Saving Seafood

GINA FRICCERO: Why risk the crown jewel of Alaska’s fisheries?

August 20, 2020 — This year has left a lot of us starving for good news. Well, I’ve got some: Once again, for the sixth year in a row, more than 50 million sockeye salmon returned to Bristol Bay, eclipsing any other wild salmon run on the planet.

What could be better than wild salmon that return in numbers vast enough to sustain the health of thriving Yup’ik, Alutiiq and Dena’ina communities; a $1.5 billion a year commercial fishing industry with 14,000 jobs; world-class sportfishing that people travel from around the world to experience; and a bear viewing industry that injects more than $34 million into the economy each year — especially since, if we can only prevent the destruction of the watershed that makes it possible, those benefits could last forever?

For generations, my family has been blessed to benefit from this incredible natural wonder. I started tendering in Bristol Bay in the summer of 1975. That was the year Limited Entry was going on the ballot. I got lucky and found a boat and permit for a good deal. I met my husband in 1980, we started fishing together in ‘81, and he has been running a boat in Bristol Bay every year since way back then. This season, he, our daughter and the rest of the Bristol Bay fleet again worked tirelessly to provide for our family and for America’s food security.

Read the full opinion piece at the Juneau Empire

SEATTLE TIMES: Sea lion culling is necessary for salmon runs

August 20, 2020 — One of the most obvious, inexpensive and beneficial ways to help endangered salmon will begin in earnest this winter.

Some of the sea lions that travel far up the Columbia River to gorge on dwindling salmon and steelhead runs will be culled by a coalition of states and tribes in the river basin.

Congress and regulators made the right call in allowing this to happen.

Sea lions may eat up to 44% of the Columbia spring chinook run and 25% of the Willamette River winter steelhead run each year, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

A federal permit issued last week rightly authorizes the removal of up to 540 California sea lions and 176 Steller sea lions over the next five years, though far fewer are expected to be taken.

Read the full opinion piece at The Seattle Times

The Army Corps failed to enact endangered species protections for Willamette River salmon, judge rules

August 19, 2020 — A federal judge has ruled in favor of claims that federally owned dams on the upper Willamette River have failed to carry out Endangered Species Act protections for chinook salmon and steelhead.

U.S. District Judge Marco A. Hernandez ruled Tuesday that the Army Corps of Engineers and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) fell short of their legal obligations by delaying action or failing to take necessary steps under a 2008 Willamette River Biological Opinion plan. The plan included dozens of measures to ensure the survival and recovery of upper Willamette River wild spring chinook and winter steelhead.

It was a result of a previous lawsuit filed in 2007 by environmental organization Willamette Riverkeeper and Northwest Environmental Defense Center against the Corps for not producing a Biological Plan for the Willamette Basin and failing to comply with the ESA.

Read the full story at OPB

Alaska Tribal Group Sues Over Commercial Fishing System

August 18, 2020 — An Alaska tribal group has filed a lawsuit against state officials claiming the commercial fishing permit system unfairly prevents local anglers from fishing on their traditional grounds.

The lawsuit filed by the Metlakatla Indian Community asks a federal judge to prevent the state from requiring commercial fishing permits for tribal members, Alaska’s Energy Desk reported Monday.

The tribe named Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy and other administration officials in the lawsuit that says the tribe’s fishing rights are guaranteed by Congress.

The Metlakatla people have lived on Annette Island in southeast Alaska since the late 19th century, when about 820 Tsimshian people migrated with an Anglican missionary from coastal British Columbia to the uninhabited islands south of Ketchikan.

Congress established the Annette Islands Reserve as a permanent, self-sustaining home for the tribe in 1891. Federal authorities set aside waters within 3,000 feet (914 meters) of shore exclusively for the people of Metlakatla in 1916.

Read the full story at U.S. News

Alaska on the frontlines

August 17, 2020 — In 2019, Alaska experienced its warmest month, summer, and year on record. This year, it recorded some of the hottest average May temperatures on the globe. America’s northernmost state is warming twice as quickly as the rest of the world—and much more rapidly than the continental U.S.

Warming oceans and melting sea ice also present opportunities for Alaskan fisheries and commercial shipping. Changing water temperatures may introduce new fish species into Alaskan waters; increased access for cargo and tanker ships, tour boats, and government vessels will boost sectors like tourism and shipping. The blue economy, which embraces the idea that sustainable economic growth and ecological conservation can coexist, provides a welcome roadmap for the management of new fisheries and increased shipping traffic.

