Alaska Archives - Page 244 of 280

Rubio, Murkowski Introduce Bill to Promote U.S. Shark Conservation as a Global Model of Sustainability

April 27, 2018 — WASHINGTON — The following was released by the Office of Senator Marco Rubio:

U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) introduced the Sustainable Shark Fisheries and Trade Act (S. 2764), bicameral legislation that recognizes the sustainable and economically-valuable fishing practices of U.S. shark fishermen and promotes U.S. standards for shark conservation and humane harvest. U.S. Representative Daniel Webster (R-FL) has introduced similar legislation (H.R. 5248) in the House.

“Sharks play an important role in maintaining the health of the ocean ecosystems for which Florida is known for,” said Senator Rubio. “Sharks are already sustainably and humanely harvested in federal waters per U.S. law, providing sustained economic benefits to coastal communities through fishing, trade, and tourism. This bill will help promote those same standards for sustainable and humane shark harvesting among our global trade partners as well. This bill protects international shark populations as well as the fishermen in Florida and throughout the U.S. who continue to fish by the rules.”

“While the practice of shark finning is already banned in U.S. waters, we do have a small population of fishermen who legally harvest whole sharks for their meat, oil, and other products,” said Senator Murkowski. “This legislation sets a strong policy example for global nations that wish to prevent shark finning in their waters, while respecting the cultures of communities that rely on subsistence, protecting the rights of American fisherman that operate in the legal shark fisheries, and supporting the efforts of shark conservationists. Together, we can find solutions to protect our fisheries, our communities, and our marine ecosystems, worldwide.”

“Fishing is a long-standing profession and treasured American pastime,” said Representative Webster. “We must pursue conservation, while balancing the needs of the industry and recreation. This bill recognizes the sacrifices American fishermen have made to rebuild and sustain our shark populations. It encourages other nations wishing to export shark products to the United States to adhere to the same high standards for conservation and management.”

Specifically the Sustainable Shark Fisheries and Trade Act would:

Create a shark conservation and trade fairness certification for nations wishing to import shark products to the U.S.;
Prohibit the importation of shark products originating from any nation without a certification, and the possession of such products in the U.S. with limited exceptions for law enforcement, subsistence harvest, education, conservation, or scientific research;
Update the High Seas Driftnet Fishing Moratorium Protection Act to reflect the U.S. commitment to promote international agreements that encourage the adoption of shark conservation and management measures and measures to prevent shark finning that are consistent with the International Plan of Action for Conservation and Management of Sharks;
Direct the Secretary of Commerce to include rays and skates into the seafood traceability program to ensure that shark products are not smuggled into the U.S. falsely labeled as rays and skates, two closely related groups.

View the release in its entirety here.

North Pacific Fishery Management Council June Agenda

April 26, 2018 — The following was released by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council:

The Council will meet June 4-11, 2018 at the Best Western Convention Center in Kodiak, Alaska. The Agenda and Schedule are available, as well as the list of documents for review. Public comments on all agenda items will be accepted until 12 noon (Alaska time) on Friday, June 1, 2018.

Other meeting information follows:

Submit and review comments at comments.npfmc.org
Public comment deadline is June 1, 2018 at 12 noon (AST)
Alaska Airlines discount code: ECMZ244

IFQ Outreach Meeting

The Council will hold a public outreach session concurrent with its June 2018 meeting in Kodiak, Alaska. The session will be Tuesday, June 5, from 5:00-6:30 pm in the Pavilion Room, and will provide an open forum for stakeholders to give insight on the present state of the halibut and sablefish IFQ Program and provide direction for future actions that might be considered by the Council and its IFQ Committee. The Council is particularly seeking input on issues related to entry level opportunities and rural participation in the fishery.

More Information is available here

Alaska: Cook Inlet bait herring and smelt net big payouts for few participants

April 25, 2018 — Two commercial fisheries open each spring at Upper Cook Inlet that attract little notice and few participants, but each pays big bucks to fishermen.

The first is a food and bait herring fishery that runs from April 20 through the end of May. The 150-ton quota is small compared to most of Alaska’s other herring fisheries, but the payout is far higher than all others.

“They get $1.00 to $1.50 a pound, or $2,000 to $3,000 for a short ton, and the herring goes primarily into the halibut commercial bait fishery or the sport bait fishery,” said Pat Shields, regional manager for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Soldotna.

In contrast, the statewide average price for roe herring at places like Sitka, Kodiak or Togiak is just 12 cents a pound, and fishermen make between $100 to $350 a ton.

The Cook Inlet herring fishery serves a small, local market provided by 10 to 20 fishermen. The fish is captured in gillnets by 10 to 20 salmon setnet fishermen who are trying to get some money to start the season, Shields explained. The herring are frozen and sold throughout the year and the demand far exceeds the supply.

Shields speculates the price is so high because there are so few bait herring fisheries in the state — two in Southeast, one at Kodiak and Dutch Harbor.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Making a better “hot dog of the sea”

April 24, 2018 — When people think of Alaska seafood, salmon and halibut come to mind. But the state also produces a lesser-known fish product sought after all around the world: surimi, the base for imitation crab.

Now the guy who helped establish surimi in America — more than 30 years ago — is on a mission to improve how it’s made.

Tyre Lanier is a food scientist at at North Carolina State University, where he’s been since the 1970s. He has a background in the science of hot dogs.

So, working on seafood initially was a bit of a stretch for him.

“I started off trying to make hot dogs out of fish believe it or not,” Lanier said. “Then I heard about surimi.”

Or as Lanier refers to it, “the hot dog of sea.”

For thousands of years, surimi seafood has been part of Japanese cuisine. Sometimes referred to as kamaboko, it comes in a variety of flavors and shapes.

