Saving Seafood

ALASKA: Pebble backs lawsuit to halt Bristol Bay seafood association’s funding for anti-mine groups

April 9, 2019 — Six Bristol Bay commercial fishermen are suing a regional seafood association they belong to, challenging over $250,000 in contracts it made with groups that advocate against the proposed Pebble Mine.

The Pebble Limited Partnership confirmed it is paying for the litigation.

The plaintiffs — Trefim Andrew, Tim Anelon, Gary Nielsen, Henry Olympic, Abe Williams and Braden Williams — are challenging the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association’s recent contracts with SalmonState and the United Tribes of Bristol Bay. Both SalmonState and UTBB are ardent Pebble opponents.

In their complaint, the plaintiffs allege the lawsuit is justified because BBRSDA can only use its funding to market seafood, based on the state statute that allowed for its creation.

BBRDSA leaders said they believe the lawsuit is designed to limit their participation in the ongoing federal public comment period for the proposed Pebble Mine.

“Consumers choose to pay more for wild sockeye salmon because it’s a healthy, abundant, premium wild salmon species from a pristine and unspoiled environment,” BBRSDA executive director Andy Wink said in a statement. “The Pebble Mine could jeopardize that, and at the very least we believe it’s important to engage in the permitting process so that if the mine does proceed, it’s built with adequate safeguards for fisherman, residents, and sockeye consumers.”

BBRDSA characterized its contracts with SalmonState and UTBB as funding for “educational efforts.”

Read the full story at KTOO

ALASKA: North Pacific Council Restricts Motherships in Bering Sea Trawl Cod Fishery

April 8, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — In a final action that was described as “too fast” and “incomplete” by critics and “difficult and very tough” by members of the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council, the panel reduced the number of vessels that can act as motherships in the Bering Sea trawl cod fishery to only two: the Seafreeze Alaska owned by United States Seafood and the Katie Ann owned by American Seafoods.

The move left several vessels locked out of providing mothership services, including at least four that have established histories of taking trawl cod deliveries for several years in both the Bering Sea and the Aleutian Islands.

The final action, expected to be implemented next year, was in response to a shift from shoreside to offshore deliveries of trawl-caught cod in recent years. In 2016, about three percent of the target cod fishery was delivered to offshore motherships. In 2017, that percentage grew to almost 13%, then last year was over 18%. In this year’s A season, the shortest season on record, about 29% of the BSAI trawl cod TAC was delivered offshore. The increased offshore deliveries at the expense of the shore-based plant deliveries was done during a time of decreasing catches.

This week’s action on restricting mothership operations for trawl cod was done in possibly record time for the council. From their first action on this issue in December of 2017 to yesterday’s final action was ten days short of just 16 months.

There is more on the Council’s plate for Bering Sea and Aleutian Island trawl cod. The ‘race for fish’ that has compressed season lengths for both the A season and B season to record periods — this year’s B season lasted one day — is prompting a restructuring that will be addressed at the Council’s meeting in Homer, AK in October. The Council will review a scoping paper at that meeting that will look at options for rationalizing the fishery.

Another critical issue is Amendment 113, recently vacated by court order, which created a 5,000 mt cod set aside for the Adak shoreplant. The rule is no longer in place and the Department of Commerce says they will not appeal. NOAA Fisheries will need to address the issues noted in the judge’s decision before Golden Harvest, the plant in Adak, will have the protection of a set aside.

The Council’s recent action was welcomed by Golden Harvest spokesman Steve Minor.

“In Adak, Golden Harvest has invested millions of dollars rebuilding and updating the plant, rehabilitated more than 40 community housing units, and as recently as December, committed to the State of Alaska to rebuild the outfall and build a new $6 million fish meal plant, not as a profitable investment but to address serious issues inherited form previous operators.

“All of these investments are now at risk because of the Groundfish Forum members’ efforts through the courts and this process to use the money, excess capacity, and leverage they gained under Amendment 80 to take Pacific cod away from Alaska’s coastal communities.

“We believe there are two mothership operations — and only two — which have participated both pre-2008 and on a continued, sustained basis in the Aleutian Islands, and we therefore support Alternative 2, Option 1, suboption 1.3 and Option 2.”

The motion was made by the state of Alaska’s council member Rachel Baker, Deputy Commissioner of Alaska Department of Fish and Game, and was passed by a 10-1 vote.

This story was originally published on Seafood News.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

ALASKA: At Iliamna Lake hearings, residents speak out on Pebble Mine

April 8, 2019 — Situated in Southwest Alaska, Lake Iliamna is renowned for its pure water, freshwater seals and fish. Now it is the center of one of the most contentious debates in the state.

The Pebble Mine would sit 17 miles north of the lake. It would tap into large deposits of copper, gold and molybdenum. And it would operate at the headwaters of the largest sockeye salmon run in the world. For some, this spells disaster for that habitat and residents’ traditional way of life. But others say it is a chance at renewed economic vitality.

In Kokhanok, around 50 people attended the meeting on Pebble Mine, though far fewer testified. Marlene Nielsen was one of those who spoke in support of the mine proposal.

