Saving Seafood

Appeals court upholds Alaska salmon fishery operations

August 20, 2024 — A federal appeals court ruled Friday that an Alaska salmon fishery can continue operation despite environmentalists’ concerns about its affect on killer whale populations.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court decision that had threatened to halt fishing at Alaska’s Southeast troll salmon fishery. Wild Fish Conservancy, a conservationist group based in Washington state, sued to stop fishery operations in 2020 on the grounds that fishing for Chinook salmon was depleting a primary food source for endangered Southern Resident killer whales.

The Conservancy argued that NOAA Fisheries, which oversees the troll salmon fishery, violated the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act while drafting a 2019 biological opinion about fishing’s impact on the endangered killer whales. U.S. District Judge Richard Jones sided with the conservationists and ordered the fishery to be at least temporarily shuttered in May 2023, but a stay by the 9th Circuit kept the fishery open.

Read the full article at E&E News

US appeals court allows Alaska fishery to remain open

August 19, 2024 — A federal appeals court on Friday reversed a judge’s decision that would have effectively shuttered an Alaska salmon fishery, a result environmentalists sought in order to protect endangered whales and threatened wild Chinook salmon populations.

A three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held, opens new tab that a judge in Seattle last year abused his discretion by vacating a key authorization issued by the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Services for the fishery’s summer and winter Chinook salmon harvests.

U.S. District Judge Richard Jones at the urging of the Wild Fish Conservancy had in May 2023 vacated part of a so-called incidental take statement the fisheries service issued in 2019 that authorized the commercial Chinook salmon troll fishery in southeast Alaska.

He did so after finding it violated the Endangered Species Act by failing to adequately provide a plan to mitigate impacts from commercial fishing on threatened wild Chinook salmon and endangered southern resident orca that depend on them for food off the coasts of Washington, Oregon and Canada.

Read the full article at Reuters

Alaska Trollers Association gets legal victory, awaits updated NMFS king salmon biological opinion

August 19, 2024 — The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has handed a victory to the Alaska Trollers Association (ATA) by reversing a lower court’s ruling that found commercial chinook salmon fishing in Southeast Alaska endangered southern resident killer whales.

In May 2023, at the bequest of the environmental nonprofit Wild Fish Conservancy, a U.S. federal judge ruled the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) must remake its management plan for king salmon, finding NFMS did not adequately analyze the fishery’s impact on the southern resident killer whale population in the U.S. state of Washington.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

9th Circuit Appeals Court lifts lower court ruling ordering closure of Southeast Alaska king salmon troll fishery

August 19, 2024 — A controversial 2023 court ruling ordering the closure of commercial trolling for king salmon, or chinook, in Southeast Alaska has been lifted.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on August 16 partially reversed a lower court ruling stemming from a lawsuit brought by a Washington state conservation group hoping to protect an endangered population of killer whales. The panel of three judges decided that shutting down the fishery is the wrong prescription for the whales’ survival.

When judges Mark Bennett, Anthony Johnstone, and Milan Smith Jr. heard oral arguments for the case on July 18, they expressed sympathy for the Southeast communities that would suffer severe economic consequences from losing the fishery. The judges’ August 16 decision echoes that sentiment, saying that the initial ruling “glossed over significant economic consequences, as well as the downstream social and cultural harms to fishing villages and Alaska Natives.”

The court’s action wasn’t entirely unexpected. Last year the panel ordered a stay of the lower court ruling just eleven days before the start of the July 1 summer troll season, and fishing took place as usual. Nevertheless, the lower court ruling had not been vacated, leaving the future of the fishery in doubt.

Read the full article at KFSK

Warming rivers and over-fishing leave native Alaskans facing ‘salmon scarcity’

August 13, 2024 — As the Earth’s rivers warm, salmon must either struggle to survive in a degraded habitat or move to cooler waters – but native Alaskan fishing practices are helping protect them.

Ocean heatwaves have been well documented in recent years. Now, scientists say river temperatures, too, are soaring – leaving Alaska’s world-famous salmon to navigate increasingly challenging waters as they struggle to complete their migratory cycle. When circumstances deteriorate, migrating fish are often forced to keep moving until they find cooler water. Now, changes in salmon populations are already affecting the culture and lifestyle of many coastal native tribes, a connection that goes back thousands of years.

Salmon are anadromous fish, meaning they spend parts of their lives in different habitats. Alaska’s rivers are home to all five species of Pacific salmon; pink (humpy), chinook (king), coho (silver), sockeye (red) and chum (dog). Although there are differences between them, they are all born in freshwater and spend some time there before heading to the ocean, which has better resources for them to eat and grow. When ready, they return to the same stream they were born in, to reproduce and then die.

