in 2014 under the Clean Water Act that could have posed a hurdle to the proposed Pebble Mine development, which many salmon harvesters say threatens Alaska’s Bristol Bay fishery.
The EPA said in a July 30 statement that it will withdraw section Clean Water Act 404(c) provisions that would have restricted the use of “certain waters in the South Fork Koktuli River, North Fork Koktuli River, and Upper Talarik Creek watersheds in southwest Alaska as disposal sites for dredged or fill material”.
Under the administration of president Barack Obama, the EPA implemented the provisions in 2014. Three years later after the election of president Donald Trump, the agency’s then-head, Scott Pruitt, began the process to withdraw the protections. However, following an investigative report from CNN that claimed that Pruitt made the decision to withdraw the protections only an hour after meeting with the CEO of mine developer Pebble Limited Partnership, Tom Collier, Pruitt stopped the withdrawal process.
August 1, 2019 — The merger of the two largest US Pacific cod longline catching companies is under review by the US Department of Justice (DOJ), sources familiar with the deal told Undercurrent News.
If the DOJ approves the merger, the combined company will be renamed Blue North Clipper (BNC) and then, around 30 days later, acquired by the Bristol Bay Native Corporation (BBNC), the sources said. BBNC is set to take 75% of BNC, with the existing shareholders of both companies owning the rest.
It’s thought BNC will be relocated to the offices of Clipper, which is seen as being the driver of the deal, they said. It’s also thought Dave Little, the main shareholder in Clipper, will ultimately head up the combined company. Patrick and Michael Burns, the brothers who founded Blue North, will also remain involved, sources said.
July 30, 2019 — Sockeye salmon continue to pour into the Kenai River, where biologists have increased personal use fishing hours and sport bag limits to deal with the flood of fish.
On Friday, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game issued emergency orders allowing personal use fishermen more fishing time at the mouth of the river and increasing the sport limit to six fish per day downstream of Skilak Lake as the river’s escapement approached 1 million sockeye.
Nearly 100,000 fish were counted past the department’s sonar site at river mile 19 on both Saturday and Sunday, capping a week that saw more than half a million sockeye swim upriver.
As of Saturday night, dipnetting is now allowed 24 hours a day in the open area at the mouth of the Kenai River. The personal use fishery is open to Alaska residents only with a valid sportfishing license and personal use permit. The fishery runs through Wednesday.
July 29, 2019 — There is a lot of worry and speculation about hot weather affecting sockeye runs on the east side of Bristol Bay this summer. But despite some of the hottest air and water temperatures on record, every district is meeting — or exceeding — expectations, both for escapement and harvest.
As the water temperature trends continue to rise over the years, the question at the fore is how warming water will impact salmon health, and whether it shapes the runs from year to year.
Jerri Bartholomew, Director of the Aquatic Animal Health Laboratory at Oregon State University, set the baseline for a discussion on the long-term effects of heat on salmon.
“When you try and predict what’s going to happen in an ecosystem, things just get complicated,” she said.
Trying to peer into the future of Bristol Bay salmon is a bit of a shot in the dark. Without actual data, it’s a lot of guesswork: trying to find places with ecosystems similar to the bay, then extrapolating conclusions based on what we already know.
Still, there are three pressing questions when it comes to salmon in warmer waters.
The first, basic question, is how temperature affects the fish — in both the short and long term.
July 25, 2019 — As any commercial fisherman knows, fishing is a risky business. Fluctuations in markets, regulations, fish populations and the weather — not to mention the climate’s growing volatility — can result in fluctuating income that can threaten a fisherman’s livelihood.
Buffering against these fluctuations might mean taking a page from another risky business: the stock market.
A growing body of research is showing that, in most cases, fishermen are more likely to have stable year-to-year incomes if they diversify their fishing portfolios, much like an investor would diversify a stock portfolio, giving them a safety net to weather whatever the year brings.
“It can really pay for fishermen to diversify,” said Anne Beaudreau, a fisheries professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
But there’s a surprising and troubling hitch to the promise of diversification. Alaskan fishermen are trending in a different direction — fewer people are fishing, and they are fishing fewer types of fish.
July 24, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
Thanks to recent technological advances in computer processing hardware, machine vision cameras, and open source software tools, fishery researchers at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center are now taking the next steps in developing electronic monitoring systems and image processing applications that would automate data collection from images captured onboard vessels. Eventually, the goal of real-time image processing is to support scientific data that provide greater certainty in managing ocean resources and sustainable fishing practices.
In 2018, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council and NOAA Fisheries implemented an electronic monitoring program to provide a monitoring alternative for longline vessels, where accommodating an observer can be logistically difficult.
“This program’s integration of electronic monitoring data directly into the catch estimation data stream marked a milestone,” explains Farron Wallace, former senior research fisheries biologist at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center and now director of the Southeast Fisheries Science Center Galveston Laboratory. “However, the systems are not yet able to collect detailed data on individual fish length and weight as an observer does—data that are critical to support stock assessment modelling and catch estimation.”
Additionally, although useable observer data in the North Pacific are either uploaded to a database several times daily via satellite or uploaded at the end of a trip, vessels using electronic monitoring systems store imagery on hard drives, which are then mailed after the trip to video reviewers who process and extract key information. This time-consuming procedure can significantly delay data upload, a concern when data timeliness is essential for fisheries management—particularly for those management programs that have prohibited species catch limits, maximum retainable allowances, or other in-season quota restrictions.
July 24, 2019 — Glenn Reed is retiring after more than 20 years as president of the Pacific Seafood Processors Association, a nonprofit trade association representing seafood processing companies.
Reed’s retirement will become effective at the end of 2019, with the PSPA announcing on 22 July that Christopher Barrows, a 25-year veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard, will become the organization’s new president beginning 15 August.
“I am honored to be selected by PSPA to carry forward these important messages. I enjoyed my time in the U.S. Coast Guard patrolling the waters off Alaska and in the North Pacific Ocean as well as living in Juneau and traveling throughout Alaska to coordinate Coast Guard activities and develop lasting partnerships,” Barrows said in a press release. “I look forward to the opportunity to address future challenges facing the industry as well as to help ensure the continued sustainable management of fisheries resources.”
Barrows represented the United States Coast Guard as part of the North Pacific Anadromous Fisheries Commission, the International Pacific Halibut Commission, the North Pacific Fisheries Commission, the U.S.-Russia Intergovernmental Consultative Committee on Fisheries, the U.S.-Canada Bilateral meetings on Ocean and Fisheries, the United Nations’ Consultative Process on the Oceans and the Law of the Sea, and in meetings of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Barrows has a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and a master’s degree in marine affairs from the University of Rhode Island. Once he assumes the presidency, he will be based in Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.