Saving Seafood

ALASKA: NOAA initiates Aquaculture Opportunity Area efforts in Alaska

June 1, 2023 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA and partners in the State of Alaska are announcing plans to identify Aquaculture Opportunity Areas (AOAs) in Alaska state waters. These areas will be selected through engagement with tribes and the public, a process that allows constituents to share their community, tribal and stewardship goals for sustainable aquaculture development in Alaska’s coastal and marine waters.

Alaska will join Southern California and the Gulf of Mexico as the third region in which NOAA is working with partners to identify AOAs. The multi-year process to identify AOAs will be conducted in partnership with the State of Alaska and follows a comment period during which NOAA received public support for aquaculture from Alaska Native organizations, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy, members of Alaska’s legislature as well as industry and research institutions.

“With more coastline than all of the Lower 48 states combined, Alaska is uniquely positioned to benefit from a growing marine aquaculture industry,” said NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Janet Coit. “Aquaculture Opportunity Area identification efforts use the best available science, Indigenous Knowledge and collaboration with local communities to foster shellfish and seaweed aquaculture — benefiting Alaska’s Blue Economy.”

In 2022, aquaculture production sales in Alaska totaled $1.9 million, and the state is experiencing an increase in aquaculture permit applications. Aquaculture in AOAs will support environmental, economic and social sustainability.

The identification process for AOAs announced today is focused in Alaska state waters and will not include federal waters. NOAA will only consider marine invertebrates — like shellfish and sea cucumbers — and seaweed farming when identifying AOAs in Alaska. Finfish farming in Alaska state waters is prohibited by law.

“I appreciate NOAA’s decision to begin working with the State to identify Aquaculture Opportunity Areas in Alaska,” said Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy. “My Administration continues to work closely to promote the responsible development of aquaculture in our pristine coastal waters. This sector has huge growth potential and will provide yet another example of Alaskan leadership in the seafood industry. Our state was predicated on resource development and state management of our fisheries. To that end, I welcome this help from NOAA.”

The State of Alaska serves as a crucial NOAA partner in the design and identification of appropriate locations for AOAs and commercial aquaculture. Identification of these areas will also be shaped through a public process that provides multiple opportunities for the public to share their tribal, community and stewardship goals. NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science will provide support for AOA planning in Alaska through ecosystem modeling to help determine the best size and location for AOAs.

“Marine aquaculture is part of the NOAA Fisheries’ strategy for economic and environmental resilience in coastal communities and supports healthy oceans,” said Danielle Blacklock, director of NOAA’s Office of Aquaculture. “In a changing climate, aquaculture is a critical component of sustainable food systems, marine habitats and coastal economies.”

Identifying AOAs is helpful for prospective aquaculture growers to consider site selection and environmental analysis, but does not serve as a preapproval in the process. Prospective aquaculture growers will still have to go through comprehensive state and federal permitting processes.

NOAA Fisheries will solicit public comments as the identification process for AOAs moves forward.

No relief for beleaguered Southeast Alaska trollers as judge rejects request to keep fishery open

June 1, 2023 — Alaska Fish and Game Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang said the state would appeal the denial immediately, but the clock is ticking before the scheduled July 1 start to the king salmon fishery

A federal judge has rejected a request to allow a staple Southeast Alaska king salmon fishery to proceed this summer while an appeal challenging its court-imposed closure plays out.

Richard Jones, a U.S. District Court judge in Washington state, denied the request by Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration to set aside his own ruling from earlier this month. The ruling, aimed at protecting endangered orca whales, has the effect of closing this summer’s troll season for Chinook salmon in Southeast Alaska — a hook-and-line fishery that employs some 1,500 skippers and crew.

Jones, in a five-page order Friday, said he would not “stay,” or set aside, his earlier decision while the state’s underlying appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals plays out. In Friday’s order, Jones said the state’s arguments against his earlier ruling — arguments that stressed the financial impacts of a closure on fishermen and the region’s economy — are unlikely to win on appeal, which is a necessary finding for Jones to put the closure on hold.

Read the full article at KIFW

Judge keeps Alaska chinook fishery closure in place, state scrambles to save summer season

May 31, 2023 — A federal judge has rejected a motion from the U.S. state of Alaska, the Alaska Trollers Association, and NOAA Fisheries to stay his order earlier this month that will effectively close the winter and summer commercial chinook troll fishery in Southeast Alaska.

The groups are now looking to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals for relief as they race against the clock to ensure the commercial fishery can open on July 1.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

DOJ will appeal court order forcing troll fishery closure

May 30, 2023 — The United States Department of Justice will appeal a federal court order forcing the closure of the commercial king salmon troll fishery in Southeast Alaska.

In early May, Washington US District Court Judge Richard Jones upheld an earlier recommendation that the Southeast summer and winter king fisheries were catching too much of the food source of a dwindling population of Southern Resident Killer Whales in Puget Sound in violation of the Endangered Species Act. Judge Jones’s order required the fishery closures and required the National Marine Fisheries Service to vacate and rewrite the rules that allow for the fisheries to happen.

The DOJ’s notice to appeal was submitted on May 23, on behalf of the Department of Commerce and the National Marine Fisheries Service.