Similar challenges arise in the fishing and shipping sectors. Although warming waters introduce new fish species, they adversely affect traditional species such as salmon and Pacific cod, which are Alaska food staples and export commodities. Warming waters may push some fish northward into international Arctic waters — raising the possibility of conflict over these resources. The U.S. must promote adherence to international law and preserve freedom of navigation.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

Alaskans Own, Northline Seafoods donate 45,000 pounds of sockeye

August 17, 2020 — This week, two community supported fisheries announced a plan to give back to Alaska communities in need. Alaskans Own and Northline Seafoods are teaming up to deliver 45,000 pounds of Bristol Bay sockeye salmon to Alaska Native villages experiencing record-low salmon returns this year. The announcement follows on the heels of SeaShare’s announcement that its donation requests to food banks and other hunger-relief efforts have skyrocketed this year.

Both Alaskans Own and Northline Seafoods are based in Sitka and evolved from a devotion to sustaining fishing communities, which makes these donation initiatives a perfect match.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

How A Salmon Crisis Stoked Russian Protests

August 17, 2020 — A row of stakes hundreds of feet long pokes out of the endless estuary of the Amur River on Russia’s Pacific coast, resembling the naked spine of a giant fish.

It is a piece of commercial fishing infrastructure reminding the people who still live here that nature’s wealth — in this case, millions of chum and pink salmon — belongs to the well-connected few.

“It’s as though they must exterminate these riches, mercilessly,” says Galina Sladkovskaya, 65, waiting in vain for a fish to bite at a levee about 20 miles upstream. “They only need money and nothing else. They don’t have a human soul.”

Along the Amur, one of Asia’s great waterways, Russians feel cheated, lied to and ignored. The wild salmon fishery that they once took for granted is gone, they say, because Moscow granted large concessions to enterprises that strung enormous nets across the river’s mouth.

Read the full story at the New York Times

Dam Impact Analysis Model Helps Researchers Assess Atlantic Salmon Survival

August 14, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries Atlantic salmon researchers have found that Atlantic salmon abundance can increase as more young fish and returning adults survive their encounters with dams. Also, progress in rebuilding the population will depend heavily on continuing stocking of hatchery fish raised especially for this purpose. This information is based on a life history model and new information on changes in the Penobscot River watershed.

The remaining remnant Atlantic salmon populations in the United States are located in Maine, with the largest population in the Penobscot River. Numerous factors play a role in salmon recovery — from predation and habitat degradation to pollution and climate change. The two most influential factors are survival of fish as they navigate dams in the river, and survival during the marine phase of their life. Atlantic salmon are born and remain in fresh water for 1-3 years and migrate downriver through estuaries into the sea. Then they spend 1 to 2 years at sea before returning to the river where they were born to spawn.

“Our findings indicate that Atlantic salmon abundance can increase as survival at dams from the lower to the upper watershed increases. Hatchery supplementation will be necessary to sustain the population when survival is low in egg-to-smolt and marine life stages,” said Julie Nieland, a salmon researcher at the science center’s Woods Hole Laboratory in Massachusetts and lead author of the study. “Increases in survival during both of these life stages will likely be necessary to attain a self-sustaining population, especially if hatchery supplementation is reduced or discontinued.”

Read the full release here

Species may swim thousands of kilometers to escape ocean heat waves

August 11, 2020 — When an intense heat wave strikes a patch of ocean, overheated marine animals may have to swim thousands of kilometers to find cooler waters, researchers report August 5 in Nature.

Such displacement, whether among fish, whales or turtles, can hinder both conservation efforts and fishery operations. “To properly manage those species, we need to understand where they are,” says Michael Jacox, a physical oceanographer with the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration based in Monterey, Calif.

Marine heat waves —  defined as at least five consecutive days of unusually hot water for a given patch of ocean — have become increasingly common over the past century (SN: 4/10/18). Climate change has amped up the intensity of some of the most famous marine heat waves of recent years, such as the Pacific Ocean Blob from 2015 to 2016 and scorching waters in the Tasman Sea in 2017 (SN: 12/14/17; SN: 12/11/18).

“We know that these marine heat waves are having lots of effects on the ecosystem,” Jacox says. For example, researchers have documented how the sweltering waters can bleach corals and wreak havoc on kelp forests. But the impacts on mobile species such as fish are only beginning to be studied (SN: 1/15/20).

Read the full story at Science News

Biden voices opposition to Pebble Mine

August 11, 2020 — Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said over the weekend that he would oppose the proposed Pebble Mine in Bristol Bay, Alaska, if he wins the November election.

In a prepared statement, the former vice president said he would uphold the Obama-era ruling that the proposed gold and copper mine would cause extensive damage to the Bristol Bay watershed and its prolific sockeye salmon run, the world’s largest.

Read the full story at Seafood Source