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.
NOAA. 2010 Proposed List of Fisheries (Marine Mammal Categories for Fisheries) (6/11)
NOAA. Notice of availability of Amendment 33 to the FMP for the BSAI King and Tanner Crabs to reduce the amount of fees collected under the Crab Rationalization Program. Comment period through July 31, 2009.
NOAA. MSA Implementation Tracking Report
NOAA chief steps up push for 'catch shares' (6/9)
US Senate Commerce Hearing Video: The Blue Economy: The Role of the Oceans in our Nation’s Economic Future (6/9)
The Economy is Blue (Not Sad Blue. Ocean Blue.) (6/9)
FAO Publishes Guidelines on responsible deep-sea fishing to protect species (6/9)
Opinion. Groups without a voice need seats on federal fish council (6/9)
Feds consider cuts in snow crab harvest to rebuild stock. 16 MILLION POUNDS: Harvest would drop from 58.5 million pounds in '08 (6/6)
NPFMC. Items from the June Meeting
Electronic Monitoring Research Reports (Halibut Discards, Rockfish)
Coast Guard rescues sinking vessel in strait (6/11)
IPHC/NPRB. Bycatch characterization in the Pacific halibut fishery: A field test of electronic monitoring technology
Pollock B Season Starts (KUCB Audio)(6/10)
Charter vessels limited to one fish per customer (6/11)
Journal Recounts 'High Pressure' Used at NPFMC Meetings (KMXT Audio)(6/9)
Rational noncompliance and the liquidation of Northeast groundfish resources. Marine Policy, 2009
STATE
Copper River king run slow; sport fish limit sliced in half (6/10)
Kodiak Salmon Season Underway (KMXT Audio) (6/9)
Alaska SeaGrant On YouTube
MARKETING
BBRSDA. Summer 2009 Newsletter
NY Times Editorial. The Seafood Eater’s Latest Conundrum (6/9)
Get hooked on sustainable fish with home delivery by Surfin' Seafood (6/11)
Photo feature: Sharing their wares (6/11)
Kodiak. Local fishermen get their eight minutes of fame (6/10)
My Turn: Rainforest Wild Benefits All Southeast Fishermen (6/12)
Togiak Seafood's Created (KDLG Audio) (6/7)
Alaska's Golden Anniversary. A half-century of seafood processing (6/3)
Sarah Palin (6/3)
MISC
Dead whale towing an odd job for captain (6/10)
FEDERAL
Coast Guard responds to grounded vessel, deceased captain (6/8). JUNEAU, Alaska - The Coast Guard responded to a grounded fishing vessel with deceased captain on board about 67 miles southeast of Sitka today.
Coast Guard Air Station Sitka launched a MH-60 Jayhawk rescue helicopter after Coast Guard Sector Juneau Command Center received a call from the fishing vessel C'est La Vie reporting Allman Joy, a 36-foot fishing vessel from Port Angeles, Wash., hard aground and the captain unresponsive near Gedney Harbor at 7:51 a.m.
The helicopter crew launched at 8:41 a.m. and arrived on scene at 9:16 a.m. On board Allman Joy, the Air Station's duty corpsman could not get a pulse on the captain. The captain was pronounced deceased, taken aboard the helicopter, and transported to Alaska State Troopers in Sitka.
The Coast Guard and Alaska State Troopers are conducting an investigation.
A salvage company in Juneau has been hired to remove fuel and oil from the Allman Joy. Link/Photo’s
NOAA, Coast Guard cooperate to relocate Peril Strait buoys (KCAW Audio) (6/4). SITKA, ALASKA (2009-06-04) The Coast Guard will conduct normal annual service on buoys across the region, but thanks to recent visits from NOAA ships Rainier and Fairweather, the Coast Guard will be fine tuning the location of some of their navigational aids this summer.
NOAA.Notice of availability of Amendment 33 to the FMP for the BSAI King and Tanner Crabs to reduce the amount of fees collected under the Crab Rationalization Program. Comment period through July 31, 2009.
