Saving Seafood

Looking at budget cuts’ impact on Alaska fisheries

July 17, 2019 — Just under $1 million was cut from the commercial fisheries division of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game under Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s budget vetoes, leaving it with an $85 million budget, half from state general funds.

“To give the governor credit, he recognized the return on investment,” said Doug Vincent-Lang, Fish and Game commissioner. “It’s a theme I had all the way through the Legislature that we take a $200 million budget of which about $50 million is unrestricted general funds and we turn that into an $11 billion return to our state. And I think he got that.”

Vincent-Lang added that Dunleavy also did not veto the travel budget for the Board of Fisheries and its advisory committees.

It’s indefinite still how the budget cuts will play out, and Vincent-Lang said he is trying to avoid staff cuts to the 700 commercial fisheries positions.

“I suspect we may have some but we will try to do that through vacancies and a variety of other things as we have retirements,” he said.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

Alaska ports hope to keep fish tax: ‘We can’t get answers’ says Stutes

July 11, 2019 — One fisheries item that appears to have escaped Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto pen so far is his desire to divert local fish taxes from coastal communities into state coffers.

Dunleavy’s initial budget in February aimed to repeal the sharing of fisheries business and landing taxes that towns and boroughs split 50/50 with the state. Instead, all of the tax revenues would go to the state’s general fund – a loss of $28 million in FY 2020 to fishing communities.

“There is a recognition that these are viewed as shared resources, and they should be shared by Alaskans,” press secretary Matt Shuckerow said at the time. “So that’s kind of what this proposal does. It takes shared resources and shares them with all Alaskans, not just some select communities.”

The tax split remains in place, and the dollars are still destined for fishing towns, said Rep. Louise Stutes (R-Kodiak), who also represents Cordova, Yakutat and several smaller towns.

“It’s general fund revenue and that has been appropriated to the appropriate communities,” Stutes said in a phone interview. “What we can tell right now is it slipped by unscathed because it appears he did not veto that revenue to the communities that generate the dollars. So, it looks like we’re good to go there.”

What’s not so good is the nearly $1 million cut to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s commercial fisheries budget.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Alaska ports hope to keep fish tax: ‘We can’t get answers’ says Stutes

July 10, 2019 — One fisheries item that appears to have escaped Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto pen so far is his desire to divert local fish taxes from coastal communities into state coffers.

Dunleavy’s initial budget in February aimed to repeal the sharing of fisheries business and landing taxes that towns and boroughs split 50/50 with the state. Instead, all of the tax revenues would go to the state’s general fund – a loss of $28 million in FY 2020 to fishing communities.

“There is a recognition that these are viewed as shared resources, and they should be shared by Alaskans,” press secretary Matt Shuckerow said at the time. “So that’s kind of what this proposal does. It takes shared resources and shares them with all Alaskans, not just some select communities.”

The tax split remains in place, and the dollars are still destined for fishing towns, said Rep. Louise Stutes (R-Kodiak), who also represents Cordova, Yakutat and several smaller towns.

“It’s general fund revenue and that has been appropriated to the appropriate communities,” Stutes said in a phone interview. “What we can tell right now is it slipped by unscathed because it appears he did not veto that revenue to the communities that generate the dollars. So, it looks like we’re good to go there.”

What’s not so good is the nearly $1 million cut to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s commercial fisheries budget.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Alaska gives federal agency long Pebble Mine to-do list

July 9, 2019 — If you thought the administration of newly elected Alaska governor Mike Dunleavy would use the US Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE) invitation for comments on its draft environmental impact statement for the proposed Pebble Mine to offer up an unconditional love letter on behalf of the massive copper, gold and molybdenum open pit mine in Bristol Bay, think again.

The state’s Office of Project Management and Permitting (OPMP) instead coordinated with seven state agencies, including the Department of Natural Resources, to submit a tedious 96-page to-do list for the federal agency to satisfy. OPMP’s cover letter offers no opinions about whether the project, which commercial harvesters and others fear will imperil the world’s largest sockeye salmon population, is a positive or negative development.

