Disclaimer: Inclusion of a news article, report, or other document in this email does not imply MCA support or endorsement of the information or opinion expressed in the document.
Homer News SeaWatch. IPHC delivers mixed bag of news to fishermen (1/21)
USCG – NOA/D and AIS – public meeting (1/21)
NPFMC Items for the February Meeting
NOAA. Proposed rule to eliminate seabird avoidance requirements for hook–and–line vessels less than or equal to 55 ft (16.8 m) length overall in portions of Area 4E in the eastern Bering Sea. Comment period through February 17, 2009.
USCG – mariner licensing and documentation evaluation
Court upholds conviction for failure to properly “maintain” Oil Record Book (ORB)
Rare Coast Guard honor goes to Warrior crew (1/22)
STATE
Fish and Game AC has new look: Longtime member and former chair steps down (1/19)
New MCA study shows economic impact of Alaska's fishing industry (KUCB Audio)(1/22)
Juneau Empire. State Seafood Worth $5.8 Billion (1/23)
Peninsula Clarion. High net value: Reports show impact of sport, commercial fishing on economy (1/23)
Petersburg plays host to Board of Fisheries meeting (1/22)
ADFG. Annual Management Report for the Commercial and Subsistence Shellfish Fisheries of the Aleutian Islands, Bering Sea and the Westward Region’s Shellfish Observer Program, 2007/08
ADFG. Kuskokwim River Chum Salmon Run Reconstruction
ADFG. Annual management report for the shellfish fisheries of the Kodiak, Chignik and Alaska Peninsula Areas, 2007
MISC
Port wants a cut of fishermen's bounty (Seattle) (1/22)
FEDERAL
Opinion. Bycatch, malnutrition are issues (1/20). It is very sad to read the stories of the problems the villages are having out West ("State rethinks disaster call for Emmonak," Jan. 16). It is also very sad because I know what they are talking about, having lived in the villages.
As we read this article and about the plight of the people, let us keep two things in mind: the huge salmon bycatch issue for the pollock fishing fleet in Bristol Bay and malnutrition issues for the children of our villages.
Just a short three years ago, the pollock fishing fleet caught almost 650,000 salmon as bycatch when targeting pollock. Thankfully, the number of bycatch salmon is declining, but why? Is it because the pollock industry is working hard and spending big bucks to improve their trade, or is it because there are a lot less salmon to catch when they are fishing?
I do not understand all the implications to our long-term health that malnutrition can cause, but I bet they are serious. The state and the feds need to pony up. Real people are really suffering. -- George Pletnikoff, Anchorage. Link
Halibut Commission Completes 2009 Annual Meeting (1/20). The International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) completed its Eighty-fifth Annual Meeting in Vancouver, B.C., with Dr. Laura J. Richards of Nanaimo, B.C. presiding as Chair. The Commission is recommending to the governments of Canada and the United States catch limits for 2009 totaling 54,080,000 pounds, a 10.4% decrease from the 2008 catch limit of 60,400,000 pounds.
The Commission staff reported on the 2008 Pacific halibut stock assessment which implemented a coastwide estimation of biomass, with apportionment to regulatory biomass based on the data from the annual Commission assessment survey. While the total of the staff catch limit recommendations arising from IPHC survey-based apportionment of the estimated coastwide biomass was accepted, there were differences from staff recommendations for most areas, and the Commission requested additional investigation of apportionment methods during 2009.
For 2009, the Commission recommended a 20% harvest rate for use in Areas 2A through 3B. However, the Commission staff expressed concern over continued declining catch rates in Area 4A and conducted an analysis of productivity in this area during 2008. The analysis recommended a reduction of the harvest rate for this area to 15%, similar to that for other areas of the Bering Sea (Areas 4B and 4CDE). Catch limits adopted for 2009 were lower for most regulatory areas except Area 3B where the Commission, with advice from its advisory bodies, recommends a catch limit the same as that in 2008. The Area 4B recommended catch limit increased slightly for 2009. Decreased catch limits reflect stock biomass declines as the exceptionally strong 1987 and 1988 year classes pass out of the fishery. Recruitment from the 1999 and 2000 year classes is estimated to be above average but is several years away from making major contributions to the exploitable biomass of the stock. More
Homer News SeaWatch. IPHC delivers mixed bag of news to fishermen (1/21). Area 2C, Southeast Alaska, fishermen got some of the good news, or at least not as bad as expected news, when the commission let them keep an extra 500,000 pounds of quota over staff recommendations, setting their catch at 5.02 million pounds instead of the recommended 4.47 million pounds. The 2C quota has dropped steadily from a high of 10.63 million pounds in 2005.
