Saving Seafood

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: Fisheries managers announce crab quotas, season closures

October 8, 2019 — With the fishing season starting next week, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game has released crab quotas for Bristol Bay and the Bering Sea.

The total allowable catch for red king crab is 3.8 million pounds. That’s about 12 percent less than last season, which was already the lowest since 1996.

Meanwhile, the tanner crab season has been closed entirely due to below-threshold estimates of mature males.

Managers have also canceled the St. Matthew Island blue king crab fishery, which has been declared “overfished,” and continued the longtime closures for Pribilof Island red and blue king crab, which have fallen below federal minimums for two decades.

Read the full story at Alaska Public Media

ALASKA: Fishermen catch 2 billionth sockeye salmon in Bristol Bay this year

October 3, 2019 — This year, during the fishery’s second largest harvest on record, Bristol Bay commercial fishermen hit another historic number: the 2 billionth sockeye salmon caught by commercial fishermen since record-keeping began in the late 1800s.

“It wasn’t supposed to happen this fast, but the last couple of seasons had huge returns,” said Nushagak/Togiak Area Management biologist Timothy Sands.

2019 was the fifth consecutive year that more than 50 million sockeye salmon returned to Bristol Bay.

In 2018, fishermen caught 41.9 million sockeye out of a record overall return of 62.3 million sockeye. In 2019, fishermen caught 43 million sockeye during a return of 56.5 million sockeye, meaning this year fishermen caught a higher percentage of the total return. (All rivers met their escapement goals — the amount of salmon swimming upriver necessary to ensure healthy future runs.)

Read the full story at the Juneau Empire

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

Voicing the Stories of Women in Alaska Fisheries

October 2, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Alaska women’s experience and knowledge are fundamental to the social, cultural, economic, and ecological sustainability of Bristol Bay salmon fisheries, a new NOAA Fisheries study finds.

This study used oral history and visual ethnography methods to provide a means for women to voice their stories about the importance of fishery resources in their communities. We used this approach to capture their knowledge to inform fisheries management, preserve cultural diversity, and share with communities. The interview audio and video shorts are available on NOAA’s new Voices from the Fisheries website.

The study, a collaboration with the Bristol Bay Native Association (BBNA), is focused on the daily life and fishing practices of Alaska Native fisherwomen in the Bristol Bay area.

“Bristol Bay is an ideal place to explore women’s roles in fisheries because women are highly engaged in its salmon fisheries,” said Anna Lavoie, a scientist with NOAA Fisheries who led the research. “Women own over 30% of commercial set net permits there. In Alaska women are very proactive in promoting conservation and sustainability. There should be avenues for incorporating women’s knowledge into resource management. They are actively engaged in fisheries but there is very little information available about their experience and contributions.”

Read the full release here

Murkowski questions data gaps on Alaska’s Pebble Mine

September 30, 2019 — On Thursday, Sept. 26, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski released a report calling for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to take its time to address the concerns of key state and federal agencies, as well as the region’s stakeholders, before submitting its decision on permitting for Pebble Mine near Alaska’s Bristol Bay.

The Army Corps of Engineers announced this week that it would perform a “thorough and transparent review” before issuing its final decision.

The announcement came after Murkowski again raised questions about the EPA’s criticism of the Army Corps’ Draft Environmental Impact Statement, including data gaps and inaccurate statements.

“If the data, if the science out there that has been raised by these agencies can’t demonstrate that you can have a successful mining project in an area that is as sensitive as the Bristol Bay watershed, then a permit should not issue,” Murkowski said.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Hugely successful Alaskan sockeye season smashes regional value records

September 27, 2019 — Alaskan salmon fishermen on the shores of Bristol Bay have enjoyed one of their most successful harvesting seasons on record, according to preliminary reports from Alaska’s Department of Fish and Game.

In 2019, the bay saw a total return of 56.5 million sockeye salmon, making it the fourth-largest return in the fishery’s 130-year history, as well as the fifth consecutive year with a return of more than 50m specimens.

Furthermore, fishermen in the Bristol Bay area harvested over 43m sockeye in 2019, the second-largest figure on record. When combined with catches of other salmon species, they netted a record-breaking $306m, nearly double the 20-year average.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

ALASKA: Murkowski says Pebble mine shouldn’t be permitted unless data ‘gaps’ get explained

September 25, 2019 — Sen. Lisa Murkowski last week expressed strong concerns about the permitting process for the Pebble copper and gold mine, saying at an event organized by a mine opponent that Pebble should not be permitted unless key questions are answered.

The Environmental Protection Agency and other agencies have raised “justifiable” issues with the Army Corps of Engineers’ 1,400-page draft review of the project’s potential impacts, she said.

“We have read what the EPA has said, and their very strong criticism of inadequacy of statements that just didn’t hold up, of data that wasn’t sufficient,” she said Sept. 18.

“So I look at that and say if the data, if the science out there that has been raised by these agencies can’t demonstrate that you can have a successful mining project in an area that is as sensitive as the Bristol Bay watershed then a permit should not issue,” she said.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

ALASKA: Bristol Bay sets record value for 2019 salmon harvest

September 25, 2019 — Bristol Bay salmon fishermen are set to take home their biggest paychecks ever.

The 2019 preliminary ex-vessel (dockside) value of $306.5 million for all salmon species ranks first in the history of the fishery, and was 248 percent of the 20-year average of $124 million, according to a statement from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

The 2019 sockeye salmon run of 56.5 million fish was the fourth largest, and also the fifth consecutive year that inshore runs topped 50 million fish.

The all-species salmon harvest of 44.5 million is the second largest on record, after the 45.4 million taken in 1995. This year over 43 million of the Bristol Bay salmon harvest was sockeyes.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

ALASKA: Warmer waters threaten to make the commercial salmon fishery less predictable

September 18, 2019 — “Unpredictable” is the way salmon managers describe Alaska’s 2019 salmon season, with “very, very interesting” as an aside.

The salmon fishery is near its end, and a statewide catch of nearly 200 million salmon is only 6% off what Alaska Department of Fish and Game number crunchers predicted, and it is on track to be the eighth largest since 1975.

The brightest spot of the season was the strong returns of sockeye salmon that produced a catch of over 55 million fish, the largest since 1995 and the fifth consecutive year of harvests topping 50 million reds. The bulk of the sockeye catch – 43.2 million – came from Bristol Bay, the second largest on record.

It was a roller coaster ride in many regions where unprecedented warm weather threw salmon runs off kilter and also killed large numbers of fish that were unable to swim upstream to their spawning grounds. Many salmon that made it to water faced temperatures of 75 degrees or more in some regions.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News