The letter requests details, for example, about pipeline trenching plans and soil erosion, as well as the contents of drilling muds, the likelihood of turbidity in streams and the potential impact on the lodging industry. It asks for the possible effects on fish from a concentrated spill of metal-laden sediment.

“Although much of the information the state has provided the USACE previously has been incorporated into the DEIS, further work is necessary to ensure potential effects to the human environment from each alternative are adequately evaluated and described in the [final environmental impact statement],” the letter, signed by Kyle Moselle, OPMP’s associate director, wrote.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Coastal communities fight for Alaska’s fish tax

April 3, 2019 — Bills submitted to the Legislature by the governor would remove the ability of towns to keep their share of local fisheries business and landing taxes. For decades, the taxes have been split 50/50 with the state.

Dunleavy has proposed taking all of the funds for state coffers, meaning a combined loss of $29 million to fishing towns come October.

More than 20 mayors, financial officers, harbormasters and fishermen testified at the committee hearing, outlining how the tax grab would devastate coastal Alaska.

“Fisheries is our only industry, and fish tax revenues make up 26 percent of our $31 million general fund revenues, over $8 million annually. We use fish and sales taxes to pay our own way,” said Frank Kelty, mayor of Unalaska/Dutch Harbor, the nation’s top fishing port for over two decades. “If the state takes away the share of fish taxes, who will step up to assist communities across Alaska with projects needed to support the seafood industry, which is the economic engine of all fishery dependent communities?”

Jon Erickson, Yakutat City/Borough manager, said the loss would likely close down the community’s lone fish plant.

“What part of shutting down rural Alaska equates to Alaska is open for business?” he asked, quoting the governor’s new motto for the state.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

 

ALASKA: State seeks delisting of ringed seals under Endangered Species Act

March 28, 2019 — Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration is seeking to remove a seal species from the federal Endangered Species Act, a request which may have ramifications for the future of offshore oil drilling in Alaska.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced Tuesday that it was petitioning the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service to delist the ringed seal. The move has support from the North Slope Borough, Arctic Slope Regional Corp. and Iñupiat Community of the Arctic Slope.

While acknowledging the decline of the seals’ sea ice habitat, documented last year by NOAA’s Arctic Report Card, the Fish and Game statement noted that the ringed seal “continues to occupy the entire circumpolar Arctic, with an abundant population numbering in the millions.” It also questioned the availability of scientific data for the foreseeable future extending to the year 2100, as mentioned in the ringed-seal declaration.

“The best available scientific information now available indicates ringed seals are resilient and adaptable to varying conditions across their enormous range and are likely to adapt to habitat conditions that change over time,” state officials wrote.

NOAA spokeswoman Julie Speegle confirmed Tuesday afternoon that the state’s petition had been received. Its arrival triggers a 90-day deadline for NOAA to “publish a finding in the Federal Register as to whether the petition presents substantial information indicating that the petitioned action may be warranted.”

Read the full story at KTVA

Alaska lawmakers are moving away from Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s budget proposal

March 4, 2019 — Leaders of the Alaska Senate and the Alaska House of Representatives said Friday it appears there is growing support for state budget proposals that include fewer cuts than proposed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy in February.

Dunleavy’s plan to address a $1.6 billion deficit without new taxes or cuts to the Permanent Fund dividend has drawn opposition from supporters of the state’s public education system and state residents who use government services.

The governor’s proposal must be approved by the legislature to become law, but Senate President Cathy Giessel, R-Anchorage, and Speaker of the House Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, say that lawmakers in each body are considering smaller cuts to the state budget, even if the Permanent Fund dividend must be reduced in response.

