Saving Seafood

ALASKA: With public testimony phone lines clogged, Alaska legislators consider different options

May 8, 2023 — Alaska (Alaska Beacon) – Careful scheduling and greater use of Alaska’s 22 auxiliary legislative offices could fix the problem

The Alaska Legislature is changing some procedures after Capitol phone lines became overloaded by public testimony for a record fifth time this year.

The Capitol’s phones reached capacity on Tuesday, during a hearing about a bill that intends to repeal the state’s new ranked-choice voting law. The phone lines have filled more times this year than in the past six years combined, legislative statistics indicate.

Overall call volume hasn’t changed significantly from past years, but Alaskans’ habits have: Members of the public are now much more likely to call from home, rather than one of the legislative information offices scattered across the state.

That pattern, plus a series of high-interest bills, have repeatedly filled the Legislature’s 90 public phone lines.

Rep. Sarah Vance, R-Homer, said that even her father couldn’t make it into the queue for one meeting.

“He’s like, ‘I tried, and I tried’ (to call in),” she said. “I’ve had numerous people reach out to me, I’ve had emails and texts, and they keep trying and trying.”

On April 21, with several committees simultaneously taking public testimony, the phone lines were so clogged that the Legislature’s own attorneys couldn’t connect to a House Judiciary Committee that Vance was leading.

Read the full article at KINY

ALASKA: Delegation helps convince USDA to approve major purchase of Alaska Seafood

May 8, 2023 — U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan and U.S. Representative Mary Peltola Friday applauded the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) announcement that it has approved the purchase of up to $119.5 million worth of Alaskan Sockeye and Pacific Groundfish, which will be distributed across the country through federal food assistance programs.

“USDA’s purchase of Alaska seafood is great news for our fishing industry and all who depend on federal food assistance,” said Senator Murkowski. “Alaskan fishermen stand ready to help feed their communities, and these purchases provide them the perfect opportunity to bring healthy Alaskan seafood to the tables of families who need it most.”

Read the full article at KINY

ALASKA: First time in 10 years, tribe to have limited fishery on Elwha

May 7, 2023 –The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe will conduct a limited fish harvest on the lower Elwha River this October, the first time the river has been open to any fishing in more than a decade.

The tribe, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife and Olympic National Park have announced a limited Tribal Ceremonial and Subsistence Fishery for coho salmon on the lower three miles of the river.

The fishery has been closed to commercial and recreational fishing since 2011, when dam removal on the river began.

Recreational and commercial fishing will resume when there is broad distribution of spawning adults above the former dam sites, spawning rates allow for population growth and diversity, and a harvestable surplus of fish are returning to the Elwha River, according to a press release.

Mountain lakes in the Elwha basin within the national park and Lake Sutherland opened to sport fishing the fourth Saturday in April and will remain accessible for fishing through Oct. 31.

The dams, installed more than 100 years ago, devastated the salmon population in the river and the fishery was closed following the dams’ removal to allow fish populations to rebuild their populations.

Read the full article at Peninsula Daily News

ALASKA: Army Corps to revisit parts of Pebble’s permit application, but opponents say mine can’t move forward

May 7, 2023 — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will reconsider certain aspects of the Pebble company’s permit application to build a large gold and copper mine at the headwaters of Bristol Bay. The 81-page report comes just three months after the Environmental Protection Agency vetoed the mine in a separate process.

“It’s a bit surprising and a bit confusing,” said Dennis McLerran, who worked as the regional EPA administrator during the Obama administration.

The EPA in January determined that the mine would have “unacceptable adverse effects on salmon fishery areas.” Using its powers under the Clean Water Act, it essentially vetoed the mine plan, and any future plan that would have a similar impact on the same waterways. Many opponents of the project hailed that as the final blow.

McLerran said the EPA decision nullifies any permit the Army Corps could issue.

Read the full article at the b Bristol Bay Times

Federal court orders new NMFS review of king salmon

May 7, 2023 — The Southeast Alaska chinook troll fishery is under renewed threat of potential suspension, after a federal judge in Seattle ruled the National Marine Fisheries Service must remake its plan for king salmon that allows the fishery to continue employing some 1,500 fishermen.

The long-anticipated May 2 ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Richard Jones requires that NMFS come up with a new “biological opinion” that analyzes the impact of the king salmon fishery on Washington state’s Southern Resident Killer Whale population.

The endangered orca whale population is down to 73 animals. The Wild Fish Conservancy sued over NMFS’ last plan, arguing the agency’s proposed mitigation measures to boost salmon stocks are insufficient to ensure the  orcas have enough food to slow their population decline.