“What do we have here?” Nielsen asked. “The village council that only has five, six jobs. The school that only has maybe two or three aides. And the store, maybe two. That’s not very much economy here. We need something going here for our kids. But we also need to make sure it’s safe.”

Across the lake in Iliamna, Chasity Anelon shares those concerns. She has worked as an operations coordinator for the Pebble Project for the past 10 years.

“So I’ve lived in Iliamna all my life. I have a daughter and, you know, I choose to live here. This is my home, this is where I want to be. And I am able to live here because I have a job,” Anelon said.

Read the full story at KTOO

Fight renewed over Pebble Mine in Bristol Bay, Alaska

April 5, 2019 — Opposition is growing to a renewed effort to launch a massive mining project near Bristol Bay, Alaska, home to the world’s largest sockeye salmon run.

Mining conglomerate Pebble Limited Partnership applied for a permit in December 2017 for an open pit copper, gold, and molybdenum mine that would sit near critical headwaters that feed the Bristol Bay fishery. Opponents say the Pebble Mine would undermine the area’s pristine habitat – a calling card of the Bristol Bay brand – and that a tailings dam failure could prove catastrophic to the fishery. The most recent public opinion poll by the BBNC shows 58 percent of Alaskans oppose the mine, with 33 percent supporting it.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on 20 February, 2019, but the wide-ranging opposition in Alaska and beyond has lambasted the document.

“People around here understand on a very visceral level the importance of fisheries in general and Bristol Bay in particular. Commercial fishermen, sport fishermen, tribal entities that are interested in subsistence, biologists; we’re not always aligned, but we’re certainly aligned on this particular issue,” said Daniel Cheyenne, the vice president of lands and natural resources for the Bristol Bay Native Corporation (BBNC).

Norm Van Vactor, the CEO of the Bristol Bay Economic Development Corporation, said the EIS is incomplete.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Alaska’s Salmon Forecasts for 2019 are Up By 85% Over Last Year as Pinks, Chums Rebound

April 3, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s salmon harvest forecast for the season is 213.2 million fish, some 97.5 million more than last year’s landings of 116 million salmon. The forecast was released late last week.

The increase is mostly due to larger harvests of pink and chum salmon compared to 2018. Harvest levels include:

112,000 Chinook salmon outside Southeast Alaska, 41.7 million sockeye, 4.6 million coho, 137.8 million pink, and 29.0 million chum salmon.

Odd-year returns of pink salmon have traditionally been higher than even-year returns, and this year is no exception. What is different, though, is the high uncertainty attached to this pink forecast, which is almost 100 million more pinks than 2018.

“We note that—except for Southeast Alaska—pink salmon forecasts are generally based on average returns from previous brood years,” notes management biologists who produced the report released last week. “The pink salmon run forecast for 2019 is partly an artifact of this method; there is a great deal of uncertainty in predicting pink salmon returns,” they wrote.

Compared to last year, there will be 8.9 million fewer sockeye or red salmon; 900,000 more coho salmon, and 8.7 million more chum salmon.

If realized, the projected commercial chum salmon harvest would be the largest on record for Alaska.

The phenomenal success in recent years of chum salmon returns in Southeast, Prince William Sound, Norton Sound, and Southcentral Alaska appears now to be a trend.

Very low expected harvests of pink salmon in Southeast Alaska may be offset by higher projected harvests in Prince William Sound. The point estimate for landings of pink salmon in SE Alaska is 18 million. In Prince William Sound nearly 11 million wild pinks and 22 million hatchery pinks are expected to be harvested with another several million coming from the Valdez Fisheries Development Assn.

Sockeye harvest in the Copper River, scheduled to begin in May, are expected to be just under 1 million fish, at 955,000 sockeye. Those red salmon will be augmented by a bumper year at the Coghill River weir of nearly half a million sockeyes, much larger than historical averages.

A modest 3 million sockeyes are expected to be harvested this year in the Upper Cook Inlet.

Kitoi Bay pink harvest is projected at 6.6 million fish.

A total of 40.18 million sockeye salmon are expected to return to Bristol Bay in 2019. This is 10% smaller than the most recent 10-year average of Bristol Bay total runs (44.4 million), and 16% greater than the long-term (1963–2018) average of 34.2 million.

The run forecast for each district and landings prediction is as follows:

Run: 16.12 million to Naknek-Kvichak District (6.95 million to the Kvichak river, 3.97 million to the Alagnak river, and 5.21 million to the Naknek river) for a projected harvest of 7.84 million sockeyes;
9.07 million to the Egegik District with harvest projections up to 7.04 million reds;
3.46 million to the Ugashik District or harvest prediction of 2.38 million;
10.38 million to the Nushagak District (4.62 million to the Wood river, 4.18 million to the Nushagak river, and 1.58 million to the Igushik river) and a total harvest prediction of 7.97 million reds; and
1.15 million to the Togiak District which translates to 870,000 reds.

This story originally appeared on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

ALASKA: Pushing back on Pebble: Scientific community and Bristol Bay leaders offer testimony

April 3, 2019 — Nobody was fooling at the Alaska State House Resources Committee hearing on Monday, April 1, to address concerns about the proposed plan for Pebble Mine in Bristol Bay.

