Saving Seafood

ALASKA: In a Bering Sea battle of killer whales vs. fishermen, the whales are winning

June 20, 2017 — In the Bering Sea, near the edge the continental shelf, fishermen are trying to escape a predator that seems to outwit them at every turn, stripping their fishing lines and lurking behind their vessels.

The predators are pods of killer whales chasing down the halibut and black cod caught by longline fishermen. Fishermen say the whales are becoming a common sight — and problem — in recent years, as they’ve gone from an occasional pest to apparently targeting the fishermen’s lines.

Fishermen say they can harvest 20,000 to 30,000 pounds of halibut in a single day, only to harvest next to nothing the next when a pod of killer whales recognizes their boat. The hooks will be stripped clean, longtime Bering Sea longliner Jay Hebert said in a phone interview this week. Sometimes there will be just halibut “lips” still attached to hooks — if anything at all.

“It’s kind of like a primordial struggle,” fisherman Buck Laukitis said about the orcas last week. “It comes at a real cost.”

The whales seem to be targeting specific boats, fisherman Jeff Kauffman said in a phone interview. FV Oracle Captain Robert Hanson said juvenile whales are starting to show up, and he thinks the mothers are teaching the young to go for the halibut and black cod the fishermen are trying to catch.

Hanson, a fisherman who’s worked in the Bering Sea since 1992, said the orca problem has become “systemic” in recent years. There are more pods present, he said, and the animals are getting more aggressive.

In a letter he sent to the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council last month, Hanson described a series of challenges he faced in recent years. On a trip to the continental shelf in April he said his crew was “harassed nonstop.” He wrote that they lost approximately 12,000 pounds of sellable halibut to the whales and wasted 4,000 gallons of fuel trying to outrun them.

Read the full story at Alaska Dispatch News

Alaskan appointed to head U.S. fisheries management for NOAA

June 20, 2017 — Chris Oliver of Anchorage has been appointed to manage fisheries nationally for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Trump administration announced Tuesday.

Oliver has since 2000 led the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council, for which he has worked for 27 years. He gained broad support for the position from fisheries groups and members of Alaska’s congressional delegation.

Oliver’s first day as assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries was Tuesday. He relocated to the Washington area for the job. The position is a political appointment but does not require Senate confirmation.

Oliver said in a statement that he plans “to make long-term sustainability the top priority, while looking for ways to maximize fishing opportunities for the benefit of recreational and commercial fishermen, processors, coastal communities, and the economies which depend upon them.”

“Oliver’s background and expertise will be an asset at NOAA Fisheries as they work to reduce our nation’s $11 billion seafood trade deficit,” said Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

The agency is responsible for managing sustainable U.S. fisheries under the Department of Commerce, as well as recovery and protection of species of whales, sea turtles and corals.

Read the full story at Alaska Dispatch News

Chris Oliver Appointed to Lead NOAA Fisheries

June 20, 2017 — Chris Oliver, the former Executive Director of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, has the support of much of the commercial fishing industry. Earlier this year, over 55 companies and fishing organizations, including several National Coalition for Fishing Communities members, wrote to the Trump Administration in support of Mr. Oliver’s nomination.

The following release was published today by NOAA:

Today, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, with concurrence from the White House, named Chris Oliver Assistant Administrator for NOAA Fisheries. The Texas native assumed his new position on June 19, taking the helm from Acting Assistant Administrator Samuel Rauch who will return to his position as the Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs.

As the agency’s new Assistant Administrator, Oliver will oversee the management and conservation of recreational and commercial fisheries including some aspects of marine aquaculture, the preservation and maintenance of safe sources of seafood, and the protection of marine mammals, marine protected species, and coastal fisheries habitat within the U.S. exclusive economic zone. He will also manage an agency with a strong presence nationally with 4,800 people in five regional offices, six science centers, and 24 labs and fish stations in 15 states and U.S. territories.