Salmon go back to their home river because it usually gives them the best chance of survival, says Peter Westley, associate professor of fisheries at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. “Different rivers have different factors, like temperature and how much water is in it, and how big the rocks are – all kinds of stuff. So, the fish that were born there and survived there have traits that allow them to do well there.”

Read the full article at BBC News

ALASKA: Historically weak pink salmon runs strain Alaska’s seine fishermen

August 12, 2024 — The state’s biggest commercial pink harvest is in Prince William Sound, where seiners last year netted some 46 million of the fish.

This year, they’ve caught just over 6 million so far. That’s compared to final harvests of more than 20 million in each of the past three even years.

The catch in Kodiak — the state’s third-biggest pink salmon fishery — has been “pretty horrible,” too, skipper Matt Alward said in an interview from his boat, the Challenger. There, the harvest was at just 769,000 fish through last week — down 72% from two years ago.

Alward has also been catching sockeye salmon, but pinks make up the largest portion of his and other seine boats’ hauls.

Some seine fishermen generate additional income by participating in other fisheries; they might stay afloat by catching salmon with different gear like gillnets, by picking up and delivering other boats’ fish, or by crabbing. Alward usually makes extra money fixing nets in the offseason, but he won’t have business this winter if other fishermen don’t have enough cash to pay for his service, he said.

Read the full article at Alaska Beacon

Peltola moves to ban US support of offshore aquaculture in federal waters

August 5, 2024 –A new bill from U.S. Representative Mary Peltola (D-Alaska) would ban U.S. agencies from permitting or supporting offshore aquaculture in federal waters without authorization from Congress.

The Domestic Seafood Production Act (DSPA) would specifically put a halt to ongoing governmental efforts to foster and encourage finfish farming in federal waters as Congress considers the future of offshore aquaculture in U.S. waters.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Peltola Introduces Domestic Seafood Production Act

August 1, 2024 — Rep. Mary Sattler Peltola (D-AK) this week introduced the Domestic Seafood Production Act (DSPA), legislation to help address food security in communities historically reliant on coastal and marine resources by helping them build seafood processing capacity for local use.

Peltola’s bill would prevent rapid offshore finfish aquaculture permitting and its harmful effects on the environment and local ecosystems by prohibiting permitting or construction of offshore fish farms in U.S. Federal waters in the absence of Congressional authorization.

The bill encourages research on the effects of finfish aquaculture on the ecosystem and potential offshore locations that may be least impactful to the marine environment and commercially important fish stocks.

“In Alaska, so many communities rely on fish and seafood production both for subsistence and good-paying jobs,” Rep. Peltola said. “My bill would support our local fishing and maritime communities while strengthening our domestic seafood supply chain.”

Read the full story at Yahoo! News

Yukon cyanide spill raises concern for Alaskan salmon

July 31, 2024 — Concern spread across Canada after a cyanide spill at a gold mine in the Yukon Territory. The incident happened at Victoria Gold’s Eagle Mine, where a heap leach failure and landslide occurred. Energy, Mines, and Resource Minister John Streicker said four water samples were taken from different areas near the mine and had come back positive for cyanide, but levels were primarily low.

According to Alaska Beacon, Alaska salmon advocates say the spill isn’t just an issue for Yukoner. The spill happened upstream of a tributary of the Yukon River, and concerns spread because the Yukon is the state’s biggest transboundary waterway.

The spill happened in late June, and officials from Canada and the U.S. said it was too early to know its full impact and advised residents that there weren’t likely any associated health risks. Still, salmon advocates fear that the pollution that hasn’t been fully contained could worsen matters for the Yukon River’s struggling species. Residents along the area’s shores have depended on salmon for generations. Brooke Woods, a tribal member and salmon advocate in Rampart, told Alaska Beacon, “Now, we have a new threat to our salmon.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

ALASKA: A Canadian gold mine spill raises fears among Alaskans on the Yukon River

July 30, 2024 — A cyanide spill at a major gold mine in the Yukon Territory, high in the Yukon River watershed, has sparked widespread concern in Canada.

But Alaska salmon advocates say the mishap isn’t just a problem for Yukoners. The spill happened upstream of a tributary of the Yukon River. The Yukon is Alaska’s biggest transboundary waterway, and residents along its shores who have depended on salmon for generations are already suffering amid crashes of multiple species.

Officials on both sides of the border say it’s too early to know the full impact of the spill, which happened in late June. And they’ve advised that there likely isn’t a health risk to residents along the Yukon.

Still, some advocates fear that the pollution, which has not been fully contained, could make matters worse for the Yukon River’s struggling fish.

Still, some advocates fear that the pollution, which has not been fully contained, could make matters worse for the Yukon River’s struggling fish.

“Now we have a new threat to our salmon,” said Brooke Woods, a tribal member and salmon advocate in Rampart, an interior Alaska village on the upper Yukon River.

Read the full article at KYUK