Saving Seafood

Tentative deal reached on renewal of Pacific Salmon Treaty

September 21, 2018 — American and Canadian negotiators have successfully brokered a deal to renew the Pacific Salmon Treaty. The compromise agreement has now been sent to Ottawa and Washington, D.C., to be approved and ratified by their respective national governments.

The Pacific Salmon Treaty is renegotiated every decade between the two countries to govern salmon catch, research, and enhancement in Alaska, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. The treaty expires on its own terms on Dec. 31, 2018. The current negotiations have taken place over the course of two years by two teams seeking to renew the treaty for the next decade, from Jan. 1, 2019, through Dec. 31, 2028.

Aspects of the expiring plan will carry over. Among them, the use of an abundance-based management regime for king salmon, as opposed to hard caps. This should result in harvest rate indices and quotas that will rise and fall depending on abundance of the fish.

Pacific Salmon Commission Executive Secretary John Field praised the negotiators for working out amendments to the treaty, including harvest rate reductions of king salmon when it comes to mixed-stock ocean fisheries.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

 

ALASKA: Opponents pack Anchorage hearing on salmon habitat ballot measure

September 21, 2018 — A ballot initiative aimed at protecting salmon habitat is facing stiff opposition from industry groups, unions and Native corporations in Alaska. That opposition was on full display at an Anchorage hearing on the measure held this week.

As required by law, the state is holding a series of public hearings on the initiative.

Before the hearing, about a dozen demonstrators gathered to chant and wave signs saying “Vote No on 1” on a nearby street corner. The demonstration was organized by Stand for Alaska, a group formed to oppose the measure. Supporters of the ballot measure, which would toughen the state’s permitting requirements for projects built in salmon habitat, also showed up to demonstrate ahead of the hearing.

Inside, the hearing room was packed, with attendees lining the walls and spilling out into the hallway. Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott, who oversees the Alaska Division of Elections, presided over the hearing.

“Time will be very tight,” Mallott said in his opening remarks. “With the number of folks that have signed up, it looks like we will be hard-pressed to hear everyone.”

The first speaker was Stephanie Quinn-Davidson, one of the measure’s sponsors and head of the Yukon River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. She argued that as companies pursue more large mines and oil developments in Alaska, the state needs to protect salmon runs from impacts seen in the Lower 48.

Read the full story at Alaska Public Media

ALASKA: Relief funds for 2016 pink season slowly moving forward

September 20, 2018 — The distribution of federal fund for fishermen who got walloped by the disastrous 2016 pink salmon season inched another step forward yesterday.

Tuesday was the final day to comment on the proposed distribution plan.  Once the funds are finally released they will be administered by the Pacific States Marine Commission, which is based out of Portland. The relief funds will be distributed according to the plan being finalized now.

As it sits now, Kodiak pink salmon fishermen would receive nearly $7 million to help offset the losses sustained when pink salmon stocks crashed in the summer of 2016.

That’s roughly 22 percent of the total amount assigned to fisheries participants under the current distribution proposal for the 2016 Gulf of Alaska pink salmon disaster funds.

The bulk of the $32 million being set aside for fishermen would go to compensate those who participated in the Prince William Sound pink salmon fishery.

In all more than $56 million was appropriated by Congress to address the 2016 disaster. The money would be divvied up into four broad categories which include research, participants, municipalities and processors.

Funds for participants are based on a formula which considers ex-vessel value of losses and five-year even-year average ex-vessel value in each of seven management areas.

Read the full story at KMXT

Salmon preservation plan to impact Alaska and Canada over 10-year span

September 19, 2018 — PORTLAND, Ore. — Alaska and Canada would reduce their catch of endangered Chinook salmon in years with poor fishery returns under an agreement that spells out the next decade of cooperation between the U.S. and Canada to keep various salmon species afloat in Pacific waters.

Members of the Pacific Salmon Commission recommended a new 10-year conservation plan to the U.S. and Canadian governments Monday that would run through 2028 and involve Canada, Alaska, Washington, Oregon and a number of tribal nations in both countries.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at KTUU

 

China retaliates against US tariffs; seafood largely unaffected

September 19, 2018 — China has retaliated against US tariffs, but seafood will be largely unaffected by its counter-measures.

On Sept. 18, China announced it would levy new tariffs of up to 10% on imports of US goods worth $60 billion. The measures came in retaliation to US tariffs of 10% on $200bn worth of Chinese goods, confirmed by president Donald Trump’s administration the same day.

Both sets of tariffs will come into effect on Sept. 24.

China said the counter-measures were to “defend the legitimate rights and interests of the Chinese economy caused by the violation of international obligations by the US”. Prior to the announcement in a more solemn statement it said the US measures were “regretful”.

Among the 5,000-plus US products to be hit are smoked Pacific salmon and a type of fishmeal (see below). No other fisheries or seafood products are affected.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News   

 

Alaska salmon negotiators accept fewer ‘treaty fish’

September 18, 2018 — Alaska will see a reduced salmon allocation under a proposed salmon treaty deal with Canada. That’s according to a proposed 10-year extension of the Pacific Salmon Treaty.

For more than 30 years, the Pacific Salmon Commission has allocated salmon stocks shared between the U.S. and Canada. It’s re-negotiated every 10 years, and the latest version expires at the end of 2018.

Formal talks finished in mid-August. Now, the numbers are out: Alaska will accept a 7.5 percent reduction, compared to 12.5 percent for Canada. In Washington and Oregon, the cuts range from 5 to 15 percent.

