Saving Seafood

Fear and fishing: Tiny Alaskan village tries to manage influx of commercial fishermen amid COVID-19

June 24, 2020 — “It’s just how the earth is supposed to be,” says third-generation commercial fishing boat captain Katherine Carscallen. She’s talking about her homeland, Bristol Bay, Alaska. Every June and July, more than half of the world’s supply of sockeye salmon are pulled from these waters.

It sounds excessive, but it’s not; in a highly regulated practice, thousands of fish are left to return home and spawn, allowing the industry to support the region for generations.

The yearly salmon fishery brings in an estimated $200 million in direct revenue to the community of Bristol Bay, says Norm Van Vactor, president and CEO of Bristol Bay Economic Development Corporation.

“Overall, it’s a multi-billion dollar fishery,” he says of the thousands of fisherman who come from all over the world to fish for salmon. On average, 10,000 fishermen come each year — but oftentimes that number is upwards of 15,000. In addition, 6,000 fish processing workers also descend on the tiny community.

Read the full story at ABC News

ALASKA: Bristol Bay leaders cautiously optimistic, but ask state for fishery closure if protocol can’t be met

April 17, 2020 — Friday, Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s communications director provided the following statement responding to the letter from the Bristol Bay Working Group:

“The State of Alaska continues to build testing capacity every day. Currently, testing capacity is not available to meet the requests made by the Bristol Bay work group, however, work is underway with communities, businesses, and all stakeholders in search of a balance that protects Alaskans and gives our critical fishing industry an opportunity to exist during upcoming fishing seasons.”

Leaders of several major organizations in Bristol Bay say they are more confident that a salmon season may be held safely this summer, but have joined in asking Gov. Mike Dunleavy to close the fishery if certain requirements can’t be met.

Wednesday evening, the Bristol Bay Working Group sent a letter to Gov. Mike Dunleavy calling on him to close the Bristol Bay fishery for 2020 if the steps it outlined earlier in the month cannot be met. The group comprises leaders of the Bristol Bay Housing Authority, Bristol Bay Economic Development Corporation, Bristol Bay Native Association, Bristol Bay Native Corporation, Bristol Bay Area Health Corporation and United Tribes of Bristol Bay.

The group’s protocols outlined in the letter include testing for people coming into the region, both before traveling to Bristol Bay and after arriving, as well as continued health screenings and other precautions.

“In the intervening two weeks, very little has happened,” said Norm Van Vactor, CEO of the Bristol Bay Economic Development Corporation. “We’re sensing as community members that this freight train that’s bearing down on us is not slowed down, and to some extent has accelerated.

Read the full story at KTUU

Bristol Bay community leaders lay out minimum protocol needed to allow salmon season

April 7, 2020 — Leaders of several major community organizations in Bristol Bay have issued a list of minimum protocols they expect to be in place before the commercial salmon fishery can take place this summer.

Among other the protocol listed, fishermen and other seasonal workers would undergo a physical exam including a COVID-19 test with a negative result no more than 48 hours before traveling to the region. After arriving in Bristol Bay, the individuals would be transported to a quarantine location and remain in quarantine until a follow-up negative COVID-19 test is confirmed. The leaders listed out other expectations, including weekly health screenings, for the seafood industry to establish as minimum protocol for the 2020 season.

“We were hearing up until we came up with our own position statement for the lack of a better word, was that what everybody was advocating for was really based around quarantine – the 14 day quarantine period. That seemed to be what was going to fix everything and make us all comfortable. The reality is, our opinion is that it’s going to take multiple types of protocol, so we think that COVID-19 testing, in combination with quarantine gives us the lowest level of risk,” Norm Van Vactor, CEO of the Bristol Bay Economic Development Corporation said. “There’s still some risk there, and at the end of the day, our communities are going to have to decide whether even that level of risk is acceptable.”

Read the full story at KTUU

Coronavirus places 2020 Alaska salmon fishery ‘in question’, exec worries

April 2, 2020 — The escalating COVID-19 crisis places the 2020 Alaska salmon fishery in question, as the industry works on solutions to getting thousands of workers to the remote state without spreading the highly infectious coronavirus.

As many as 15,000 workers can descend on Alaska from the other US states and overseas for the season, but numbers are expected to be lower than this in 2020, if indeed the industry can find a workable solution, sources told Undercurrent News.

“If you asked me a month ago that a situation like this would be possible, that I was contemplating that the successful prosecution of our 2020 salmon fishery couldn’t take place, I would not have believed you,” said Norm Van Vactor, executive director of the Bristol Bay Economic Development Corporation (BBEDC), a community development quota group, which owns half of processor Ocean Beauty Seafoods.

“If you know what we know today — and we don’t know a lot — then the prosecution of the fishery is in question,” Van Vactor told Undercurrent. “I’m optimistic that if we all pull together — understanding that communities are going to put health and public safety first, and that’s the foundation of how we move forward — we can make it happen, to some extent.”

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

ALASKA: Pushing back on Pebble: Scientific community and Bristol Bay leaders offer testimony

April 3, 2019 — Nobody was fooling at the Alaska State House Resources Committee hearing on Monday, April 1, to address concerns about the proposed plan for Pebble Mine in Bristol Bay.

“If Pebble goes in, the Bristol Bay Sockeye brand and the entire Alaska Seafood brand will be tarnished,” said Norm Van Vactor, CEO of the Bristol Bay Economic Development Corporation. “The state of Alaska has invested millions into building these brands and establishing Alaska as a premium brand in the marketplace. That brand is based on pristine habitat, sustainability, and high quality, not open-pit mining districts and acid mine drainage.”

Bristol Bay residents, fisheries leaders and scientific experts offered testimony about a range of inadequacies in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers draft Environmental Impact Statement, as well as the economic, social and environmental value of Bristol Bay’s salmon watersheds that would be at risk under the proposed plan.

“They did not assess the risk appropriately. The draft Environmental Impact Statement is misleading about the probability of a [catastrophic tailings dam]failure,” said Dr. Cameron Wobus, a senior scientist at Lynker Technologies who authored a report on tailings dam failure scenarios.

The draft’s 20-year time line, scientists say, is too short to evaluate the long-term risks. A 100-year analysis would have been more transparent, because the tailings dam has a 1 in 5 chance of failing over a century.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

 

Alaska gears up for new round of Pebble Mine fight

October 12, 2017 — As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers removing limitations against a proposed mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay region, opponents of the measure are making their stances known.

With less than a week before the EPA’s 17 October deadline for public comment, more than 40 Democratic House and Senate members sent a letter to President Donald Trump urging him to maintain Clean Water Act restrictions against the proposed copper and gold mine in the southeastern part of the state. In addition, a group of business leaders formed a coalition that pledges to defend the fishing industry it says would be harmed by the mine.

“Bristol Bay’s sustainable salmon resource is the foundation of our region’s economy, food security, and culture,” said Norm Van Vactor, president of the Bristol Bay Economic Development Corporation in a statement released by Businesses for Bristol Bay. “The proposed Pebble Mine threatens all of this and would only provide a limited number of jobs for a limited number of years.  It’s not worth the risk to the people, fishermen, and businesses of Bristol Bay.  Our region has said it before and we’ll keep saying it – the Pebble Mine is the wrong mine in the wrong place.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source