Saving Seafood

Alaska’s salmon industry contends with a rumor from China that you can get COVID-19 from seafood

June 19, 2020 — China has stopped imports from European salmon suppliers due to fears of a connection between salmon imports and coronavirus, according to a report by Reuters. State-run newspapers in China reported the coronavirus was discovered on chopping boards used for imported salmon at a market in Beijing. The initial cluster of infections came from the same market, and some fear the discovery of virus there indicates a second wave of the coronavirus in China.

Several fisheries organizations are pushing back against those reports. The National Fisheries Institute compiled statements on Tuesday  from health professionals and agencies like the World Health Organization and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration saying there is no connection between seafood and COVID-19.

Fish marketing experts are assessing how the rumors could affect Alaska salmon’s image in the world. If people think eating salmon could put them at increased risk of contracting the virus — even if that information is incorrect — that could harm markets.

“Any time there’s information or misinformation, we have to wait and see how consumers respond to that,” said Andy Wink, executive director of the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association.

Read the full story at KTOO

ALASKA: Fishermen concerned over Pebble employee appointed to Board of Fisheries

April 9, 2020 — While communities and fishermen in Bristol Bay are facing an immediate challenge in deciding if and how to hold the $300 million salmon fishery in a few weeks, an appointment to the Board of Fisheries is adding to the stress felt by many in the region.

On April 1, Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced appointments to boards and commissions. Among the governor’s appointments is Abe Williams, who is an employee of the Pebble Partnership, the company looking to build a open pit copper, gold and molybdenum mine in Southwest Alaska. According to the company’s preferred alternative plan submitted to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the fully-developed mine site would be more than 8,300 acres, a land area the size of the City of Wasilla.

Williams was born and raised in Naknek, currently lives in Anchorage, and is a fourth-generation Bristol Bay fisherman. However, his position on Pebble Mine has bothered both commercial and sport fishermen in Bristol Bay. Williams is currently the Director of Regional Affairs for the Pebble Partnership.

In 2015, Williams was elected to serve as the Board President for the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association. His election and reports that followed prompted the organization to issue a notice to its members that “The position of the BBRSDA and the near-unanimous views of its 1,650 members are unchanged. A resolution passed by the board of directors in 2014 stating that the BBRSDA opposes large-scale mining in Bristol Bay’s watersheds is, and continues to be, the position of this organization.”

In April of 2019, Williams and five other fishermen sued the BBRSDA for using part of its 1
percent tax collected from the Bristol Bay drift fleet to advocate against the Pebble Mine. The Pebble Partnership funded the lawsuit. The judge dismissed the case the following month.

Read the full story at KTUU

JESSICA HATHAWAY: We’re not going anywhere

April 6, 2020 — As the spread of coronavirus shut down commercial fishing and seafood supply chains and restaurants throughout the country in March, stakeholders on every coast jumped to action to find ways to support local wild fisheries, keep fishermen fishing and put some of the world’s finest protein on the tables of sequestered American consumers.

Although we are not in our offices or traveling to the events and conferences where we get to connect face to face with so many of you, our digital doors are open.

The NF crew is excited to offer our May issue to download or view on the site with no paywall or restrictions. This is an extension of the same offer for our April issue, which is still available.

Read the full opinion piece at National Fisherman

ALASKA: Bristol Bay fishermen urged to delay travel as communities, industry formulate COVID-19 plan

March 27, 2020 — This summer 48.95 million sockeye salmon are forecast to run in Bristol Bay, but with the coronavirus pandemic rapidly expanding in the United States, non-local fishermen are urged to delay traveling to the region while processors, local government leaders and other stakeholders work to formulate a plan to prosecute the fishery in the wake of COVID-19.

On Thursday, the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association, which represents the Bristol Bay drift gillnet fleet, issued its first COVID-19 advisory to the fleet asking that non-local Bristol Bay Fishermen delay travel to the region until at least May 1 and listed the state mandated quarantine protocol for anyone who does travel to Alaska from out of state.

“You do NOT want to be the outsider photographed or seen around town in public spaces if this situation turns for the worst. Such actions could quite literally jeopardize your business, your fishing career, and even personal health. Do not risk it, and make sure your crew does not place your business at risk either,” the BBRSDA advisory said.

Read the full story at KTUU

The China problem: Coronavirus creates a bottleneck for Alaska seafood

March 3, 2020 — Seafood coming from and going to China is piling up in freezer vans and cold storages indefinitely as the coronavirus continues to cause commerce chaos around the world.

Virus precautions mean that many ships can’t get into Chinese ports, others are stuck at docks waiting for workers to return, and still more are idling in “floating quarantined zones,” as countries refuse to allow crews of ships that have docked at Chinese ports to leave the boat until they have been declared virus-free.

Alaska seafood exports to China of nearly $1 billion include products for their own markets, but the bulk goes there for reprocessing and shipment back to the United States and other countries.

“If you have plants that have product coming in and no workers to fill it, you’re going to get that overflowing cold storage situation. So it’s definitely a problem on the reprocessing side. On the consumption side, if people aren’t going out to eat and going out to the market to buy seafood, that’s going to take consumption down as well. So there’s a couple different ways that it’s working against moving seafood through the supply chain,” said Andy Wink, director of the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association and an economist who has tracked world salmon markets for more than a decade.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Groups pledge to fight Pebble Mine with their ‘last penny’

October 10, 2019 — Standing on the steps of the James M. Fitzgerald United States Courthouse in 40-degree Farenheight weather, speaker after speaker behind a banner declaring “Defend Bristol Bay”, lambasted recent federal actions that appear to ready the way for the development of Pebble Mine.

The proposed open-pit gold, copper and molybdenum mine is nearly universally opposed by the fishing industry out of concern that it could imperil salmon stocks in the prolific Bristol Bay fishery, the major driver of the state’s sockeye supply. That passion was on full display at the press conference held to mark the filing of a lawsuit against the US Environmental Protection Agency over its decision to withdraw protections implemented in 2014 under the Clean Water Act that could have posed a hurdle to the proposed mine.

In response to a reporter’s question about the cost of of the federal lawsuit, the plaintiffs — the Bristol Bay Native Association, the Bristol Bay Economic Development Corporation, United Tribes of Bristol Bay, the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association and the Bristol Bay Reserve Association — spoke of the cost of inaction rather than detail a dollar figure.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

ALASKA: Bristol Bay is outgrowing its wastewater infrastructure. Could a fish tax help fix it?

October 2, 2019 — The Bristol Bay Borough has a problem.

In the summer, its population of under 1,000 residents increases exponentially, as processors, fishers and cannery workers travel to work in the fishery. That puts a lot of strain on the outdated sewer system, including how much wastewater the sewage lagoon can hold.

“The end of May, we waited till as long as we could, then we discharged the Naknek lagoons,” said Bristol Bay Borough Public Works Director Roylene Gottschalk, speaking at a borough assembly meeting last month. “We were at nearly four times the capacity at some points. So it did put stress on the system.”

A proposed fisheries business tax is aimed at fixing that problem. The borough assembly voted unanimously in August to put it on the ballot in the borough’s upcoming election.

The measure would place a 1.5% tax on processed fish. That would impact processors in King Salmon, Naknek and South Naknek. Money collected by the tax would help pay for updates to the sewer system, which the borough estimates will cost a total of around $30 million.

Read the full story at KTOO

ALASKA: Opposition to Pebble Strong at Anchorage USACE Hearing

April 19, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — At the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hearing in Anchorage yesterday, there wasn’t enough time to hear everyone who had to speak. Dozens of people remained to testify as the hearing closed. Two-thirds of the public comments given were opposed to the Pebble mine plan and the Draft Environmental Impact Statement.

A press conference prior to the hearing brought Bristol Bay tribes, lodge owners, salmon ecologists, fishermen and other scientists together to call for a better process.

“Bristol Bay residents are outraged that we have been dealing with Pebble for more than a decade. We are sick and tired of the greed and the lies,” said Gayla Hoseth, second chief of the Curyung Tribal Council and director of natural resources for the Bristol Bay Native Association.

“Yet we are here again to comment on an inadequate draft EIS based on Pebble’s incomplete application to build a mine in our pristine environment, because we want to protect this last wild salmon run on earth as it exists today, for this generation and for future generations,” she said.

Dr. Daniel Schindler, professor of Aquatic and Fishery Science at the University of Washington, agreed with Hoseth.

“The reality is, if you put garbage into [an EIS] process, you get garbage out of a process. And what we’re looking at here with the Draft EIS is one that distinctly underestimates risks to fish, to water, and to people. It is junk. The draft EIS should be thrown out. It makes some critical assumptions that basically make it an illegitimate assessment of risks to fish and water and people in Bristol Bay.”

Melanie Brown, a fourth generation Naknek River setnetter, was angry with the way members of the fishing industry have been treated by Pebble and the Corps of Engineers.

”They come in there with nothing to lose, selling a fantasy that we can dig a giant acid-generating pit upstream of some of the most prolific salmon habitat in the world and somehow the fish will be better for it,” Brown said.

