Saving Seafood

ALASKA: Alaska’s House, Congressional Delegation throw weight behind defense of troll lawsuit

March 13, 2023 — Alaska’s Congressional Delegation has filed an amicus brief, in a federal lawsuit that threatens to shut down salmon trolling in Southeast Alaska this summer.

The brief is meant to be friendly guidance for the court, but at least one of Alaska’s senators is not feeling especially friendly about the possible threat to an Alaskan way of life.

The amicus brief from Alaska’s Congressional Delegation comes just as some major players have stepped up in support of trollers, including the two largest hatcheries in Southeast Alaska, and the full House of Representatives.

Lawyers for Senators Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski, and Representative Mary Peltola, filed the brief on March 6 in the US District Court of Western Washington. The lawsuit was brought three years ago by the Seattle-based Wild Fish Conservancy against the National Marine Fisheries Service. The Conservancy argues that Southeast salmon trollers in Alaska intercept king salmon crucial to the survival of an endangered population of killer whales in Puget Sound, in violation of the Endangered Species Act. The court is now considering whether or not to vacate the permit that allows the summer and winter troll fisheries in Alaska to operate, until the violation has been remedied.

An amicus brief doesn’t argue either side of the case, but is more like friendly advice to the court. During a recent visit to Wrangell, however, Sen. Dan Sullivan was not feeling very amicable toward the Wild Fish Conservancy.

“This lawsuit is ridiculous,” he said. “Think about what they’re trying to do: shut down this fishery. Estimates are that could impact Southeast by $100 million for orca problems in Puget Sound. They’re not asking for the fishery in Puget Sound to be shut down. They’re not asking about the pollution in Puget Sound. They’re looking at shutting down our fishery here. Idiotic — and an abuse of the Endangered Species Act.”

Read the full article at at KCAW

Threatened Coho Salmon at Risk Due to Federal Mismanagement, Groups Allege

March 9, 2023 — A few weeks ago, federally threatened coho salmon swam up the Klamath River, spawned and laid egg nests. But some of these nests, or redds, holding as many as 4,000 eggs, may never hatch, owing to reduced water levels in the river.

It’s the result of a severe water management bungling, say critics, by the Bureau of Reclamation, which controls how much water flows from Upper Klamath Lake into the river.

“My jaw is dropping right now at the way things are being managed,” said Michael Belchik, senior water policy analyst employed by the Yurok Tribe.

Tribal nations and commercial fishing groups argue the agency violated the Endangered Species Act when it reduced river flows in mid-March below a minimum level set in a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration biological opinion, a series of recommendations and requirements meant to help the salmon recover and ensure river management decisions don’t push the species to the brink of extinction. The bureau blamed years of drought in the Klamath Basin.

The Yurok Tribe and the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations have alerted the Bureau of Reclamation that they intend to sue.

Read the full article at KQED

Tribes, fishermen, businesses, conservation groups respond to new potential mineral exploration in Bristol Bay watershed

March 8, 2023 — Bristol Bay Tribes, fishermen, businesses, and allies again reiterated their opposition to mining that jeopardizes Bristol Bay’s cultures and economies in response to the latest mineral exploration efforts in the region.

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources (DNR) on February 28 issued a public notice of an application from Stuy Mines LLC for mineral exploration activities along Kaskanak Creek in the Bristol Bay watershed, located southwest of the Pebble deposit. The public notice from the DNR on this proposal for mining exploration (which was submitted in June 2022) in the watershed triggered a two-week public comment period ending on March 14. The Stuy Mines project at Kaskanak is one of 20 projects in exploration in the Bristol Bay watershed, and this notice comes weeks after the EPA ended the threat of the Pebble Mine using their authority under section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act, heeding the calls of Tribes, commercial fishermen, and people in the region who have spoken out and urged the EPA to act for decades.

Read the full article at KIFW

ALASKA: Alaska House passes resolution to protect Southeast Alaska’s troll fisheries from lawsuit

March 7, 2023 — The Alaska House of Representatives passed a resolution to protect Southeast Alaska’s troll fishery on Wednesday. House Joint Resolution 5 calls for state and federal agencies to defend Alaska’s troll fisheries from a lawsuit that seeks to hold them accountable for the decline in killer whales in the Puget Sound area. The legislation passed on a 35-to-1 vote.

Rep. David Eastman, serving District 27 in Wasilla, was the only “no” vote.

Read the full article at KTOO

ALASKA: Alaska’s Fisheries Are Collapsing. This Congresswoman Is Taking on the Industry She Says Is to Blame.

March 3, 2023 — The late 1990s and early 2000s were boomtimes for halibut fishermen in Alaska. Over 80 million pounds of the flatfish were being harvested annually. Deckhands could earn $250,000 a season. The small boat harbor in the southcentral city of Homer, known as the “halibut capital of the world,” was bustling.

Erik Velsko, 39, was one of those fishermen. He started buying annual shares in 2001 when the halibut population was at near historic highs. But within a few years, the stock plummeted by more than half and the quotas for commercial fishermen were slashed accordingly. Velsko’s share has gone from 12,000 pounds annually to less than 4,000 pounds. His brother-in-law, who also fishes out of Homer, has had his quota cut from about 90,000 pounds to 20,000 pounds. Many fishermen have gotten out of the business altogether.