Oliver most recently served as Executive Director of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, a position he held for the past 16 years. He has been with the Council since 1990, also serving as a fisheries biologist and then deputy director. During his tenure as executive director he led the way on several cutting edge management initiatives, including development of limited access privilege programs and fishery cooperatives and catch share programs, the North Pacific’s comprehensive onboard observer program, numerous bycatch reduction programs, extensive habitat protection measures, commercial and recreational allocation programs, and coastal community development programs. He was also responsible for all administrative and operational aspects of the Council process, and lead staffer for legislative and international issues.

“I understand how important stakeholder involvement, transparency, and best available science are to making the right policy decisions and I plan to ensure those tenets of the Magnuson-Stevens Act are applied across the board while I am leading the agency,” he said. “I intend to rely heavily upon the regional expertise of the eight fishery management Councils and the associated NOAA Fisheries Regions and Science Centers, and to ensure they have the resources necessary to effectively tackle region-specific issues.”

Through his long-time participation in the Council Coordination Committee and various international regional fishery management organizations, Oliver gained extensive knowledge of the national and international fisheries issues facing the agency.

Originally from Rockport, Texas, Oliver was also a Research Associate at Texas A&M University from 1987-1990, working with federal and state agencies on management issues associated with Gulf of Mexico shrimp fisheries, giving him both personal and professional experience with fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico. He holds a BBA in Business Management and a Master’s degree in Fisheries Science, both from Texas A&M. Oliver enjoys many outdoor activities and is an avid hunter and fisherman. He and his wife Maggie of 34 years have two sons, Christopher and Nicholas.

“I look forward to leading NOAA Fisheries and working with our partners to rebuild U.S. fisheries and conserve and recover protected resources where necessary, promote domestic marine aquaculture production where appropriate, maintain our reputation for world-renowned science and analysis, and do so while maximizing fishing opportunities for the benefit of recreational and commercial fishermen, processors, and the coastal communities which depend on them for generations to come,” said Oliver.

Read the release from NOAA

Changes to Halibut Fishery in the Bering Sea Being Considered by North Pacific Council

June 16, 2017 — SEAFOOD NEWS — At their June meeting last week, the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council moved forward on a regulatory amendment to allow Western Alaska Community Development Quota (CDQ) groups to lease halibut IFQ during times of low abundance.

The issue has been before the council since December 2015; last week the 11-member panel selected a preferred alternative for further analysis.

Low relative abundance has been an issue throughout the range of Pacific halibut since 2010 or so when the phenomenon of lower size at age became widely discussed. That years-long event, marked by successive generations of halibut not reaching sizes they have in the past at advanced ages, appears to have leveled out in recent years.

Both Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) and CDQ are issued in units which are converted to pounds, so the problem of lower pounds to fish, in a region defined by few processing plants and vast distances between fishing ports where product is processed and the markets that buy it, continues to affect residents of the Pribilofs and the Aleutian Islands.

In 2015, the issue reached a critical point when the International Pacific Halibut Commission’s (IPHC) stock assessment and harvest policy justified some half a million pounds of halibut in an area where over a million was required to run the plants and allow the fleet to go fishing.

The IPHC’s method for setting annual catch limits uses an equation that removes from the total biomass mortalities that are estimated by each country the year before, for example subsistence removals and bycatch removals.

In the Bering Sea, removals of halibut bycatch in the pursuit of flatfish and P-cod, amounted to 4.6 million pounds, nearly 14 percent of all halibut caught by the directed fishery in both countries that year. Catch limits went down from there in 2016. Additionally, most of the bycatch was smaller than 32-inches, which is the legal limit for the directed fishery.

In June 2015 the Council recognized the need to reduce bycatch in the Bering Sea and set goals for each fishing sector. The Amendment 80 fleet, targeting flatfish that inhabit the same sea floor as halibut, exceeded their reduction targets in the following years.

Any savings in the over 26-inch portion of the groundfish fleets’ halibut bycatch translates the following year as increased catch limits to the directed halibut fleet in the Bering Sea. Any savings of under 26-inch fish is taken into account by the IPHC’s annual stock assessments and improves the overall abundance of the species in that area and other areas affected by out-migration and recruitment to the biomass.

The action taken by the Council to allow CDQ groups to lease IFQ is seen as a stop-gap measure only in times of severely low abundance and until the Council completes their work on shifting the managment of halibut bycatch from a set Prohibited Species Catch (PSC) to an Abundance Based Management (ABM) scheme.