The defendant intervenors in the case, the Alaska Trollers Association and the State of Alaska filed motions earlier this month calling for a “partial stay” of the order, pending an appeal to allow the fisheries to proceed. The state argued that the court order had failed to account for the economic cultural and social harm to the troll fleet and Southeast Alaska.

Read the full article at KCAW

With ‘slim chance’ to change Magnuson-Stevens Act, Peltola favors ‘workaround’

May 24, 2023 — Alaska’s subsistence fishing advocates want to change the nation’s primary fishing law to crack down on the accidental catch of salmon by the Bering Sea trawl fleet. Changing the law is looking increasingly unlikely, but there might be another way.

Congresswoman Mary Peltola focused on revising the Magnuson-Stevens Act since the start of her campaign. But she said it’s not in the cards now.

“I think everybody recognizes that there’s a very slim chance that Magnuson-Stevens will be authorized this year” or next, Peltola said in a recent video call arranged by a public affairs firm called Ocean Strategies.

Rather than change the law, the new strategy is to change a set of guidelines for the law that’s already on the books.

It’s a fallback position. It’s not likely to yield quick results. But this year is shaping up to be another grim one for chinook and chum runs on the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers.  Peltola and other salmon advocates say it’s important to take some kind of action now to preserve the possibility of a return to salmon abundance.

Read the full article at Alaska Public Media

ALASKA: More marine debris cleanup projects coming to Alaska

May 25, 2023 — Plastic, wood, fishing nets and buoys are just some of the waste that washes up on even the most remote parts of Alaska’s coastline. Now, programs aimed at cleaning up that marine debris are getting a funding boost from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – thanks to an influx of grant money from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Nearly $14 million in federal funding is earmarked for two separate programs aimed at cleaning up marine debris in the state. The money is distributed through NOAA’s Marine Debris Program and funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that was passed in 2021.

Peter Murphy is Alaska’s regional debris coordinator with NOAA. He said the new programs go beyond just cleaning up existing debris.

Read the full article at KTOO

Disaster aid has arrived, but Western Alaska’s salmon and crab problems continue

May 22, 2023 — As $216 million in federal aid is flowing to help Alaskans cope with salmon and crab collapses over the past three years, conditions that caused some of the harvest failures persist.

The Alaska congressional delegation announced on Friday that the U.S. Commerce Department released the disaster aid. The money is to go to harvesters, processors and communities affected by designated disasters in salmon and crab fisheries that occurred between 2020 and 2022. Some money will also go to research programs, the delegation said in the joint statement released by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.

“This disaster funding comes at a time when several of our state’s fisheries are experiencing traumatizing and devastating collapses—so it will make a real difference for impacted fishermen and communities,” Murkowski said in the statement.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo in December issued disaster declarations for the salmon and crab problems in Western Alaska and the Bering Sea, as well as some extremely weak salmon runs in 2020 in the Prince William Sound and Copper River areas. The biggest chunks of resulting disaster aid now arriving are designated as responses to Bering Sea and Norton Sound crab collapses

Read the full article at KINY

ALASKA: Alaskan fishing groups and tribes welcome changes to federal fishery guidelines

May 22, 2023 — Fishing groups and tribes in the U.S. state of Alaska are eyeing potential updates to federal fishing guidelines as a chance to change how several hallmark fisheries in the state are regulated.

Last week, NOAA Fisheries issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking, welcoming public input on a number of topics, including climate change, equity in the representation of local fishing communities, and trawl bycatch. The agency will be accepting public comments offering suggestions on how to improve national standards to address those issues until 12 September, 2023.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

U.S. Department of Commerce allocates $220 million in fishery disaster funding to AK and WA

May 19, 2023 — U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo announced the allocation of over $220 million in fishery disaster funding, appropriated by Congress in the 2022 and 2023 Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Acts. The funding will address fishery disasters that occurred in multiple Alaska and Washington fisheries between 2019 and 2023.

“Fishery disasters have devastating effects on local communities and our blue economy,” said Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “This disaster funding provides much needed assistance to our fishing industry and we will work with the affected communities to begin the difficult work of helping them recover.”

Read the full article at KINY

MASSACHUSETTS: Sanfilippo invited to Rose Garden for salmon fight

May 19, 2023 — For more than a decade Angela Sanfilippo, president of the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association, has helped advocate for the cause to protect Bristol Bay in Southwest Alaska and the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery from a proposed open-pit gold and copper mining project near the bay’s headwaters.

She did so even though Gloucester, the nation’s oldest seaport, and Bristol Bay are some 3,600 miles apart on opposite coasts of the United States.

On Thursday at 4 p.m., Sanfilippo attended a celebration in the Rose Garden of the White House that marked the protection of Bristol Bay from the Pebble Mine project.

According to his remarks, President Joe Biden told advocates his administration had used its authority under the Clean Water Act to ban the disposal of mine waste in the Bristol Bay watershed. Sanfilippo helped advocate for this cause, got others in the local and regional fishing industry onboard, and helped those in Alaska organize in their David vs. Goliath fight.

Biden pointed out the Bristol Bay salmon fishery supports 15,000 jobs in fishing, processing and tourism with an economic value of $2.2 billion.

Once back in Gloucester, Sanfilippo said in an interview Tuesday that Biden was so on point she wondered how she could get him to protect the Massachusetts fishery with its 70,000 jobs from the threat posed by looming offshore wind energy projects.

Read the full article at Gloucester Times