Read the full story at Alaska Public Radio

Alaska: Pebble protesters rally in Anchorage as Army Corps gets input on environmental review

April 20, 2018 — A crowd of 200 people or more rallied outside a convention center in Anchorage Thursday to protest the Pebble copper and gold prospect and what some said was an attempt by federal regulators to silence them.

The demonstration was held outside the Dena’ina Center. Inside, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers took public input on what areas to consider in its environmental review of the project, such as air quality, salmon habitat or noise levels.

A Corps official said the agency’s goal was taking as much input as possible, not silencing critics of the proposal.

The gathering was the biggest protest against the project since developer Pebble Limited Partnership filed a plan with the Corps in December in hope of one day receiving permission to build the mine.

“Wrong mine! Wrong place,” the throng shouted between speakers, echoing the words on many of the blue T-shirts handed out by Save Bristol Bay, a consortium of groups opposed to the mine.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

Bristol Bay advocates argue against Pebble in D.C.

April 20, 2018 — WASHINGTON — Anti-mine advocates with the Bristol Bay Native Corp. made the rounds in Washington, D.C., this week to get a word in with regulators and lawmakers about the ongoing permit process for the proposed Pebble Mine.

The visit came as the a round of public events wrapped up in Anchorage Thursday.

The group’s members said that they aren’t happy with the way the Army Corps of Engineers is running the show, but that they have confidence that the Environmental Protection Agency and Alaska’s congressional delegation will help them stand in the way of the potential gold, copper and molybdenum mine that they worry will poison headwaters of the Bristol Bay salmon fisheries.

The will-they-or-won’t-they saga of the Pebble prospect has run on for more than a decade, with no sign of a permit application until December. Now the anti-Pebble advocates, including Bristol Bay salmon fishermen and a slew of environmental groups, are arguing that the process is going to fast.

The Trump administration’s EPA Administrator, Scott Pruitt, initially balked at a watershed assessment crafted under the Obama administration, but put the decision-making document back on the table earlier this year.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

Alaska: Herring jobs attract lots of workers

April 19, 2018 — Business was brisk at the Alaska Department of Labor’s Anchorage Midtown Job Center as recruiters from North Pacific Seafoods interviewed sought to hire workers for the upcoming herring season.

There just seem to be more people looking for these jobs this year, said Steve Lee, assistant plant manager at Pederson Point in Bristol Bay.

By the time North Pacific Seafoods completed its recruitment effort on April 18, Lee estimated they would have interviewed about 140 applicants for the 150 to 160 jobs at the Pederson Point plant, just north of Naknek on Bristol Bay. Half of those jobs will be filled by folks who worked the previous season and said “yes” to letters from the company inviting them to return for the 2018 season.

While the herring in the Togiak fishery were holding offshore, waiting out wind and rain hitting western Alaska, biologists at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Dillingham were hopeful that things would improve over the coming week, and Lee was sure his plant would be ready.

Read the full story at the Cordova Times

Matching grants open for sustainable groundfish projects

April 17, 2018 — The New England groundish fishery is one of the priority targets of a new grants program by the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation to promote innovation in sustainable fisheries. through “effective participation by fishermen and fishing communities.”

The Fisheries Innovation Fund program, funded by NOAA and three private foundations, is set to award up to $950,000 nationally. Most of the grants are anticipated to fall within the range of $50,000 to $100,000.

The program, however, noted that priority for funding will be given to projects in one of four local fisheries — New England groundfish, West Coast groundfish, Gulf of Mexico reef fish and Gulf of Alaska halibut and groundfish.

The grants will require 100 percent matching funds from recipients. The NFWF said in its announcement that eligible recipients include non-profits, state government agencies, municipal governments, educational institutions and individual businesses.

To date, according to NFWF spokesman Rob Blumenthal, the Fisheries Innovation Fund “has awarded grants totaling over $20.3 million to 127 projects across 26 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.”

Those awards generated more than $22.5 million in matching funds from recipients “for a total conservation impact of $42.8 million.”

The three foundations joining NOAA in providing the overall funding include two with strong ties to environmental and conservation groups — the Kingfisher Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation — as well as the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation of Palo Alto, California, started by the founder of Intel.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

Alaska salmon permit values stall amid lackluster catch forecast

April 17, 2018 — Spring is usually the busiest time of year for brokers in the buy/sell/trade business for Alaska salmon permits. But that’s not the case this year.

Values for several salmon permits had ticked upwards after a blockbuster salmon fishery in 2017, but they have remained stagnant since last fall.

“That sort of summarizes the salmon permit market. There is not a lot of excitement about any of them,” said Doug Bowen of Alaska Boats and Permits in Homer.

A lackluster catch forecast for the upcoming salmon season — down 34 percent — has helped dampen enthusiasm.

Even at the one big bright spot at Bristol Bay, where another big sockeye catch of more than 37 million fish is expected, the value of drift net permits has stalled in the $150,000 range.

“Sometimes before the season we see the price go up and up until the fishing begins. This year it just seems like it’s a calmer market and the price actually slipped,” Bowen said.

Also at play in the bay: Major buyers will no longer purchase salmon from “dry” boats starting this year.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

Feds allowing fishermen to catch more skates

April 12, 2018 — Federal fishing regulators are allowing fishermen to harvest more skates, which are caught on both coasts for use as food and bait.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says it’s increasing the per-trip possession limit for skate wing from 500 pounds to 4,100 pounds until April 30. The change went into effect on April 9.

Some states, including barndoor, thorny and smooth skates, are prohibited from commercial harvesting because of concerns about population status.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Gloucester Times