“We are going to cut the budget, but it’s going to look different from what’s been proposed by the governor,” said Rep. Chuck Kopp, R-Anchorage and chairman of the House Rules Committee.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

Alaska gov. issues gag order on state fish budget

February 27, 2019 — Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration has a full gag order in place at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. All budget questions, no matter how basic, are referred to press secretary Matt Shuckerow. Likewise, queries to the many deputies and assistants at the ADF&G commissioner’s office are deferred to Shuckerow, who did not acknowledge requests for information.

“It isn’t just the media or Alaskans. Legislators are faced with that same gag order,” said Rep. Louise Stutes (R-Kodiak). “I don’t know if the administration is just trying to settle in and thinks that the Legislature is their worst enemy and they want to keep people at bay or what. Hopefully, they will realize that we have to work together. And the sooner we do it, the better relationship we’re going to have.”

Stutes, who is the majority whip in the Alaska Legislature and also chairs both the House Fisheries and Transportation committees, said “the governor has made very few appearances, and nobody can get an appointment with him.”

She confirmed that anyone who meets with Dunleavy must relinquish cell phones, Apple watches and any recording devices.

Dunleavy’s proposed budget for the state’s commercial fisheries division is $69.45 million, a $1.64 million reduction, according to Stutes’ office.

Details are sketchy, but it aims to reorganize and consolidate the Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission into the ADF&G Commercial Fisheries Division. Also, the directors of the Habitat and Subsistence divisions would be moved from ADF&G to the Office of Management and Budget.

Read the full story at the Alaska Journal of Commerce

ALASKA: Governor proposes redirecting money from fishing communities to state

February 22, 2019 — The governor is proposing taking fishing tax money from municipalities and directing it to the state to help balance his budget.

Senate Bill 63, backed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy, would repeal a revenue sharing provision that is written into the state’s fisheries business tax. Should the bill pass, the state coffers would gain an additional $29.1 million in 2020, according to a fiscal note attached to the bill.

Every year, 50 percent of the fisheries business tax revenue is distributed to Alaska’s fishing communities. The amount each community receives hinges on the how much fish was taxed in that community. If SB 63 passes, the revenue sharing program would end. It is one of many bills that are being proposed to change Alaska statutes so that Dunleavy’s budget proposal is feasible.

The City and Borough of Juneau receives about $400,000 annually as part of this fisheries tax revenue sharing program, according to CBJ Finance Director Bob Bartholomew.

Bartholomew says this money is deposited into the Juneau’s harbor fund, which is about $4 million. So this bill would impose a 10 percent hit on the CBJ’s harbor fund.

“We used some revenue bonds to help pay for a commercial loading float at Auke Bay,” Bartholomew said. “That (loss of fisheries tax revenue sharing) is equivalent to the debt service.”

Read the full story at the Juneau Empire

Alaska fishing communities would take hit under Dunleavy proposal to end fish tax revenue-sharing

February 22, 2019 — Gov. Mike Dunleavy proposed legislation this week that would keep commercial fish tax revenue that has for years been shared with Alaska fishing communities in the state’s coffers instead, a move that mayors in some of those cities say would be devastating.

At play are two taxes: Alaska’s fisheries business tax, and the fishery resource landing tax. Dunleavy’s legislation would repeal the fisheries business tax allocation to municipalities and repeal revenue sharing for the fishery resource landing tax. Those shared funds go to local governments in communities where fish processing and landings occur.

Under the proposed bill, about $28 million would stay in the state’s general fund in fiscal year 2020 instead of being shared with communities.

Dunleavy’s plan to close a $1.6 billion state budget deficit includes deep cuts, especially in education and health care, and does not include new taxes. His proposed budget still needs to go through the Legislature.

The fish taxes are crucial to many small Alaska fishing communities. The fisheries business tax is levied on fish caught commercially in Alaska waters, and is based on the price paid to commercial fishermen for the raw resource. The fishery resource landing tax is levied on fish caught commercially in federal waters and landed in Alaska, based on its unprocessed value.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News