Saving Seafood

ALASKA: Alaska’s new marine highway runs afoul of environmental group

September 28, 2023 — The Center for Biological Diversity intends to sue the federal government over a new marine highway in Alaska. The environmental group sent a notice letter on Sept. 21 to the U.S. Maritime Administration, which designated the new highway. The letter contends that the federal agency is violating the Endangered Species Act for failing to consider possible harm to endangered wildlife along Alaska’s coast.

Jared Margolis, a senior attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, said increased shipping traffic along the highway could pose a threat to several protected species including humpback and North Pacific right whales.

He said the federal agency, known as MARAD, should have consulted with federal environmental agencies like the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Marine Fisheries Services prior to designating the new highway. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NMFS’s parent agency, announced Tuesday that it would revise Alaska’s critical habitat for right whales in response to a request from the Center.

“The (MARAD) regulators designated this new marine highway route — which goes right through critical habitat for the North Pacific right whale, a highly endangered species that’s susceptible to ship strikes — without giving any consideration to what that means for the species, in terms of targeting this area for increased vessel traffic,” Margolis said.

MARAD did not respond to requests for comment.

Read the full article at Alaska Public Media

ALASKA: ‘Too hot’ for salmon: How climate change is contributing to the Yukon salmon collapse

September 27, 2023 — Scientists know one thing for sure about the collapse of Yukon River king and chum salmon: there’s more than one culprit.

“It’s really hard and probably unrealistic to just point your finger at one thing and say that’s what’s doing it,” said Jayde Ferguson, a fish pathologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Researchers have identified many threats facing Yukon king and chum salmon, and those threats pop up at each stage of the salmon life cycle — when salmon hatch in freshwater streams, as they swim down the Yukon to the ocean, where they spend most of their lives and on their arduous journey back upriver to spawn and die.

Scientists think many of these threats are connected to climate change. Ferguson studies one of them, a parasite named ichthyophonus, at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game lab in Anchorage.

Read the full article at Alaska Public Media

ALASKA: Federal manager for Yukon River highlights resiliency in the face of salmon crashes

September 27, 2023 — When federal fisheries managers rescinded control of the Yukon River on Sept. 2, it marked the close of another season of alarmingly poor salmon runs and few opportunities to harvest them. Nets went unused and smokehouses went unfilled, yet subsistence remains a necessity and a way of life for many living along the nearly 2,000-mile river that extends deep into Canada.

Fortunately, in an attempt to understand what is happening to Yukon River salmon, traditional knowledge and Western science have been increasingly intersecting.

“I love the coordination we have with the stakeholder groups, with the tribes,” said Holly Carroll, the Yukon River federal subsistence fisheries manager for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “The more of that coordination you have, the more buy-in you have to the data that is collected.”

Carroll said that she values keeping lines of communication open.

Read the full article at KYUK

ALASKA: A 50-year situation: The market dynamic between fishing fleets and processors in Bristol Bay

September 27, 2023 — This year, Bristol Bay’s $0.50-per-pound base price had fleet members questioning the industry’s longevity. The dynamic between fleets and processors has existed for decades, with permit-holding fishing crews delivering their catch before knowing its cost, and processors relying on them to do so.

KDLG’s Christina McDermott sat down with economist Gunnar Knapp, who spent decades studying Bristol Bay’s salmon markets, to learn more about the history of this relationship, and what it means going forward.

Read the full article at Alaska Public Media

As climate change and high costs plague Alaska’s fisheries, fewer young people take up the trade

September 26, 2023 — Lane Bolich first came to work in Alaska for the freedom and excitement that comes with being a fisher.

A self-described adrenaline junkie, Bolich moved from his hometown in rural Washington state because he loves being on the ocean even in cold winter weather and it gave him the chance to make more money than back home. After working as a deckhand for two years on a family friend’s boat, Harmony, he took the wheel as captain this year at just 20 years old.

Bolich is a rarity in an aging industry with high barriers to entry — equipment and access rights are costly — and increasing unpredictability as human-caused climate change alters marine habitats. As some fish populations dwindle and fewer people pursue the trade, fishers and conservation groups are actively working to bring in and retain the next generation of fishers through grants and training even as the industry continues to shrink in Alaska.

Read the full article at the Independent

Millions pegged for salmon, steelhead recovery

September 25, 2023 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is recommending sending $106 million to 16 salmon and steelhead recovery efforts in five Western states.

