Saving Seafood

ALASKA: Tribal groups applaud Alaska Native appointments to federal fisheries advisory panel

January 9, 2024 — Amid alarmingly low salmon returns in Western Alaska, calls have grown for tribes to have a greater say in the way fisheries are managed. Many say that the recent appointment of three Alaska Native members to the panel tasked with advising the top regional federal fisheries council could be a step in the right direction.

A recent press release from the Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim Tribal Consortium, representing 98 tribes directly impacted by salmon crashes in Western Alaska rivers, said that it was encouraging to see more Alaska Native faces than ever before on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council’s Advisory Panel. But it also called out the council for having a “voting majority with an economic interest in the trawl fleet,” as well as a total lack of Alaska Native representation.

“It’s something that we’ve been fighting for and asking for for many years. The fight for Alaska Native subsistence rights is getting a lot of attention right now because things are crashing,” said Eva Dawn Burk, who was recently appointed to a three-year term on the advisory panel, holding its first-ever designated Alaska Native seat.

“I sit on at least four Alaska Native advisory councils, and it’s like, yeah, I’m an advisor, but I don’t have decision-making power,” Burk said.

Read the full article at KYUK

As salmon disappear, a battle over Alaska Native fishing rights heats up

December 24, 2o23 — When salmon all but vanished from western Alaska in 2021, thousands of people in the region faced disaster. Rural families lost a critical food source. Commercial fisherfolk found themselves without a major stream of income. And Alaska Native children stopped learning how to catch, cut, dry, and smoke fish — a tradition passed down since the time of their ancestors.

Behind the scenes, the salmon shortage has also inflamed a long-simmering legal fight among Native stakeholders, the Biden administration, and the state over who gets to fish on Alaska’s vast federal lands.

At the heart of the dispute is a provision in a 1980 federal law called the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, which gives rural Alaskans priority over urban residents to fish and hunt on federal lands. Most rural families are Indigenous, so the law is considered by some lawyers and advocates as key to protecting the rights of Alaska Natives. State officials, however, believe the law has been misconstrued to infringe on the state’s rights by giving federal regulators authority over fisheries that belong to Alaskans.

Now, a lawsuit alleges the state has overstepped its reach. Federal officials argue that state regulators tried to usurp control of fishing along the Kuskokwim River in western Alaska, where salmon make up about half of all food produced in the region. The suit, originally filed in 2022 by the Biden administration against the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, escalated this fall when the state’s lawyers effectively called for the end of federal oversight of fishing across much of Alaska. Indigenous leaders say the state’s actions threaten Alaska Native people statewide.

Read the full article at the Grist

Alaska salmon woes, extreme precipitation, tundra shrub growth part of Arctic transformation

December 14, 2023– The collapses of Western Alaska salmon runs have been among the most consequential climate change impacts in the rapidly warming Arctic over the past two years, according to an annual report assembled by a federal agency.

The 2023 Arctic Report Card, released on Dec. 12 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), includes a special chapter on Alaska salmon among its updates to sea ice, air temperature, and permafrost conditions in a region of the world that is warming up to four times as fast as the global average.

Western Alaska salmon runs provide a “particularly clear picture” of how ocean warming affects ecosystems, said Daniel Schindler, a University of Washington fisheries expert who was a contributing Arctic Report Card author.

Climate change in Alaska is not simply something expected in the future, said Schindler, who spoke Dec. 12 at a news conference held at the American Geophysical Union’s annual gathering in San Francisco, California.

“It’s happening now. It’s been happening for decades. Whether you’re talking about fish or people or birds, there are real impacts that we need to deal with right now,” Schindler said.

Rick Thoman, of the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), delivered a similar message at the news conference.

“As Alaskans, as people of the Arctic, we are living this change every day. We have no choice, no choice at all, other than to work with what is happening,” said Thoman, one of the Arctic Report Card editors.

Read the full article at KYUK

Environmental and tribal groups add support to lawsuit calling federal fisheries management into question

December 12, 2023 — Five environmental and tribal organizations have signed their support onto a lawsuit against federal fisheries managers. The suit alleges that the National Marine Fisheries Service has violated environmental policies by using outdated data to guide the way it regulates the trawling industry in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Chain fisheries. This includes the Alaska pollock fishery, responsible for the vast majority of salmon bycatch in the region.