“That whole dock was all long liners, you know, 15 years ago,” Velsko told me last year, pointing to a row of idled boats in the harbor. “It’s two or three now. My brother-in-law and another one.”
Halibut wasn’t the only so-called directed fishery to experience such a catastrophic drop. The crab fleet — made famous in the reality show “Deadliest Catch” — has been mostly stuck in port for two years after the near total collapse of the snow crab population and the decades long decline of red king crab. This year both fisheries were closed, a major blow to many of Alaska’s coastal communities, who rely on related industries, including processing, to float their economies. At the same time, subsistence and sport salmon fishing on the state’s two largest rivers has been shut down because of dwindling salmon runs.

ALASKA: Challenges spawning rapidly in salmon lawsuit

March 3, 2023 — Local leaders and state legislators this week joined the growing opposition to a lawsuit that could halt Southeast Alaska’s commercial troll fisheries due to what a conservation group in Washington state calls inadequate federal management of the fisheries’ impacts on salmon runs in that state and endangered killer whales that depend on them as a food source.

Opposition in Alaska has increased significantly since a magistrate in Washington issued a favorable preliminary ruling in December to Wild Fish Conservancy in the lawsuit it filed in 2019, which seeks the shutdown Southeast Alaska Chinook (king) salmon troll fisheries until their impact on the Southern Resident Killer Whales is assessed. The proposed order would essentially shut down Southeast Alaska fisheries for 10 months of the year, making them economically nonviable for many trollers, and a final ruling is pending.

Resolutions supporting the Southeast fisheries were approved by the Juneau Assembly on Monday and the Alaska State House on Wednesday, adding to numerous such resolutions already passed by other affected communities such as Ketchikan, Sitka and Petersburg. The House resolution was introduced by Rep. Rebecca Himschoot, a Sitka independent, who said the lawsuit threatens “a catastrophic stoppage, an unnecessary stoppage.”

“These are incredibly important fisheries to our regions, and I think that’s evidenced by the folks who have pulled together and supported the trollers,” she said. “They initially took on this lawsuit themselves, which is not easy to do when each of those vessels is a small business.”

Himschoot said the lawsuit affects about 1,500 people working in the fisheries and about $85 million in economic activity.

The resolution — asking the National Marine Fisheries Service, Alaska Department of Fish and Game and the state’s congressional delegation to take measures to keep the fisheries operating — passed 35-1 with both of Juneau’s House members voting in favor. The no vote was cast by Rep. David Eastman, a Wasilla Republican who regularly dissents on otherwise consensus measures and argued it’s improper for the Legislature to take such an action on pending litigation.

Read the full article at Juneau Empire

Juneau joins Southeast communities in backing king salmon troll fishery

March 1, 2023 — The Juneau Assembly has joined Petersburg, Wrangell, Sitka and Ketchikan in supporting Southeast Alaska’s king salmon troll fishery against a lawsuit that could threaten its future.

A resolution passed by the Assembly on Monday night opposes a lawsuit filed by the Wild Fish Conservancy, a Washington-based environmental group. The group says the federal government hasn’t adequately addressed the fishery’s impacts on the food supply of Southern Resident killer whales in Puget Sound.

Assembly member Carole Triem drafted the resolution. At a committee meeting earlier this month, she said it’s important for Juneau to support the trollers.

“It’s a lot less visible in Juneau than it is in Petersburg, Wrangell, Sitka or Ketchikan – the size, and the impact of the commercial fishing industry – but it’s still a pretty big part of our economy,” she said.

Read the full article at KTOO

ALASKA: Sen. Sullivan talks trolling, infrastructure development during Wrangell

March 1, 2023 — Meeting with Wrangell community members at the Nolan Center, Senator Dan Sullivan focused on infrastructure needs and development, both on Wrangell Island and throughout Alaska.

“I got a tour here today,” Sullivan related, “I know there are some big plans, but we’re going to need more ships – Navy vessels are my bigger goal – and I think what you guys are doing here in Wrangell has enormous potential, particularly with the mill site that we were at today that the borough just bought. So that’s very exciting.”

The former Wrangell lumber mill site is one of – if not the only – remaining undeveloped deepwater ports in Southeast Alaska. The borough bought the $2.5 million property last year, with the hope that with some new development, the former beating heart of Wrangell’s economy could prove an economic cornerstone once again.

During a question-and-answer meeting with Wrangell constituents, Sullivan spoke out against what he called the “latest ping-pong” with the reinstatement of the Clinton-era Roadless Rule in Tongass National Forest earlier this year. He told attendees it runs counter to his pro-development stance for the state, and said the Roadless designation also hampers tourism and growth.

Read the full article at KSTK

ALASKA: Alaska Legislature sends $300K in salmon donations to Ukraine

March 1, 2023 — More than a year into the war in Ukraine, Alaska’s government is doing its part by sending aid in the form of seafood from the Last Frontier. The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute is handling the state’s food distribution.

Bruce Schactler, the institute’s food aid program and development director, said ASMI doesn’t own any of the seafood but has helped manage the state’s aid programs.

That includes sending over $300,000 worth of Alaskan seafood, or about 3,600 cases of canned pink salmon, to Ukraine.

Read the full article at KTOO

ALASKA: Alaska Symphony of Seafood names 2023 winners

February 27, 2023 — The Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation (AFDF) announced the winners of its annual Alaska Symphony of Seafood event on 24 February.

The event, organized since 1994, pits new commercial-ready, value-added products made from Alaska seafood against each other in a competition the AFDF said is intended to promote the new products and encourage investment in product development. The first place winners of each category, and the grand prize winner of the contest, receive booth space at Seafood Expo North America – running from 12 to 14 March 2023 in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A. – airfare to and from the show sponsored by Alaska Air Cargo, and entry into the SENA new products contest, the Seafood Excellence Awards.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource