Saving Seafood

Citations surge during Bristol Bay sockeye season

July 12, 2024 — Commercial fishing citations during the Bristol Bay sockeye season are ramping up. During the sockeye run, Alaska State Troopers come to the area from all around the state to patrol the commercial fishermen and ensure all rules and areas are followed. Due to the many regulations, some waters remain closed during certain periods while others are open. State Troopers reported that most of the violations in the area are due to commercial fishing in the closed areas.

“We have troopers in from Kodiak, other parts of western Alaska, as well as South Central and even interior Alaska, flown in during this special enforcement period, which occurs every year during the largest sockeye salmon fishery in the world,” spokesperson Austin McDaniel told KDLG Dillingham, Alaska.

An estimated 2.2 billion dollars is earned annually from the Bristol Bay sockeye salmon industry. Over 1500 commercial fishing boats are registered in the bay, all competing for the 2024 catch. Before the season began, Silver Bay Seafoods posted a pre-season price for Bristol Bay sockeye, an unexpected move from a processor. They announced that fishermen delivering chilled Bristol Bay fish to their processing facility would receive $1.10 per pound, with a bonus on top of that price for fish that had been bled.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

ALASKA: Bristol Bay sockeye season starting as predicted with lower catch

July 12, 2024 — Sockeye salmon fishing in Alaska’s Bristol Bay is, as predicted, off to a slower start this fishing season.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) 2024 Bristol Bay sockeye salmon forecast predicted a run of roughly 39 million sockeye salmon, down from the 54.5 million in 2023. AFD&G’s predicted run for 2023 was 49.7 million sockeye, and the state agency acknowledged that its preseason forecasts have generally under-forecast the actual run by 15 percent.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

ALASKA: Fire reduces new Bristol Bay floating fish processor’s capacity

July 8, 2024 — An electrical fire has damaged one of three spiral freezers aboard Northline Seafoods’ new floating fish processor Hannah, which is anchored in Bristol Bay’s Nushagak district this salmon season.

The vessel is currently operating at a reduced capacity after Sunday’s blaze, and other processors are taking on some of Northline’s fleet.

During a recent visit to the Hannah, a steady stream of frozen, whole fish emerged from a large spiral freezer. Each fish landing on a conveyor belt was whisked away to the next stage in the production line.

These frozen fish were some of the first sockeye salmon deliveries of the season from Bristol Bay fishing vessels to the Hannah, Northline’s brand-new floating freezer barge in the region.

From there they made their way to grading belts, where they were sorted by size and then placed into cold storage for processing later in the year.

“So it goes through a spiral freezer, where it goes in the bottom, exits out the top, gets graded, and that goes into a box,” said Northline CEO Ben Blakey.

Blakey said it just takes a few hours for the spiral freezers to bring the fish down to their desired core temperatures. The idea is that freezing fish at these ultra-low temperatures — and freezing quickly — makes a big difference in maintaining quality.

Read the full article at Alaska Public Media

Bristol Bay salmon would benefit from added protection in federal law

May 29, 2024 — As we write, tens of millions of salmon are swimming their way back to Bristol Bay. And for the second year running, those who work the 15,000 jobs the salmon provide each year can celebrate that the proposed Pebble mine no longer threatens to contaminate the headwaters of the greatest wild sockeye salmon fishery in the world.

At least for now.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued Clean Water Act protections for this amazing fishery in January 2023. That news was welcomed by residents of the region and scores of businesses that are reliant upon the Bristol Bay fishery, along with its $2.2 billion annual economic impact. Since then, Pebble and the state of Alaska have filed four lawsuits in an attempt to keep this ill-conceived, acid-producing mine on life support. Math and science aren’t on their side — not only would the mine irreversibly harm a fishery that could, if not contaminated, continue to produce and provide jobs for centuries to come, but the state of Alaska made a basic math error in one of its lawsuits, leading it to inflate the amount they’re suing American taxpayers for by $630 billion. Clearly, those seeking to exploit Bristol Bay at the risk of its sustainable fishery aren’t taking “no” for an answer.

Read the full article at the Alaska Beacon

Peltola pushes bill to permanently block Pebble mine in Alaska

May 2, 2024 — Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola of Alaska on Wednesday introduced legislation to permanently block mining in her home state’s pristine Bristol Bay, one of the world’s premier salmon fisheries.

Peltola’s “Bristol Bay Protection Act” would codify EPA’s veto last year of the proposed Pebble mine under the Clean Water Act in the Bristol Bay region of southwest Alaska. EPA at the time said its decision was based on decades of research showing discharges tied to the mine would have adverse effects on salmon fishery areas within the Bristol Bay watershed.

“I came to DC to stand up for fish — to make fishing and the livelihoods of our fishing communities the national issue it deserves to be,” the congresswoman said, adding that entire communities rely on Bristol Bay’s watershed for subsistence, which is deeply interwoven into their social and cultural practices.

Read the full story at E&E News

Controversial mine project sues over EPA veto

March 18, 2024 — In a statement Friday, the Pebble Partnership alleged the EPA’s veto was issued before the completion of the permitting process.

Rather than waiting for the Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE) permitting process to conclude, the EPA made its decision under a provision of the Clean Water Act that allows it to restrict mining activity in the Bristol Bay watershed.

The bay contains the world’s single largest sockeye salmon fishery.

Read the full article at The Hill

Regional council opposes further regulations in Bristol Bay savings area

March 12, 2024 — At their February meeting, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council decided not to move forward with the request to close the Bristol Bay red king crab 4000-square nautical mile saving area to all commercial fishing. The council investigated the effectiveness of closing this eastern Bering Sea section to commercial trawl, pot, and longline fishing. However, they advised that they will not tighten regulations in this area.

The savings box was established in 1996 as a haven for red king crabs. However, other fishing, such as midwater/ pelagic trawlers, pot fishing, and longlining, is allowed in the area. According to the AFDG Status of King Crab Stocks, the area is closed to bottom trawling. The year after the saving box was established, the mature male red king crab stock increased from 8.5 million to 10.5 million.

According to KUCB, at this meeting, the Council also evaluated a pot gear closure of a large section in the eastern portion of Bristol Bay, known as Area 512, to address drops in the Bristol Bay red king crab stock. Trawling has also previously been prohibited in that area.

Read the full article at The National Fisherman

Debate over Pebble mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay region moves to dueling Supreme Court briefs

November 16, 2023 — The company trying to build a huge copper and gold mine in the salmon-rich Bristol Bay will keep fighting for the project, despite a decision by the federal government to keep the proposed development site off-limits to large-scale metals mining.

John Shively, chief executive officer of the Pebble Limited Partnership, made that vow in a presentation at the Alaska Miners Association annual convention in Anchorage.

He said the Pebble mine had the potential to transform the economy and improve lives in the rural Bristol Bay region, just as he said the Red Dog Mine, one of the world’s biggest zinc producers, has done in Northwest Alaska.

“That’s why we’re still fighting this. The resources are there. We’re still here. We’re not going anywhere,” he told the convention audience in his presentation on Thursday.

The company’s fight is backed by the administration of Gov. Mike Dunleavy. At his direction, the state in July filed a lawsuit directly to the U.S. Supreme Court to try to overturn a decision by the Environmental Protection Agency that bars permitting for any Pebble-type mine in key areas of the Bristol Bay watershed.

Dunleavy, in brief remarks earlier this week at the miners’ convention, expressed pride in his support of the controversial project.

“I was told if I supported Pebble, I would never win another election. Well, I don’t know. I’m here. I’m still here,” he said on Tuesday, drawing applause from the audience. The Republican governor was handily reelected last November.

The EPA decision invoked a rarely used provision in the Clean Water Act to preclude any wetlands permit for the project. The agency determined that the Pebble mine posed an unacceptable risk to the Bristol Bay watershed, essential to a region with the world’s largest sockeye salmon runs and with major fisheries and wildlife populations that depend on that salmon.

To help reverse that decision, the Pebble Limited Partnership and its owner, Vancouver-based Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd., in September filed an amicus brief in support of the state’s Supreme Court effort. Filing supportive briefs, too, were the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority and numerous Alaska and national resource-development groups.

Read the full article at the Alaska Beacon