“There’s so many factors as to why salmon declines are where they’re at right now in our rivers,” said Laureli Ivanoff, the executive director of Native Peoples Action, one of the supporting organizations. “We know it’s not just the pollock industry. However, if the analysis and if the environmental impact statement that they use for analysis and for decision-making was updated, there would be a more complete picture of what’s happening in the ocean to base their decisions on.”

The lawsuit calls into question the use of environmental impact statements dating back to 2004 and 2007. It was originally brought in April by the Association of Village Council Presidents (AVCP) and Tanana Chiefs Conference (TCC), tribal non-profit organizations that together represent the vast majority of communities hit hardest by salmon crashes in Western Alaska. The groups are being represented by the national environmentalist law organization Earthjustice.

In early December 2023, five Alaska Native and fisheries conservation organizations: Native Peoples Action, Ocean Conservancy, the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, SalmonState, and the Alaska Marine Conservation Council, filed what is known as an amicus brief on the same side as the original two plaintiffs. It is a way for parties with a stake in the outcome of a lawsuit to offer additional information that courts may consider before ruling.

Read the full article at KYUK

US Environmental Protection Agency begins investigation of tire chemicals harming salmon

November 8, 2023 — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will investigate 6PPD-quinone, a chemical found in most tires that is toxic to salmon, under the Toxic Substances Control Act.

The action is in response to a petition brought by environmental group Earthjustice on behalf of the Yurok, Port Gamble S’Klallam, and Puyallup Tribes to ban the use of 6PPD in and for tires. While the EPA didn’t outright ban the chemicals, it has granted the tribes’ petition and will issue an advance notice of proposed rulemaking for 6PPD and “initiate additional data gathering activities.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

ALASKA: Alaska Native leaders call for legal overhaul to protect traditional fish harvests

October 23, 2o23 — The crash of salmon stocks in Western Alaska’s Kuskokwim River has sparked a bitter court fight between the federal and state governments, and now Alaska Native leaders are calling for congressional action to ensure that Indigenous Alaskans have priority for harvests when stocks are scarce.

The conflict has gripped this year’s Alaska Federation of Natives convention underway this week in Anchorage, where delegates expressed anger over state policies and fears for the future of fish and wildlife upon that they and their ancestors traditionally harvested.

A resolution introduced at the convention urges the federal government to “aggressively protect our hunting and fishing rights in court” against a state government that is “actively undermining Alaska Natives’ rights to subsistence.” The resolution also calls for Congress to strengthen federal law to “permanently protect the right of Alaska Native people to engage in subsistence fishing” in Alaska waters.

Subsistence is the term that describes traditional harvests of fish, game and plants for personal and noncommercial use. Salmon has traditionally been a subsistence staple.

For Alaska Natives, subsistence is of cultural as well as practical importance. Within the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, a sweeping federal law passed in 1980, there are subsistence harvest protections for residents of rural Alaska – regions where communities are largely Native – but not for Native people specifically.

It is time to change those terms to explicitly protect Native traditions, convention attendees said. The sentiment was particularly strong among residents of the affected Kuskokwim River area.

“After decades of failed and broken promises, we urge Alaska’s state and federal policymakers to recognize and protect Alaska Native rights to subsistence uses of fish and game. We ask that they act quickly to stop the physical and cultural starvation of our people,” Curt Chamberlain, an attorney for the Yup’ik-owned Calista Corp., said during a three-hour session Friday afternoon on subsistence problems.

Read the full article at the Alaska Beacon

Biden administration announces more than USD 300 million for salmon recovery and fish passage projects

August 18, 2023 — The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has announced nearly USD 300 million (EUR 276 million) for salmon recovery and fish passage improvement projects.