That effort continues at the Council with a step-wise process to establish first, indices that answer the question “Abundance of what?”, for instance just in the Bering Sea, or also the Aleutians or Gulf of Alaska, and a starting point that answers the question “Where do we begin measuring the ratio of what we’re catching with what is out there?”

Analyses will be done this summer for the Council’s consideration and further action at the October meeting.

This story originally appeared on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

Moving Tribute Marks Oliver’s Last Council Meeting

June 6, 2017 — SEAFOOD NEWS — Chris Oliver, executive director of the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council and soon to be head of the National Marine Fisheries Service, did not want a going away party and his staff assured him they would not throw one during his last fisheries council meeting.

But shortly after the agency “B” reports yesterday morning, members of the Council’s Advisory Panel, the Scientific and Statistical Committee, other agencies involved in Alaska’s fishing industry, and stakeholders all quietly gathered in the main meeting room to wish him well.

Deputy Director Dave Witherell started things off with a tongue-in-cheek video showing the young Oliver coming to Alaska from Texas and “of course, falling in love with Alaska.” Oliver is an accomplished hunter and fisherman, one of many talents highlighted in the humorous tribute.

Witherell turned serious at the end, though, and called Oliver an important role model, a “leader, mentor, and friend” — words that would be echoed by many during the event.

Then Captain Stephen White, Coast Guard member of the Council, stepped up to present Oliver with the Meritorious Public Service Award on behalf of the Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard.

As White pinned the award on Oliver’s lapel, the commendation was read aloud.

“….Mr. Oliver led the Council’s efforts in rationalizing the world’s most complex fisheries, significantly improving safety measures and practices amongst federal fishing fleets and preserving sustainability of fishery resources for future generations.

“…Mr. Oliver’s vigilance, leadership, and professionalism have been fundamental to the stewardship of Alaska’s fishery resources. His many contributions and dedication to public service are most heartily commended and are in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Coast Guard.” The commendation was signed by Rear Admiral Michael F McAllister, Commander of the 17th Coast Guard District.

Other members of the Council related poignant and humorous stories about Oliver and his 15 years as the executive director of the Council — longer than any other.

Council chairman Dan Hull described Oliver as a “great mentor, pragmatic, a man who gets straight to business, but he’s always open to alternative views and innovation.  He’s been a strong supporter of our partner agencies and user groups and communities.

“There is no one more experienced or knowledgeable,” Hull said, “or with a better character or attitude to lead NOAA Fisheries.

“The loss to this region is a huge gain for the nation, the agency and for the regional fisheries management council system across the country,” Hull said.

Oliver took the microphone after sustained applause and remarked “I wouldn’t have had this opportunity if it weren’t for this Council. And the support of an excellent staff. They make me look good.” A slight pause, then “They mostly make me look good.”

The audience, many of them on their feet, laughed lightly.

Then with an emotion-laden voice, Oliver said, “This has been the hardest career decision I’ve ever made. I will do you proud.”

This story originally appeared on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission. 

ALASKA: As salmon defenders gather, more signs of a 2018 fish fight

June 8, 2017 — There are more signs that the hook has been set for Alaska’s biggest fisheries fight in a decade.

As members of the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council and the International Pacific Halibut Commission gather in Juneau this week, salmon-supporting groups have been holding meetings about a double-barreled proposal to significantly strengthen legal protections for rivers that contain salmon.

That proposal has major implications for the state’s construction and mining industries.

Speaking Wednesday in downtown Juneau, Emily Anderson of the Wild Salmon Center said the proposal — now in the Legislature and simultaneously being considered for a 2018 ballot measure — is intended to fix a law created at statehood.

“It’s a very old law. It’s actually a holdover from the territorial government. It was changed just a little bit, but it’s very, very simple,” she said.

The law is Alaska Statute 16.05.871, which says in clause (d) that the commissioner of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game should approve a project that disrupts a salmon stream “unless the commissioner finds the plans and specifications insufficient for the proper protection of fish and game.”

“The only standard there is the proper protection of fish and game. So what does that mean?” Anderson asked. “There’s nothing in statute, there’s nothing in regulation that actually defines what the proper protection of fish and game is. That’s a problem.”