“Rushing forward and disregarding the real and thoughtful concerns of those of us with everything to lose is not how the public process should be handled. Commercial Fishermen for Bristol Bay are proud to join thousands of Alaskans who have come out time and time again to save Bristol Bay from this ridiculous proposal.”

Earlier this month, Pebble Partnership admitted to financing a lawsuit brought by six fishermen against the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association, an association of which each plaintiff is a member.

BBRSDA’s most recent response to the suit called it a “desperate attempt to muzzle a fishermen’s organization during the Pebble mine’s public comment period, which ends on May 30. Most importantly, the projects in question fall within our statutory purposes and advance our mission of maximizing the value of the Bristol Bay fishery.”

The post on the BBRSDA’s website noted that Mike Heatwole, a spokesman for Pebble, said the mining developer agreed to fund the lawsuit because the fishermen have limited funds.

“Ironically, the complaint alleges that BBRSDA’s actions related to the Pebble Mine negatively impacts the plaintiffs, when in fact we strongly believe it benefits their fishing businesses,” the post reads.

“We’d like people to understand that the BBRSDA is more than just seafood advertising. We were created as a Development association, not just a Marketing association or an Advertising non-profit.

“Our primary purpose is the promotion of regional seafood products and like our namesake, the word ‘promote’ has a broad definition: ‘to contribute to the growth or prosperity of.’ We undertake a variety of activities that fit within our statutory purposes and collectively function to raise the value of the fishery.

“Scrutinizing plans for an enormous open-pit mine at the headwaters of this fishery, which could seriously damage the marketability and abundance of this fishery, clearly seeks to protect this fishery’s prosperity. We are also very concerned the mine will cause reputational damage to the fishery, undermining our substantial ongoing investment in branding and marketing Bristol Bay sockeye,” the group said.

This year’s harvest for sockeye salmon at Bristol Bay is projected to be 28 million fish. Noting the current value of Bristol Bay salmon, the association acknowledged what is behind it.

“Investments made by fishermen, processors, and the BBRSDA in marketing, quality, and sustainability are paying off and meeting the mission of maximizing fishery value. The value of Bristol Bay sockeye averaged $156 million from 2012-2016, but exceeded $270 million in each of the past two years,” the group wrote on the BBRSDA website.

“This is the most valuable wild salmon fishery in the world. It has a terrific opportunity to occupy a large, premium niche in the global salmon market, and we are working to realize that future. The Pebble Mine seriously threatens this fishery’s bright future,” they concluded.

This story was originally published on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

ALASKA: Siding with the mine: Bristol Bay fishermen team up with Pebble

April 10, 2019 — A group of Bristol Bay fishermen has filed suit to stop the region’s seafood marketing group from spending funds that they say are aimed at fighting the development of Pebble Mine. The mine’s developer is footing the bill for the lawsuit.

Gary Nielsen, Trefim Andrew, Tim Anelon, Henry Olympic, and Abe and Braden Williams claim the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association is using $250,000 on efforts to stop the mine. That money is earmarked for marketing local fish, and is being “unlawfully spent,” they say.

“The mine presents a significant threat to this fishery’s bright future, especially if the process is going to omit rigorous scientific analysis and ignore the inconvenient concerns of downstream stakeholders,” said Andy Wink, the association’s executive director.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

ALASKA: Pebble backs lawsuit to halt Bristol Bay seafood association’s funding for anti-mine groups

April 9, 2019 — Six Bristol Bay commercial fishermen are suing a regional seafood association they belong to, challenging over $250,000 in contracts it made with groups that advocate against the proposed Pebble Mine.

The Pebble Limited Partnership confirmed it is paying for the litigation.

The plaintiffs — Trefim Andrew, Tim Anelon, Gary Nielsen, Henry Olympic, Abe Williams and Braden Williams — are challenging the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association’s recent contracts with SalmonState and the United Tribes of Bristol Bay. Both SalmonState and UTBB are ardent Pebble opponents.

In their complaint, the plaintiffs allege the lawsuit is justified because BBRSDA can only use its funding to market seafood, based on the state statute that allowed for its creation.

BBRDSA leaders said they believe the lawsuit is designed to limit their participation in the ongoing federal public comment period for the proposed Pebble Mine.

“Consumers choose to pay more for wild sockeye salmon because it’s a healthy, abundant, premium wild salmon species from a pristine and unspoiled environment,” BBRSDA executive director Andy Wink said in a statement. “The Pebble Mine could jeopardize that, and at the very least we believe it’s important to engage in the permitting process so that if the mine does proceed, it’s built with adequate safeguards for fisherman, residents, and sockeye consumers.”

BBRDSA characterized its contracts with SalmonState and UTBB as funding for “educational efforts.”

Read the full story at KTOO