This week, NOAA Fisheries recommended USD 106 million (EUR 98 million) in funding for 16 salmon recovery projects along the West Coast and in Alaska through the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund (PCSRF). At the same time, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has unveiled USD 196 million (EUR 180 million) in funding for to fix or remove 169 culvert barriers to improve fish passage.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Economic storm hits Alaska’s fishing industry 2023 salmon harvest dips, prices dive

August 16, 2023 — As the fishing calendar in Alaska rolled over to August, the statewide harvest for all five species in all areas and all districts stood at 99.3 million fish. Overall, ex-vessel prices dropped to almost half of what brick-and-mortar processors had been willing to pay in 2022.

Of those fish, the sockeye harvest came out ahead of pinks (40 million), with a preliminary harvest just short of 47 million, but late-season pink seine fisheries in Southeast, Kodiak, Prince William Sound, and the Alaska Peninsula could surpass sockeye numbers as some runs peak in mid to late August. As expected, the chinook harvest was weak at 160,000 fish, while chums added up to 11.8 million. The coho harvest, meanwhile, stood at 466,000.

As the fishing calendar in Alaska rolled over to August, the statewide harvest for all five species in all areas and all districts stood at 99.3 million fish. Overall, ex-vessel prices dropped to almost half of what brick-and-mortar processors had been willing to pay in 2022.

Of those fish, the sockeye harvest came out ahead of pinks (40 million), with a preliminary harvest just short of 47 million, but late-season pink seine fisheries in Southeast, Kodiak, Prince William Sound, and the Alaska Peninsula could surpass sockeye numbers as some runs peak in mid to late August. As expected, the chinook harvest was weak at 160,000 fish, while chums added up to 11.8 million. The coho harvest, meanwhile, stood at 466,000.

Fishing began in early July on “open ticket,” meaning a price had not been settled with processors when the onslaught of sockeyes arrived. Fishermen set their nets in hopes that the initial price would be closer to the average base price of $1.15 per pound they received last year. With news of the 50 cents, some fishermen staged a protest in Naknek on July 20, while others folded up their operations and left for home.

“It was such a big shock,” says Danielle Larsgaard, a setnetter who fishes the Nushagak each summer. “Everyone kept asking, ‘When are they going to announce a price?’” 

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

 

ALASKA: Alaska salmon fishers fume over low prices, but processors say they’re hurting too

July 23, 2023 — A few times this summer, Jared Danielson, who fishes for salmon on the Alaska Peninsula, found himself fighting back tears in his bunk.

Aboard the F/V Five Star, his boat, Danielson and his deckhand put away as many pounds of fish as they could. They had no breakdowns. But his seafood processor is paying him 70 cents a pound for his salmon — half of last year’s price  — which means that instead of his usual six-figure haul for a summer of hard work, he might only break even, or go home to his family in Washington with $10,000, if he’s lucky.

“I’ve done everything right,” Danielson, 36, said in an interview this week. “It’s pretty demoralizing — you take all this risk, all this sacrifice, and you go home essentially without a paycheck.”

He added: “We’re up against something that’s out of our control, and that’s the processors killing us here.”

In the past few weeks, thousands of fishermen across the state have found themselves in a similar predicament: The price they’ll be paid by the processing companies that buy their salmon won’t be enough to cover their costs — or, at least, will make them far less profit than last year.

Read the full article at Alaska Beacon

ALASKA: House Special Fisheries Committee advances resolution in support of Alaska’s salmon trollers

February 17, 2023 — A legislative resolution in support of Alaska’s salmon troll fleet has cleared its first hurdle, although it has a way to go before seeing a full vote of the Alaska House and Senate.

House Joint Resolution 5 is the first piece of legislation introduced by Sitka Rep. Rebecca Himschoot, who was elected to a first term last November, and was sworn in this past January.

HJR5 was heard in the House Special Fisheries Committee on February 14, Valentine’s Day. Rep. Himschoot used the day as a springboard to focus attention on Southeast trollers, whose livelihood has been jeopardized by a lawsuit in the federal court in Seattle.

“I want to start by wishing everyone a Happy Valentine’s Day,” Himschoot opened. “And if there’s one thing Alaskans love, it’s our fishermen. So we’re going to talk about some fishermen today.”

Himschoot and co-sponsor Ketchikan Representative Dan Ortiz are the only two Southeast Alaskans on the Special Fisheries Committee. Himschoot explained the significance of the troll fleet to the other members.

Read the full article at KCAW