Saving Seafood

ALASKA: Canceled crab season could devastate Unalaska

November 4, 2022 — As the top fishing port by volume in the nation, fishing runs in the veins of Unalaska.

Officials say that nearly everyone in the city relies on the robust seafood industry.

“Our only industry is our fishing industry. So everything that goes on in communities are related,” said Frank Kelty, the Fishery consultant for the City of Unalaska.

For decades, the snow crab industry was of critical importance to the city. However, in the past few years, the industry has been experiencing lower catch volumes.

Read the full article at Alaska News Source

ALASKA: U.S. Representative Mary Sattler Peltola calls for federal disaster funding for crab fisheries

November 4, 2022 — On Oct. 25, Representative Mary Sattler Peltola sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Appropriations Chair Rosa DeLauro asking them to consider appropriating disaster relief funding for those impacted by this year’s total shut down of crab harvests.

This is the first time ever that the Bering Sea snow crab harvest is closed, and the second consecutive closed season for the fall red king crab harvest.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

ALASKA: House candidates agree bycatch is a problem. They have different approaches to solving it

November 2, 2022 — Salmon was a hot topic in Wednesday night’s debate among candidates for Alaska’s sole U.S. House seat. When asked what they would do to address declining salmon stocks, all candidates pointed to bycatch as a continued threat to salmon and crab across the state.

Republican and former Gov. Sarah Palin began her answer with a shout-out to Bristol Bay and her time in the region.

“Near and dear to my heart: The fish issues, having for years set netted on the Nushagak in Bristol Bay,” she said.

Palin said the state is doing a good job with management and that it follows the “maximum sustainable yield” mandate outlined in state law. But she said the federal government needs to step up.

“It’s the feds who lack the enforcement, the bycatch laws that too many people are getting away with — especially foreign trawlers,” she said. “They’re not allowing those salmon to get back to where they need to be to spawn. We need to bust these people who are doing these illegal activities. You take their vessels, you take their gear, you take their permits, and we start teaching them a lesson.”

Read the full article at KTOO

Bering Sea crabbers’ emergency action plea opens for public comment

October 31, 2022 — The National Marine Fisheries Service has opened a review and is taking public comment on Bering Sea crabbers’ request to take emergency action to close the Red King Crab Savings Area and the Red King Crab Savings Subarea to all fishing gear that comes into contact with the ocean bottom.

The request from the Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers is dated Sept. 29, after the association failed to sway the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to take new steps for setting aside crab habitat and further reducing bycatch from other fisheries.

Warning signs months before pointed toward declining snow and king crab numbers, and on Oct. 10 Alaska state officials announced sweeping closures in response to dismal survey results. Crab fleet advocates predict direct revenue loss of $500 million from losing the 2022-2023 season and possibly twice that in broader economic impact.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

ALASKA: Backers of Pebble Mine ‘tried to trick regulators,’ says new report

October 31, 2022 — Backers of a proposed copper and gold mine in Southwest Alaska “tried to trick regulators by pretending to pursue a smaller project with the intention of expanding” after the project was approved, a report released Friday by a U.S. House panel says.

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the report ahead of its release. The report makes several recommendations, including environmental review process changes to “ensure holistic review of cumulative impacts of projects.”

A message seeking comment was sent to Friday a spokesperson with the Pebble Limited Partnership, which is seeking to develop the Pebble Mine.

The proposed mine is in Alaska’s Bristol Bay region. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has said the region supports the largest sockeye salmon fishery in the world and that it also contains significant mineral resources.

Read the full article at Alaska Public Media

Bering Sea crabbers call for new ‘crisis response’ to fishery disasters

October 28, 2022 — The closing of the Bering Sea snow and red king crab fisheries poses a $1 billion economic hit and continued danger of future fishery collapses from climate change in the North Pacific, the Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers say.

“Across the country, fisheries are racing the clock to adjust to changing climate and growing uncertainty,” according to a statement issued by the association Wednesday. “In the North Pacific, ABSC is proposing a 3-prong approach for crab and disasters like it:  provide rapid financial relief, develop adaptive and responsive management, and bolster continued science and research. Alaska’s snow crab fishery is the perfect test case for innovating these crisis responses.”

“This is a defining moment in U.S. fisheries management,” said Jamie Goen, executive director of the Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers. “We must focus on what we can control: helping hard-working fishing families and coastal communities and using the information we have to make better, more balanced, holistic management decisions.”

Read the full article at the national Fisherman

Ketchikan’s tribe asks federal board to expand subsistence hunting and fishing opportunities

October 26, 2022 — Access to traditional foods has long been a priority for Ketchikan’s federally recognized tribe. But for decades, Ketchikan residents have been barred from taking part in federal subsistence hunts and fisheries.

Now, Ketchikan Indian Community is pushing to change that. It hinges on one big question: is Ketchikan a rural community?

Trixie Bennett, the president of Ketchikan’s tribe, said the push to designate Ketchikan as a rural community is a major step toward the tribe’s goal of food sovereignty.

“Our food is our way of life,” Bennett said. “Our food is the medicine, our culture is the medicine.”

If Ketchikan were classified as rural, all residents — Native and non-Native — would be federally qualified subsistence hunters. That means they’d be able to hunt and fish on federal lands and harvest subsistence species, like ooligan from the Unuk River. And wildlife officials would be required to prioritize the needs of Ketchikan’s subsistence users over commercial and sport fishermen.

“We want this better access to our healthier foods around here and not just for us, but for everyone on the island,” Bennett said.

Read the full article at KTOO

ALASKA: Governor requests fishery disaster determination for snow, red king crab

October 26, 2022 — Gov. Mike Dunleavy has requested that the United States Department of Commerce expedite a disaster declaration for the 2022-2023 Bristol Bay red king crab and Bering Sea snow crab fisheries.

Dunleavy asked via a letter to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo for the declaration in accordance with Section 312(a) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and Section 308(b) of the Interjurisdictional Fisheries Act. Dunleavy also asked Raimondo to expedite a disaster determination for the 2021-2022 Bristol Bay red king crab fishery season.

Read the full article at Alaska News Source

Alaska Gov. Dunleavy urges EPA to stop veto of Pebble mine

October 26, 2022 — Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy is asking the Environmental Protection Agency to put the brakes on its effort to stop the giant Pebble copper and gold project.

In May, the federal agency proposed halting the proposed mine under a provision of the Clean Water Act it has used sparingly. It says the mine would be among the world’s largest open-pit copper mines and threatens the Bristol Bay region’s valuable wild salmon fishery and people who rely on it.

The agency is expected to decide by Dec. 2 whether it will move ahead with its proposal.

In his Sept. 6, three-page letter to Casey Sixkiller, administrator of the EPA region that includes Alaska, Dunleavy said the proposed veto of the project is “deeply concerning” and would undermine Alaska’s legal decision-making authority in resource development.

The letter, accompanied by the state’s 53-page comment to the agency, was obtained through a routine records request by the Daily News for the governor’s monthly correspondence.

Dunleavy said the EPA proposal, if finalized, would make preemptive decisions about which resources Alaska can develop and how it can develop them. It chooses fisheries over mining, while disregarding Alaska’s ability to protect its fishery resources, the governor said in the letter.

“Whether, and how, Alaska develops Bristol Bay’s mineral resources or its fishery resources — or both, responsibly — is Alaska’s decision to make, considering the input of all stakeholders and working through the standard permitting process,” Dunleavy said in the letter. “EPA would instead choke off further discussion, usurping for itself this important decision affecting so many Alaskans.”

Read the full article at Anchorage Daily News