Read the full story at the Juneau Empire

Chris Oliver Was Offered and Accepted Top NOAA Position – Now Vetting Process Begins

May 11, 2017 — The following was written by Peggy Parker and published today by Seafoodnews.com:

Chris Oliver, Executive Director director of the Alaska-based North Pacific Fisheries Management Council, has been offered and has accepted the position of Assistant Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. A tentative start date is Monday, June 19, 2017.

Oliver notified members of the NPFMC and staff by email yesterday, explained that “this appointment is still subject to the White House vetting and approval process, which may take a few weeks, so it is NOT final yet.”  

He said that recent industry rumors, plus the need for transition planning, led to his email.

Only the Commerce Department or the White House can make any official announcement on the position, and that cannot happen until the process is complete.

“I, and Commerce, would have preferred to keep this information close until the full appointment process is indeed finalized, but given the timing involved, and the necessary transitional aspects involved, I feel it is incumbent upon me to let everyone know the status of this,” Oliver wrote.

It is widely believed that Oliver’s appointment will give NMFS needed stability and deep experience at a time of significant budget and regulatory review.

There were two other contenders for the job — Robert Barham, who served as wildlife and fisheries secretary under former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R),  and LaDon Swann who heads up the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium.

This story originally appeared on Seafoodnews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

Three Contenders Emerge to Lead Fisheries Service

May 5, 2017 — SEAFOOD NEWS [E&E News] — A former Louisiana official, an Alaskan fishery manager and a Sea Grant program director are reportedly in the running to head the National Marine Fisheries Service.

NMFS — an agency within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — oversees fishing regulations, endangered species listings and fisheries research. It is headed by an assistant administrator for fisheries, a position that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross can fill without Senate confirmation.

It’s unclear when Ross — or the White House — will make that decision. But three names have popped up as contenders, according to several sources inside and outside the agency: Robert Barham, Chris Oliver and LaDon Swann.

Barham was once Louisiana’s wildlife and fisheries secretary, Oliver heads the North Pacific Fishery Management Council and Swann is the director of the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium.

Fishermen are split in their support.

Robert Barham

Barham served as wildlife and fisheries secretary under former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R). Some recreational fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico — as well as the shrimp and menhaden industry — recently sent letters to Ross emphasizing Barham’s Louisiana experience and his identity as a hunter and fisherman.

“We have had the opportunity to work with Mr. Barham over the years and … it is evident that he possesses the management ability and understanding of the nuances of maintaining sustainable fish populations, while maximizing their economic value,” wrote officials from Omega Protein Corp. and other companies that harvest menhaden, a tiny forage fish used in fish oil.

Some Gulf of Mexico anglers have also tried to propel Barham to the NMFS spot, with the hope that he will come down on their side in the controversy over red snapper quotas. The debate has made its way to Capitol Hill, with some Republicans newly enraged by this year’s three-day recreational fishing season.

In a Facebook post shared among anglers, fisherman Steve Hoyland Jr. provided a form letter to send to Ross that praised Barham’s ability to “manage the public’s fish and wildlife resources in a manner that balances conservation and access.”

“If Robert Barham could get this position, it would totally change how our fishery is managed,” Hoyland wrote in one post. “THIS MAN IS ON OUR SIDE!!! We need him in this seat.”

Barnum’s tenure at the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries was marred after auditors found questionable spending between 2010 and 2015. A report from the state legislative auditor found, among other things, that the department spent some Gulf oil spill recovery money on boats, cameras, iPads, clothing and “an abundance of fishing and water sports equipment.”

The money was part of $10.5 million BP PLC provided for a seafood safety program to test fish. According to the Associated Press, Barnum has said the program came in under budget and properly tested fish. He has also emphasized that it wasn’t a taxpayer-funded program.

Chris Oliver

Oliver is the longtime executive director of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, which is based in Anchorage, Alaska. Commercial and charter boat fishermen have endorsed him as an experienced leader, with groups from New England, the Pacific, the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico sending letters of support to the Commerce Department.