“There’s some that would consider it to be winners and losers and I think in this case, I think everybody was equally disappointed,” said Alaska Fish and Game Deputy Commissioner Charlie Swanton, who headed Alaska’s delegation.

It’s unclear just what the reduction will mean for Alaska’s fisheries; a lot will be up to the Board of Fisheries when it meets in March. But it will certainly mean less fishing time and other conservation measures.

Read the full story at KTOO

ALASKA: Biologists, fishermen puzzle over late Kenai sockeye run

September 13, 2018 — First they were underweight, with underwhelming numbers. Then they weren’t there at all. Then they were coming in late, showing up as Upper Cook Inlet fishermen were packing up their gear for the season.

The unpredictable and significantly smaller Kenai River sockeye run frustrated a lot of fishermen this year.

As of the last day of sonar counts on Aug. 28, about 1.03 million sockeye had entered the river. More than half of them arrived after Aug. 1, leading to a stop-and-start fishery that included significant time and area cuts for commercial fishermen in Cook Inlet and a complete sockeye salmon sport angling closure on the Kenai River from Aug. 4–23.

That resulted in a total catch of 813,932 sockeye, less than half of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s preseason forecast commercial harvest of 1.9 million sockeye.

Even the late fish arrival wasn’t much of a boon to the area’s commercial fishermen. Per the management plans, the East Side setnet fishermen are largely out of the water by Aug. 15, and the drift gillnet fleet is moved mostly to the west side of Cook Inlet to focus on silver salmon.

Read the full story at the Alaska Journal of Commerce

Campaign regulators levy $1,925 fine against group opposing salmon ballot measure

September 13, 2018 — The agency overseeing Alaska campaign finance laws handed down a $1,925 fine against Stand for Alaska — Vote No on One, saying the group violated requirements associated with previously using a name that did not clearly show opposition to the Stand for Salmon ballot measure.

But the Alaska Public Offices Commission reduced the potential top fine of $7,700 that could have been levied against the industry-backed group. The harm to the public was not enough to justify a larger amount, the three-member commission said in an eight-page decision Friday.

The opposition group had called itself Stand for Alaska but changed its name in June, adding the tagline showing dissent. The group should have changed its name March 13, when the state certified the initiative for the ballot. It was improperly named for about three months.

Other violations were related to YouTube videos with “paid for by” lines incorrectly bearing the group’s previous name for roughly two to three weeks, depending on the video.

The measure — called Ballot Measure 1 by the state — goes before voters Nov. 6. Opponents have argued it will stop development projects across Alaska. Supporters say it will protect salmon and other fish without hurting the economy.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

Sea Lions And Orcas Battle It Out In Puget Sound

September 12, 2018 — In the early 1980s, a group of recreational fishermen dropping lines near the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks in Ballard, Washington, started complaining about a particularly large and wily California sea lion.

The shore anglers had good reason to be annoyed. Each time they hooked a fish, this sea lion would pop up and eat it off their line.

The sea lion, nicknamed Herschel by the fishermen, quickly moved on from taking fish off lines to gobbling up steelhead as they tried to make it over the ladder south of the locks. Here, water sluices down stair-stepped pools and migrating fish jump from pool to pool until they reach the Lake Union Ship Canal and spawning grounds beyond. Herschel found that by hanging out under the fish ladder he could gorge himself on steelhead trying to make it upstream.

Over the next few years, it became apparent that Herschel and a handful of other large male sea lions were seriously depleting the winter steelhead run, putting the population that spawns in Lake Washington’s tributaries at risk of extinction.

California sea lions spend part of the year at breeding sites on the Channel Islands. The bulls that feed at the bottom of fish ladders, where salmon practically swim down their gullets, have a distinct advantage in their battles for mates and territory.

Read the full story at OPB

 

Sen. Murkowski Questions International Trade Administration on Alaskan Seafood Industry Concerns

September 12, 2018 — The following was released by The Office of Senator Lisa Murkowski:

U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) participated in a Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) Appropriations Subcommittee hearing yesterday, to review the President’s Fiscal Year 2019 (FY19) funding request for the Bureau of Industry and Security, the International Trade Administration, and the United States International Trade Commission.

Witnesses participating in the hearing included: Nazak Nikakhtar, Assistant Secretary for Industry and Analysis at the International Trade Administration (ITA); Richard Ashooh, Assistant Secretary for Export Administration at the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS); and David S. Johanson, Chairman at the United States International Trade Commission (USITC).

During the hearing Senator Murkowski expressed some of the concerns of Alaskan stakeholders regarding the seafood industry.

“Until recently, a positive trade relationship was developing between Alaska and China—of our salmon exports, 40% of those exports went to China. For cod, 54% of our exports went to China. In 2017, we saw roughly 1/3 of Alaska’s seafood exports end up in China, worth nearly $1 billion. So this is considerable” said Senator Murkowski. “Now, Alaskans are facing steep Chinese tariffs on these exports—a pretty significant trade barrier. This is on top of lost market share due to the Russian embargo on American seafood, which has been in place since 2014 as retaliation for sanctions, and challenging import quotas that currently exist in the EU, Japan, and South Korea.”

Murkowski went on to question Assistant Secretary Nikakhtar on the ITA’s strategy towards the retaliatory tariffs imposed on the seafood industry and barriers to seafood industry trade.

Read the full release here