Area 3A, the central Gulf of Alaska, took a bigger than expected hit, dropping from 24.02 million pounds in 2008 to 21.7 million pounds in 2009. Staff recommendations were for a quota of 22.53 million pounds. More
USCG – NOA/D and AIS – public meeting (1/21). The US Coast Guard issued a notice stating that it will hold a meeting to receive public comments on the proposal to amend its regulations relating to submittal of notices of arrival and departure (NOA/D) and to the Automatic Identification System (AIS). The meeting will be held in Washington, DC on March 5. Written comments should be submitted by April 15. 74 Fed. Reg. 3534 (January 21, 2009).
USCG – mariner licensing and documentation evaluation. The US Coast Guard National Maritime Center (NMC) released the Mariner Licensing and Documentation (MLD) Quarterly Credential Evaluation Report. The report shows that, during the period July 1, 2008 through January 16, 2009, the average gross processing time for an MLD application was 83 days and the median gross processing time was 53 days. The credential cycle-time breakdown shows that 44% of the processing time involved awaiting additional information from the mariner and waiting for the mariner to take required examinations. (1/22/09).
Court upholds conviction for failure to properly “maintain” Oil Record Book (ORB). The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the conviction of a vessel operator for failure to properly maintain an oil record book (ORB) while the vessel was within the navigable waters of the United States. In the instant case, the defendant was convicted at a jury trial for, among other things, having on board while in US waters an ORB with entries known to be materially inaccurate. Evidence showed that members of the crew, at the direction of the chief engineer, had discharged oily waste water directly into the ocean while the vessel was at sea and that the chief engineer had made entries in the ORB that did not reflect such improper discharge. On appeal, defendant argued that it could only be convicted for a violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) if the ORB entries had been made while the vessel was in US waters (which was not the case here). The appellate court rejected that argument, finding that a violation of APPS occurs when the vessel enters US waters with an ORB that contains knowingly inaccurate entries. United States v. Ionia Management S.A., No. 07-5801-cr (2nd Cir., January 20, 2009). Note: This court has adopted the rationale espoused by the Fifth Circuit in the recent case of United States v. Jho. While not condoning the use of magic pipes, personally, I consider both decisions to be flawed because I believe that there should be a requirement in the elements of the offense that the ORB be presented to a Coast Guard boarding officer or other government official before the offense can be said to have occurred. MARPOL regulations require only that full and complete entries be made in the ORB of all oil transfers and that the ORB be kept on board for examination by government officials. The purpose of APPS is to allow US officials to enforce MARPOL, not to create new offenses.
Rare Coast Guard honor goes to Warrior crew (1/22). In honor of their heroic and vital role in helping rescue 42 people off the Alaska Ranger when it sank last Easter, captain Scott Krey and his crew of the Alaska Warrior were recognized last week by the City of Unalaska and the U.S. Coast Guard.
The ceremony at the City Hall included Mayor Shirley Marquardt reading a citation and the Coast Guard presenting Krey and his crew with its Public Service Award, said Coast Guard spokeswoman Kim McLean.
The Discovery Channel was also on hand to capture every moment.
“It’s a pretty big award for something that anybody else would have done in the same situation,” Krey told KUCB radio in Unalaska. “We just did our best.”
In March 2008, the Alaska Ranger, a Seattle-based vessel, was on its way to fish for mackerel 120 miles west of Dutch Harbor when it lost control of its rudder early in the morning and began taking on water, according to the Coast Guard. More
STATE
Fish and Game AC has new look: Longtime member and former chair steps down (1/19). The face of the Kenai-Soldotna Fish and Game Advisory Committee looks a little different.
Six new members joined the board at its Jan. 14 meeting while four seats remain vacant.
Additionally, longtime member and former committee chair Gary Dawkins did not seek re-election.
Dawkins has served on the board for the past 16 years, the last five of those as committee chair.
Though he thought he'd feel relief, he said the meeting was sad for him.
"I thought it would be a load off my shoulders but instead I felt depressed, sort of like at the end of a man's life when he gets a gold watch, like he's useless," Dawkins said.
Dawkins said he's spent his years in the leadership position of the 15-member board trying to balance the board and build its credibility.
"My accomplishment was to try and represent all user groups, consumptive or not, so when we talked about an issue we hit all aspects of it," he said. "That makes it fair and equitable for the resource." More
Seaton bills tackle salmon protection, mariculture (1/19). Republican Rep. Paul Seaton of Homer pre-filed legislation he plans to introduce in the upcoming legislative session.
Lawmakers head to Juneau to begin the 26th Legislature on Tuesday. Seaton plans to tackle a broad range of issues that includes fisheries, wastewater discharge, mining tax reform and oil and gas lease protection.
Seaton said he plans to introduce HB 46, a bill that would offer greater protection to salmon spawning areas from pollutant contamination, as well as more public oversight of wastewater discharge.
Current Department of Environmental Conservation reg-ulation allows the permitted discharge of wastewater into freshwater spawning areas where salmon aren't actively spawning.
The new bill would end that practice and require permit holders to provide an annual report of the nature and amount of pollutants discharged for public viewing. More
New MCA study shows economic impact of Alaska's fishing industry (KUCB Audio)(1/22). A new study shows that Alaska's fishing industry has a $5.8 billion impact on the state's economy. KUCB's Anne Hillman found out more.
