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Scientific American. Bering Sea. Will The Algae Still Bloom? (5/4)
Converting Old Fishing Gear To Energy (NPR Audio) (5/5)
Trident fined for not reporting chemicals (5/6)
Divers take community clean-up to new depths (KIAL Audio)(5/6)
Juneau Empire. Fishermen face one-halibut bag limit again (5/7)
America's Most Dangerous Jobs (5/8)
NPFMC. Items for June Meeting
STATE
Opinion by BOF Howard Delo. Board discusses pressing issues (5/4)
ADFG Addresses Probabilities of 2009 Fishing Limits (5/4)
MARKETING
Lawmakers promote Alaska in New York City (5/7)
MSC. Second annual surveillance report for the US North Pacific sablefish fishery (5/8)
Line forms to welcome back salmon (5/7)
MISC
Pew report promotes new fishery management tool (5/8)
FEDERAL
Scientific American. Bering Sea. Will The Algae Still Bloom? (5/4). ON THE ICEBREAKER HEALY IN THE BERING SEA (at latitude 59.5272 N and longitude 175.2031 W), April 30, 2009—One of the major objectives of this research cruise was to find an ice edge bloom, a spring growth of algae along the edge of the ice. As the ice melts and retreats northward in the Bering Sea, sun hits the water for the first time in months. The algae in the sea can finally burst into action, photosynthesizing and multiplying and feeding the rest of the ecosystem.
Many of the scientists here were on a similar cruise last year, sampling in many of the same places. Last year they never really came across a bloom, says chief scientist Carin Ashjian, a biological oceanographer at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. “We found something, but it wasn’t as dramatic as we wanted last year,” she told me before we got underway. “Perhaps this year we will have better luck.” More
Converting Old Fishing Gear To Energy (NPR Audio) (5/5). Old fishing gear often winds up in the water, which can be harmful to marine life. So some nonprofit groups created a program called Fishing For Energy. Its goal is to recycle old fishing gear into clean, renewable electricity.
Trident fined for not reporting chemicals (5/6). Trident Seafoods will pay more than $112,000 for not reporting large quantities of hazardous chemicals to the Environmental Protection Agency. The company violated the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act by not telling local emergency response teams that they had large quantities of ammonia, a hazardous chemical, at processing plants in Akutan, Kodiak, Petersburg, and Seattle. EPA public affairs specialist Tony Brown said this endangered the surrounding communities.
"And it's important because if there's a mishap or something happens you want to make sure that the response teams, in this case your fire departments and other ones, are aware that this company has over ten thousand or other amounts of ammonia at their facilities," he explained. "If they have to respond to a fire or a leak or something that could happen, then the response teams know what they're dealing with." More
Divers take community clean-up to new depths (KIAL Audio)(5/6). Each year Unalaskans participate in the community clean-up week. But some take the project to a deeper level. KUCB's Anne Hillman joined the Unalaska Divers Association as they cleaned beneath the surface a week before the official clean-up starts on May 10.
Juneau Empire. Fishermen face one-halibut bag limit again (5/7). The one-halibut bag limit for Southeast guided fishermen is back.
"It's a stab in the heart of our industry," said Rick Bierman, Juneau Charter Boat Operators Association.
Charters and lodge owners last year vigorously fought the rule, saying it would send their clients to Southcentral, where the limit is still two fish a day. In a Washington, D.C., court, they successfully argued a procedural point.
The National Marine Fisheries Service fixed the procedural problem and reissued the rule.
Bierman said the charters might fight again.
They've laid the groundwork by commenting on the draft rule. Now their lawyer needs to review the final rule's language and decide whether it can be challenged. Just like last year - except they're running out of money, Bierman said.
"We won last year. But that cost an awful lot of money, and it's hard to think we'll be able to keep raising that money," Bierman said.
As the number of charters in the region grew, the bag limit didn't change, and the guideline harvest was exceeded each year since 2004.
Last year, the guideline harvest dropped, hence last year's one-fish rule. But as the charters won their two-fish fight, their clients' harvest stayed the same as the year before, meaning they caught twice as much fish as the federal agency wanted them to.
NMFS officials say the exceedances undermine the international commission's conservation strategy. The bag limit is also a matter of allocation, because as charters take more, there is less available for commercial fishermen. More
America's Most Dangerous Jobs (5/8). Last year work-related fatalities dipped 6%, to 5,488 (or 3.7 per 100,000 workers), according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' National Census of Fatal Occupation Injuries report. That's the lowest fatality rate since the government started keeping track of those stats in 1992.
The bad news: Workplace safety experts say the decline in fatalities was due in part to lower employment nationwide, particularly in the construction and manufacturing industries. (Construction-related deaths, still the highest among any profession on an absolute basis, dropped to 1,178 from 1,239.) Improved safety standards have helped stanch the bleeding, too, they say. ~~~
Topping the most-dangerouslist: fishers and their staff. Thirty-eight fishermen--112 out of 100,000--died on the job last year, mainly off the frigid coasts of Alaska and Maine. There's a reason that Discovery show is called "Deadliest Catch."