NOAA and the Department of Commerce recommended grants to state agencies with salmon protection missions, tribes and tribal partnerships in Idaho, Alaska, Oregon, Washington and California.

The funding “provides an important opportunity to bolster salmon and steelhead recovery and invest in the communities that rely on them,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in a statement.

Read the full article at The Challis Messenger

Trawl vessels caught 10 killer whales in ’23 off Alaska, federal agency says

September 25, 2023 — A federal agency that takes an active role in “shaping international ocean, fisheries, climate, space and weather policies” reported last week one of its teams is “evaluating data collected” on 10 killer whales incidentally caught in Alaska by Bering Sea and Aleutian Island groundfish trawl fisheries in 2023.

In a statement, NOAA Fisheries, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said just one whale ended up being released alive. For the other nine, the agency is in the process of determining the cause of injury or death and which stocks these whales belong to through a review of genetic information.

In addition, NOAA Fisheries is reviewing information regarding “a killer whale incidentally caught during the Alaska Fisheries Science Center’s longline survey for sablefish and groundfish this summer.” The agency added that on June 7, a dead killer whale was observed entangled in gear on the Central Bering Sea slope.

Read the full article at KIRO

Trawlers accidentally caught 10 orcas off Alaska this year — only one lived

September 25, 2023 — A federal fishery agency reported last week that 10 killer whales were caught in the gear of trawl net vessels fishing this year in the Bering Sea and North Pacific waters off the Aleutian Islands.

Only one was released alive, according to a brief Alaska NOAA Fisheries statement posted online. A team is analyzing data collected about the other nine whales to determine the causes of injury or death, and also to determine which stocks these whales belonged to through reviewing genetic information.

Killer whales, also known as orcas, have been entangled in trawl gear off Alaska in years past, but the numbers reported in 2023 are higher.

“The agency is working quickly to evaluate these incidents and will share findings as soon as possible, after all required analyses are completed,” the statement said.

The agency reported that another killer whale was entangled with longline gear set out by a vessel conducting a federal fishery survey in the Central Bering Sea. On June 7, a dead whale was observed caught up in gear, the statement said. NOAA Fisheries scientists were on board the survey vessel, which was designed to provide an assessment of black cod — also known as sablefish — populations, and that incident is also under review.

Read the full article at The Seattle Times

ALASKA: Four years into the Yukon salmon collapse, an Interior Alaska village wonders if it will ever fish again

September 18, 2023 — Without salmon, Gwichyaa Zhee is missing its heart.

“It’s just no good,” said Linda Englishoe, sitting on the sofa in her house not far from the Yukon River. An elder now, Englishoe has lived in the village for her entire life.

There are signs of fall in Englishoe’s house — a pan of apples and cinnamon on the stove, a tray of lowbush cranberries waiting to be processed. Fall usually also means the arrival of chum salmon on their journey upriver. But this year, the run is a fraction of the size it once was. As a result, federal and state fisheries managers have restricted most salmon fishing, cutting the village off from its traditional harvest.

Without fish, Englishoe said, nothing in the village is the way it’s supposed to be. The smokehouses, normally full of salmon drying for the winter, are empty. Even the smell of town is different.

“It used to smell so good, smelling those fish,” Englishoe said. “Ooh, I used to just sit outside, smelling.”

Read the full article at Alaska Public Media

OPINION: Alaska’s Farm Bill promises to safeguard our oceans and fishing families

September 17, 2023 — I first came to Sitka in 1982, driven by a love for wildness. I took up fishing to earn college money, but it didn’t take long for me to realize that the well-being of Alaska’s wild, pristine environment is directly tied to the stewardship of local fishing communities.

My passion for Alaska’s oceans led me to become an advocate for sustainable fisheries. I still earn my living fishing, and I am now the executive director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association. My family’s livelihood, and that of others in our fishing community, is entwined with the long-term health of our oceans. We fish and live with deep respect for the natural world and our unique place on this earth.

It is with this connection to our state’s natural bounty and coastal families that I applaud Sen. Lisa Murkowski for introducing the Improving Agriculture, Research, Cultivation, Timber, and Indigenous Commodities (ARCTIC) Act for inclusion in the Farm Bill, to ensure Alaska is represented in this pivotal federal legislation. This bill is a win for local fishing communities, which is a win for Alaska’s environment.

Read the full article at Anchorage Daily News