Most recently, the Gulf Seafood Institute, the Louisiana Restaurant Association, the Charter Fisherman’s Association and similar groups wrote in an April letter to Ross that Oliver “has proven to be a motivated and talented leader with a passion for bridging divides among diverse fishing interest in the Pacific Northwest and beyond.”

Oliver has helmed the fishery council for 16 years. In an interview with the Alaska Journal of Commerce earlier this year, he said he would be “inclined” to take the NMFS job if asked.

“There’s no guarantee … that I would say yes if they offered it to me,” he told the newspaper. “But I’ve got a lot of people who’ve expended a lot of effort, and my understanding is I’ve got a pretty strong backing from our congressional delegation.”

Oliver began at the council in 1990 as a plan coordinator. He is from Texas and worked on Gulf of Mexico shrimp fishery management issues, according to his biography on the council’s website. He has advocated for a more regional approach to fishery management.

Several council decisions in recent years have been reversed by the courts. Last year, for example, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a 2011 decision to remove an Alaskan salmon fishery from federal oversight. Fishing groups won a lawsuit in 2012 to overturn the council’s fishing closures to protect Steller sea lions.

LaDon Swann

Swann directs one of 33 Sea Grant programs President Trump has proposed eliminating, citing its primary benefit to “industry and state and local stakeholders.”

Congress appears unlikely to follow through with that suggestion; an omnibus spending package slated to pass this week preserves the popular program. And Swann — who has also worked at the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant College Program — is reportedly the pick of some Alabama lawmakers who see him as a good fit for NMFS.

In his position at Sea Grant, Swann must help coastal communities become resilient without stirring up debate about climate change. He recently told ProPublica that the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium is “a neutral broker of science information” that is there to give communities the data — not persuade them of the link between climate change and coastal hazards.

Swann is also a recreational fisherman. A 2015 al.com article detailed his record-breaking catch of a 94-pound cubera snapper.

Swann, who has a master’s in fisheries biology and a Ph.D. in curriculum, is also former president of the United States Aquaculture Society. In recent years, NMFS has attempted to promote sustainable aquaculture as a way forward for the increasing demands for seafood.

This story originally appeared on Seafoodnews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

NPFMC June 2017 Agenda

May 2, 2017 — The following was released by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council: 

The AGENDA and SCHEDULE are now available. Documents will be posted through links on the Agenda. The deadline for public comments is 5:00 pm (AST) Tuesday, May 30, 2017.

The Council meeting will be broadcast at npfmc.adobeconnect.com/june2017. Motions will be posted following the meeting. Alaska Airlines offers travel discounts to the meetings. Other meetings to be held during the week are:

Scientific and Statistical Committee: June 5-7, Ballroom 2
Advisory Panel: June 6-10, Ballroom 3
Enforcement Committee: June 6, 1-4pm, Egan Room
Council: June 7-13, Ballroom 1

Submit comments to npfmc.comments@noaa.gov.

Seven Gulf Groups Endorse Chris Oliver for Asst. NOAA Administrator

April 27, 2017 — The Gulf Seafood Institute joined six other Gulf of Mexico seafood industry organizations in endorsing Texas-native turned North Pacific Fishery Management Council Executive Director Chris Oliver for the open position of Assistant Administrator for NOAA Fisheries.

In a letter to Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, Jr., the fleet of Gulf supporters called Oliver “a motivated and talented leader with a passion for bridging divides among diverse fishing interests. Those qualities would benefit the “notoriously complex” environment in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Gulf-based groups to endorse Oliver include: 
Alabama Charter Fishermen’s Association (Orange Beach, AL), Charter Fishermen’s Association (Corpus Christi, TX), Clearwater Marine Association (Clearwater, FL), 
Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance (Galveston, TX), Louisiana Restaurant Association (Metairie, LA), 
Southeastern Fisheries Association (Tallahassee, FL) and The Gulf Seafood Institute, (New Orleans, LA).

“Federal fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico…involve a host of competing user groups, including our hardworking commercial harvesters, professional charter boat operators, a growing private angling community, and of course, a skyrocketing tourism and consumer economy dependent on the long-term health of them all,” the letter stated.

Read the full story at the Gulf Seafood Institute