Larry Simns--co-founder of Commercial Fishermen of America, a San Francisco-based nonprofit representing U.S. commercial fishermen--knows the pain. Last year Simms' friend Captain Philip Ruhle Jr. went down with his 80-foot squid ship in a storm roughly 40 miles off the coast of New Jersey.
"They all know the risks," says Simms. "There's a chance of getting killed, but you don't put a lot of emphasis on that. You're just extra cautious because you know you can't just get off the boat and walk home if something goes wrong." More
Please note changes to the Council's schedule in the attached agenda.
The revised version will be posted after 1:00 pm today.
STATE
Opinion by BOF Howard Delo. Board discusses pressing issues (5/4). Last week I discussed the Alaska Board of Fisheries teleconference, held last week, which addressed two proposals — one to raise sportsfishing daily bag limits on black cod and the second addressing the northern pike problem in the Alexander Lake/Creek system.
I stated that the teleconference would be interesting to listen to.
I think it was! I’ll refer you back to my April 28 column for more specific details on the two proposals. I want to address the teleconference outcomes and a timely editorial today.
The black cod proposal didn’t generate much controversy between board members. There was discussion why sportsfishing limits had been placed on the species to begin with and why the board found itself in the situation of addressing black cod bag limits for the third time in a little over two months. More
ADFG Addresses Probabilities of 2009 Fishing Limits (5/4). Using historical run timing data, ADFG recently prepared a document projecting daily harvests for the 2009 Bristol Bay season. The document compares projected daily harvests with daily processing capacity, as estimated in the 2009 Bristol Bay Sockeye Salmon Processing Capacity Survey. The result, a first-ever probability estimate of fishing limits being imposed during the season, may increase understanding of "foregone harvest" among fishermen, processors and managers.
Foregone harvest is a term for those fish -- beyond what is needed to assure escapement -- that go un-harvested due to management decisions or capacity limits. ADFG estimates that roughly 75% of foregone harvest in Bristol Bay stems from management decisions such as those related to protecting Kvichak stocks. Periodic capacity limits are responsible for the other 25% of foregone harvest.
This is the first time ADFG has examined the probability of daily catches exceeding daily processing capacity in Bristol Bay. More/Full Analysis
MARKETING
Lawmakers promote Alaska in New York City (5/7). FAIRBANKS — A handful of legislators are traveling to New York City this week to promote the Great Land as guests of the nonprofit Alaska House, New York and to meet with reporters from major national media outlets.
The Alaska House opened in September and is an art gallery and cultural center emphasizing Alaska Native cultures.
The itinerary includes a Friday lunch advocating Alaska wild salmon, where Gov. Sarah Palin might speak. She’s been advertised as a “special guest” by the Alaska House at the invitation-only event. More
Line forms to welcome back salmon (5/7). The first Copper River salmon opener is set to begin at 7 a.m. on May 14. As fishermen launch their boats and roll out their nets in preparation for the start of the season, the Copper River/Prince William Sound Marketing Association is celebrating the return of Copper River salmon in its own way.
“We’re working with Alaskan Brewing Co. on a co-branding effort that includes a recipe card for Copper River salmon marinated in Alaskan Amber beer and Chef Al from the Kincaid Grill will feature the recipe on KTUU in Anchorage in the middle of May,” said Beth Poole, marketing association executive director. “These are two well-known Alaska brands and we see a great future for the partnership in coming years.”
The marketing association is joining forces with the Cordova Chamber of Commerce to bring a PBS and National Geographic television series out to the Copper River flats. Jon Rowley, who was an integral part of the formation of the Copper River brand, will be out on the flats for the first opener and will follow the salmon down to Seattle and Pike Place market in an episode of a new series, “Whisked Away” featuring Gourmet magazine editor Ruth Reichl. More
MISC
Pew report promotes new fishery management tool (5/8). PORT CLYDE (May 8): Local fishermen are working on a new method to control overharvesting of groundfish species. The current draft of Amendment 16 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan, dated April 15, is an 871-page document. Required by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act in order to ensure replenishment of groundfish stocks, Amendment 16 will be voted on at the upcoming meeting of the New England Fishery Management Council, scheduled to take place June 23 through 25 at the Holiday Inn By the Bay in Portland.
In anticipation of this decision, the Pew Environment Group issued a report on Wednesday titled "One Last Chance: The Economic Case for a New Approach to Fisheries Management in New England." The report advocates for sector management, a relatively new model of fisheries management being considered as part of Amendment 16. More
Marine Conservation Alliance
431 N Franklin St Ste 305
Juneau, AK 99801-1186
