Saving Seafood

ALASKA: Bristol Bay forecast indicates solid run with majority big fish

December 16, 2022 — Bristol Bay last season was complete madness. The final count on sockeye, including numbers from Area M on the South Peninsula, came in at over 82 million fish. And even more impressive, said University of Washington fisheries biologist and Bristol Bay savant Daniel Schindler, was the harvest.

“Obviously the total run was phenomenal, but the catch was even more incredible. To be able to catch and handle over 60 million fish is hard to believe,” Schindler said recently.

Just a few years ago a catch of 60 million fish was not even in the conversation. In fact, the total run in Bristol Bay eclipsed 60 million for the first time in 2018, and last year’s harvest was 170 percent above the average harvest since 1962.

The abundance is a boon for the industry, but it also comes with complications and a certain amount of chaos. Fishermen were taxed to the limit while processors, already struggling with labor shortages, faced logistical challenges from the massive number of fish. On the marketing end, the industry is now tasked with moving a far larger pack than normal.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

With hope and frustration, Bristol Bay awaits the EPA’s final verdict on Pebble

December 14, 2022 — The Environmental Protection Agency has recommended a ban on mining activities in the area around the Pebble deposit. People across Bristol Bay are now waiting for a final decision on the future of the controversial copper and gold prospect.

“I think it sends a real strong message that the science is there; that it’s going to have unacceptable adverse effects on our watershed,” said Gayla Hoseth, the second chief of the Curyung Tribal Council and the natural resources director for the Bristol Bay Native Association.

Hoseth welcomes the move. She said those opposed to the mine have wanted this decision for a long time.

The EPA wants to prohibit the discharge of mining materials in the North and South Fork Koktuli River watersheds, as proposed in Pebble’s permit application. The agency cites its authority under the Clean Water Act to do so. It would extend that prohibition to any future proposals to develop a mine at the Pebble deposit that could result in a similar loss of aquatic resources. The action would effectively kill the mine.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Alaska governor threatens to sue Biden EPA over state land development halt

December 6, 2022 — Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy says he’s prepared to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency if it blocks the development of over 300 miles of Alaska-owned land.

EPA Region 10, which covers Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and hundreds of Tribal Nations, recommended the agency finalize its decision to prohibit development of the Pebble deposit in the Bristol Bay area, the governor said. The EPA has 60 days to make a final determination.

The governor said he was concerned it could set a “dangerous” precedent by laying the foundation that unelected officials could stop the state from doing development projects in areas with wetlands and fish-bearing streams.

Read the full article at The Center Square

The EPA is now one step away from a veto that would ban Pebble mine

December 6, 2022 — Federal regulators are one step away from action that would protect the Bristol Bay watershed and crush the dreams of those who want to see a mine developed to extract ore from the massive Pebble deposit in Southwest Alaska.

Casey Sixkiller, the Region 10 administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency, on Thursday announced he sent a recommendation to EPA headquarters to protect the area by vetoing the proposed mine.

“If affirmed by EPA’s Office of Water during the fourth and final step, this action would help protect salmon fishery areas that support world-class commercial and recreational fisheries, and that have sustained Alaska Native communities for thousands of years, supporting a subsistence-based way of life for one of the last intact wild salmon-based cultures in the world,” he said in a written statement announcing the action.

The announcement is the latest in a long string of setbacks for the Canadian-owned company that wants to mine gold and copper from the Pebble deposit.

Read the full article at KTOO

EPA proposes restrictions to block proposed Alaska mine

December 3, 2022 — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday proposed restrictions that would block plans for a copper and gold mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay region that is home to the world’s largest sockeye salmon run.

A statement from the regional EPA office said discharges of dredged or fill material into the waters of the U.S. within the proposed Pebble Mine footprint in southwest Alaska would “result in unacceptable adverse effects on salmon fishery areas.”

“This action would help protect salmon fishery areas that support world-class commercial and recreational fisheries, and that have sustained Alaska Native communities for thousands of years, supporting a subsistence-based way of life for one of the last intact wild salmon-based cultures in the world,” regional EPA administrator Casey Sixkiller said in a statement.

Read the full at the Associated Press

EPA takes next step on Bristol Bay protection

December 3, 2022 — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency made a key move Dec. 1 toward prohibiting development of the proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay watershed – one more step toward a “final determination” by the agency that would block the mine.

“If affirmed by EPA’s Office of Water, this action would help protect salmon fishery areas that support world-class commercial and recreational fisheries and that have sustained Alaska Native communities for thousands of years, supporting a subsistence-based way of life for one of the last intact wild salmon-based cultures in the world,” said Casey Sixkiller, EPA’s Region 10 administrator, in a statement announcing his recommendation to agency leadership.

Sixkiller transmitted a recommended determination “to prohibit and restrict the use of certain waters in Alaska’s Bristol Bay watershed as disposal sites for certain discharges of dredged or fill material associated with developing the Pebble Deposit.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

ALASKA: Board of Fisheries to consider 15 options to protect Bristol Bay’s Nushagak king salmon runs

December 1, 2022 — The Alaska Department of Fish and Game published a draft plan last week to address the struggling Nushagak king salmon run.

At the statewide Bristol Bay finfish meeting this week, the Board of Fisheries will decide which of those tools to put into an action plan. There could be significant restrictions to fishing in the Nushagak District, and that could have widespread impacts on the entire fishery.

The Nushagak River is on the west side of the commercial fishery. It’s the last place in Bristol Bay where the state still counts king salmon. In recent years, sockeye runs have boomed while king runs have dropped. That’s created a problem for managers, who are tasked with providing fishing opportunity for sockeye and controlling that escapement while also preserving the kings.

The plan organizes potential actions into three sections: commercial, sport and subsistence.

The actions range from continuing management under the status quo to closing the fishery until a certain date. The department lists the benefits and downsides of each action. The commercial fishing division says several of its recommendations could protect kings but that fishermen would lose out economically. It also says some actions could push fishermen into other districts in the fishery.

In October, the state designated Nushagak king salmon as a stock of concern because it has failed to meet the in-river goal of 95,000 fish for five of the last six years. This action plan is the result of that listing. If the king salmon run meets its minimum escapement goal for three years in a row and is expected to continue, the department can remove the designation.

The public will have the chance to weigh in on the plan during the Board of Fish meeting, which started Tuesday at the Dena’ina Center in Anchorage. The meeting is also livestreamed.

Read the full article at Alaska Public Media

ALASKA: Bristol Bay’s boom year

November 21, 2022 — The 2022 sockeye salmon harvest from Bristol Bay broke all records, a flood of fish that far surpassed the last record season in 1995.

“There’s been a lot of good years, but nothing like 2022,” said Andy Wink, executive director of the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association, said at the Washington Maritime Economic Forecast Breakfast session Friday at the Pacific Marine Expo in Seattle.

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

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