Juneau Empire. State Seafood Worth $5.8 Billion (1/23). If Alaska were a country, its 2007 seafood catch would rank ninth in the world. The total value of the fishery: $5.8 billion, according to the Marine Conservation Alliance.
On top of that, anglers in Alaska reported spending nearly $1.4 billion, according to the Department of Fish and Game.
These are tidbits from three new studies this month from the state, the feds and private-sector economists on the economic impact of fishing in Alaska and the United States.
Since their methods differ, the numbers aren't all apples-to-apples, said Dave Benton, executive director of the Marine Conservation Alliance, whose new report covers every economic impact in Alaska his economists could dig up.
His group and two processors wanted to compile all the official data that's usually seen piecemeal: jobs, ex-vessel value, sales, and so forth. And they wanted it to be user-friendly.
But the numbers are probably broadly comparable, Benton said. More
Peninsula Clarion. High net value: Reports show impact of sport, commercial fishing on economy (1/23). The commercial fishing and sportfish/personal-use fisheries are hooking into some big numbers released in the last few weeks regarding the economic value of the two industries.
Two separate reports have been released this month looking at the economic impacts across the state for both sportfishing and commercial fishing.
The Department of Fish and Game released its report, Economic Impacts and Contributions of Sportfishing in Alaska, conducted by Southwick Associates, Inc, first, earlier this month.
The report found that sportfishing generated close to $1.4 billion for the state in 2007. Additionally, the industry supports more than 15,800 jobs.
Their report took into account the money generated by recreational fisherman across the state, both resident and non-resident. This included everything from money spent to purchase a fishing license to lodging fees paid by tourists who visit the state to fish. More
Petersburg plays host to Board of Fisheries meeting (1/22). Petersburg will host the Board of Fisheries meeting this week. Running from January 21-27, the meetings will focus primarily on Southeast Alaska and Yakutat crab, shrimp, and shellfish fisheries. Petersburg resident John Jensen will chair the meeting. He has been a part of the Board of Fisheries for seven years.
The week long round of discussions began Wednesday with an introduction of board members and staff. Later in the day, staff gave updates on their latest reports concerning crab, shrimp, and shellfish numbers. Public testimony was also scheduled to be heard on many of the 65 proposals being considered by the board.
In its first day, the meeting often attracted standing room only crowds to the Sons of Norway hall as presenters gave the latest update on local fisheries.
Public testimony will continue into Thursday, but those interested will need to sign up before 10 AM in order to speak. The board will consider written comments, however, throughout their meetings.
Later in the week, the Board of Fisheries will break into committees to discuss proposals and public suggestions, which will be allowed throughout committee hearings. Committees meeting for king and tanner crab, sport shellfish, and shrimp will begin Thursday afternoon. Committees on Dungeness Crab and miscellaneous shellfish are expected to begin Friday afternoon. Finally, the board will reconvene for deliberations on Sunday and will continue with them until they adjourn on Tuesday. More
Port wants a cut of fishermen's bounty (Seattle) (1/22). $25-a-day fee at Fishermen's Terminal meant to 'level the playing field'
For the first time since Fishermen's Terminal was established in 1913, the Port of Seattle wants a cut of the fishermen's sales of raw and frozen fish from their boats at the west wall.
"To allow individuals to go there and sell off their vessels would be a gift of funds," Fishermen's Terminal General Manager Kenneth Lyles said. "We would be giving away a public asset in the interests of individual fishermen who are operating as retailers."
When port commissioners and Chief Executive Tay Yoshitani speak publicly about the port's role, they often mention the port's subsidy of the North Pacific fishing fleet as an example of how the port generates economic vitality at a loss to itself but a gain to the region. Still, the port's subsidy of the container and cruise business through the development and maintenance of terminals and other infrastructure is far greater.
After investing tens of millions of dollars in new docks at Fishermen's Terminal, the port has raised its moorage rates and will continue to do so until they match the market average. Lyles said the port could generate more revenue for itself by mooring large ships at the west wall and thought that a $25-per-day fee, patterned after those levied by farmers markets, would help maintain the balance between supporting the fleet and performing "due diligence as managers of the asset."
The proposed charge comes on the heels of the port staff's preparation to tear out the storage locker lofts built by fishermen to house nets and equipment on shore. Lyles said the lofts are unsafe, present a fire hazard and threaten the structural integrity of the buildings.
Fishermen say the 30-foot-high lofts have never caught fire or collapsed. Lyles said the port is researching how to store the hodgepodge of gear temporarily while it demolished the heavy beamed platforms installed in hundreds of net sheds in decades past.
"For the record, a directive has been made that the lofts must come down," Lyles said. "But the port is committed to looking at all alternatives to make an accommodation" -- including the possible installation of industrial shelving to help make up for the lost space. More