“If Pebble goes in, the Bristol Bay Sockeye brand and the entire Alaska Seafood brand will be tarnished,” said Norm Van Vactor, CEO of the Bristol Bay Economic Development Corporation. “The state of Alaska has invested millions into building these brands and establishing Alaska as a premium brand in the marketplace. That brand is based on pristine habitat, sustainability, and high quality, not open-pit mining districts and acid mine drainage.”

Bristol Bay residents, fisheries leaders and scientific experts offered testimony about a range of inadequacies in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers draft Environmental Impact Statement, as well as the economic, social and environmental value of Bristol Bay’s salmon watersheds that would be at risk under the proposed plan.

“They did not assess the risk appropriately. The draft Environmental Impact Statement is misleading about the probability of a [catastrophic tailings dam]failure,” said Dr. Cameron Wobus, a senior scientist at Lynker Technologies who authored a report on tailings dam failure scenarios.

The draft’s 20-year time line, scientists say, is too short to evaluate the long-term risks. A 100-year analysis would have been more transparent, because the tailings dam has a 1 in 5 chance of failing over a century.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

 

EPA, Alaska seek to relax water pollution rules

April 3, 2019 — The Trump administration is quietly reviving a long-stalled effort by state regulators to loosen pollution standards where fish spawn. The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation proposed the rule change more than a decade ago to change how it enforces the federal Clean Water Act.

After a dozen-year hiatus, it’s making its way through the Environmental Protection Agency’s rule-making process. But opponents warn if the EPA gives the 2006 “mixing zone” rule the thumbs-up, it could help pave the way for controversial projects like Pebble Mine.

The Clean Water Act is the primary tool used by the feds to regulate water pollution. Industry often argues these standards are difficult to meet.

“Alaska’s a beautiful, pristine place, and there is no pollution and certainly the background water quality is excellent,” said Frank Bergstrom, an Alaska mining consultant with 40 years of experience. “So if you follow the Clean Water Act to the detail, you pretty much have to discharge distilled water.”

That’s overstating the state’s water quality standards. Basically the limits are designed to prevent water bodies from being degraded. But years ago, Alaska and other states took the industry’s view in mind when it came up with “mixing zones.” This compromise allows things like wastewater plants, mines and oil refineries to exceed water pollution standards in designated areas.

Read and listen to the full story at KTOO

Coastal communities fight for Alaska’s fish tax

April 3, 2019 — Bills submitted to the Legislature by the governor would remove the ability of towns to keep their share of local fisheries business and landing taxes. For decades, the taxes have been split 50/50 with the state.

Dunleavy has proposed taking all of the funds for state coffers, meaning a combined loss of $29 million to fishing towns come October.

More than 20 mayors, financial officers, harbormasters and fishermen testified at the committee hearing, outlining how the tax grab would devastate coastal Alaska.

“Fisheries is our only industry, and fish tax revenues make up 26 percent of our $31 million general fund revenues, over $8 million annually. We use fish and sales taxes to pay our own way,” said Frank Kelty, mayor of Unalaska/Dutch Harbor, the nation’s top fishing port for over two decades. “If the state takes away the share of fish taxes, who will step up to assist communities across Alaska with projects needed to support the seafood industry, which is the economic engine of all fishery dependent communities?”

Jon Erickson, Yakutat City/Borough manager, said the loss would likely close down the community’s lone fish plant.

“What part of shutting down rural Alaska equates to Alaska is open for business?” he asked, quoting the governor’s new motto for the state.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

 

ALASKA: Scientists: Pebble Mine study doesn’t account for all risks

April 2, 2019 — Representatives have been grappling with the a proposal to develop a mine near Bristol Bay.

As a part of the wider discussion, the House Resources committee heard Monday from a group of scientists and advocates who disagree with the Pebble Mine project which proposes developing the Pebble copper-­gold­-molybdenum porphyry deposit (Pebble Deposit) in southwest Alaska as an open-pit mine, with associated infrastructure.

A group of scientists and Bristol Bay residents held a press conference, detailing concerns with the draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) released by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in February. Some critics have said the 90-day comment period for this DEIS is not long enough, considering the length of the document.

The chief concerns were that the DEIS used too short of a time frame to associate the risks of the mine, it used an inappropriate fish habitat assessment, cumulative risks were essentially ignored, there was very little mention of long-term risks associated with climate change and that it used selective use of scientific literature when backing up claims.

Read the full story at the Juneau Empire

USDA seeking even more Alaska pollock

April 2, 2019 — Soon after announcing its multimillion-dollar purchase of Alaska pollock from several key North American suppliers, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is seeking more of the frozen fish.

In a 29 March bid notice, the USDA said it’s looking to buy 646,000 pounds of frozen Alaska pollock fish sticks for the National School Lunch Program and other Federal Food and Nutrition Assistance Programs.

Trident Seafoods, High Liner Foods, and Channel Fish are the beneficiaries of the USDA’s March purchase of nearly USD 28.1 million (EUR 25 million) worth of frozen Alaska pollock.

Read the full story at Seafood Source