A summer salmon season opener July 1 could be in jeopardy from the ruling. NMFS and Alaska state fisheries officials have been preparing for the possibility since an earlier judgement in August 2022 faulted NMFS for failing to meet requirements under the Endangered Species Act. Commercial fishing industry groups said they are looking to appeal the decision.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Alaska Delegation condemns court ruling against Southeast Troll Fishermen

May 5, 2023 — U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan and Representative Mary Sattler Peltola condemned a ruling by the U.S. District Court in Seattle, Washington in favor of a lawsuit filed by Wild Fish Conservancy (WFC) that will effectively shut down a Southeast Alaska small boat troll salmon fishery.

WFC argued that the Southeast Alaska salmon harvest is a primary contributor to the population decline of Southern resident killer whales hundreds of miles to the south in Puget Sound.

On Mar. 6, the Alaska congressional delegation filed an amicus brief supporting Southeast Alaska troll fishermen with the District Court.

Read the full article at KINY

Federal judge’s order could shut down Southeast Alaska troll fishery

May 5, 2023 — A U.S. district judge in Washington state has affirmed a controversial recommendation that could shut down summer trolling for king salmon in Southeast Alaska this summer.

Judge Richard A. Jones signed the two-page order on Tuesday. It requires the National Marine Fisheries Service to remedy a violation of the Endangered Species Act concerning a threatened population of killer whales in Puget Sound.

Read the full article at KTOO 

ALASKA: Army Corps to revisit parts of Pebble’s permit application, but opponents say mine can’t move forward

May 1, 2023 — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will reconsider certain aspects of the Pebble company’s permit application to build a large gold and copper mine at the headwaters of Bristol Bay. The 81-page report comes just three months after the Environmental Protection Agency vetoed the mine in a separate process.

“It’s a bit surprising and a bit confusing,” said Dennis McLerran, who worked as the regional EPA administrator during the Obama administration.

The EPA in January determined that the mine would have “unacceptable adverse effects on salmon fishery areas.” Using its powers under the Clean Water Act, it essentially vetoed the mine plan, and any future plan that would have a similar impact on the same waterways. Many opponents of the project hailed that as the final blow.

McLerran said the EPA decision nullifies any permit the Army Corps could issue.

Read the full story at KYUK

Army Corps to reconsider Pebble Mine permit denial

April 28, 2023 — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will review its 2020 permit denial of the Pebble Mine plan, potentially giving the project a longshot chance at survival.

After an appeal by the Pebble Limited Partnership, the agency’s reviewing officers issued an 81-page report April 24 that faulted some aspects of the permit decision by the Corps’ Alaska District. The administrative finding means the issue will be remanded back to the district for further consideration.

The Corps in 2020 rejected the Pebble partners’ application for permits to build an open-pit gold and copper mine upstream from tributaries to Bristol Bay, famed as the world’s most productive wild salmon fishery grounds, where activists for a decade had opposed mining.

The fortunes of Pebble backers have swung back and forth through three presidential administrations. In January 2023 the U.S. Environmental Protection Administration found the mine proposal to be incompatible with the federal Clean Water Act, precluding mineral development that would affect those salmon streams.

The Pebble Limited Partnership continues its legal appeals, but faces other barriers alongside the EPA decision. In December the Pedro Bay Corporation and Bristol Bay Heritage Land Trust finalized land conservation easements that would effectively block the Pebble developers’ preferred road route to the mining site.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

 

Army Corps to review its denial of key permit for Pebble project

April 27, 2023 — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will review its denial of a key federal permit for the proposed large Pebble mine project in southwest Alaska, the agency announced April 25. Brig. Gen. Kirk Gibbs, Division Engineer at the corps’ Pacific Ocean Division, said he found certain parts of an appeal to the denial by Pebble Partnership Ltd., the developer, to have merit.

Gibbs’ decision sends the matter back to the corp’s Alaska District for reconsideration. The Alaska District had denied a U.S. Clean Water Act Section 404 dredge and fill permit for Pebble Partnership Ltd., which hopes to develop a large copper, gold and molybdenum deposit near Iliamna, southwest of Anchorage.

It its appeal, Pebble Partnership said the corps’ evaluation was flawed and showed factual inconsistencies with data compiled in a Final Environmental Impact Statement done by the agency for the Pebble project.

“My decision to remand permit application back to the Alaska District is not a permit authorization,” Gibbs said in a statement. “The (Alaska) District has been asked to re-evaluate specific issues with the administrative record to ensure the decision is well-supported.”

Read the full story at The Frontiersman