NOAA chief steps up push for 'catch shares' (6/9). National oceans and fishing administrator Jane Lubchenco yesterday promoted "catch shares," the commodification of wild stock into negotiable rights, as the key to healthy future fisheries.
The topic and system of fishery management is at the top of the working agenda — at different stages of implementation and for different reasons — in both New England and Alaska.
Those regions also happen to be the bases for the two candidates for Lubchenco's appointment to be chief steward of national fisheries, the position of National Marine Fisheries administrator.
In a keynote address to an elite gathering on Washington's Capitol hill, Lubchenco — the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — spoke of the need to afix economic values to the solution of environmental problems, in the context of a blurring of the line between public and private interests.
She spoke from prepared notes for about 20 minutes at the start of the weeklong Capitol Hill Ocean Week symposium, which is sponsored by the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, a philanthropy whose leading members are both environmental and industrial powerhouses, including Big Oil.
Lubchenco made a rhetorical bow to the gathering of a who's who of stakeholders in the oceans' future, quipping about locking the doors at the Reserve Officers Association building on Capitol Hill until problems were solved. More
FAO Publishes Guidelines on responsible deep-sea fishing to protect species (6/9). THE United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) published a set of technical guidelines aimed at helping the fisheries sector reduce its impact on fragile deep-sea fish species and ecosystems.
The guidelines were published in time for the first-ever UN World Oceans Day on Monday.
“These guidelines provide much-needed guidance on the responsible way to approach deep-sea fishing, and are a breakthrough in that they address both environmental and fisheries management concerns in an integrated manner,” said assistant director general Ichiro Nomura of the FAO Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture in a statement.
The guidelines provide a framework that countries can use, individually and in the context of regional fisheries management organizations, to manage deep-sea fisheries in high-seas areas outside national jurisdictions.
Many deepwater fish species grow slowly, reach sexual maturity late, and may not always reproduce every year. As a result, they have low resilience to intensive fishing, and recovery from overfishing can take generations, according to the guidelines.
Stating that all fishing activity in deep-sea areas should be “rigorously managed,” the guidelines prescribe steps for identifying and protecting vulnerable ocean ecosystems and provide guidance on sustainable use of marine living resources in deep-sea areas.
The guidelines provide a framework that countries can use, individually and in the context of regional fisheries management organizations, to manage deep-sea fisheries in high-seas areas outside national jurisdictions.
Many deepwater fish species grow slowly, reach sexual maturity late, and may not always reproduce every year. As a result, they have low resilience to intensive fishing, and recovery from overfishing can take generations, according to the guidelines.
Stating that all fishing activity in deep-sea areas should be “rigorously managed,” the guidelines prescribe steps for identifying and protecting vulnerable ocean ecosystems and provide guidance on sustainable use of marine living resources in deep-sea areas.
The guidelines also outlined ways that information on the location and status of vulnerable marine ecosystems, including vulnerable deep-sea fish stocks, should be improved.
The FAO said fishing nations should assess deep-sea fishing being undertaken by their fleets in order to determine if any significant adverse impacts are involved. Deep-sea fishing activity should stop in any area where significant adverse impact to vulnerable marine ecosystems are taking place, and remedial steps should be taken if these are likely to occur.
The deep sea is the world’s largest habitat, accounting for roughly 50 percent of the Earth’s surface, the FAO noted.
The guidelines published were adopted by FAO members, including the Philippines, at a technical consultation held in Rome in September 2008. Link
The Economy is Blue (Not Sad Blue. Ocean Blue.) (6/9). Just when we'd gotten used to the idea of a Green Economy that will create plentiful eco-jobs while scaling back all our eco-footprints, we learn that the economy is not just going green. In fact, it is also shading blue. A deep ocean blue.
This morning, the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee held a hearing on the "The Blue Economy"--not because the economy is sad over all the jobs it's shedding, but because "our oceans and coasts are sources of great economic and environmental wealth for the nation," in the words of committee chairman John D. Rockefeller (D-W.Va.).
"America is on the cusp of major developments that could produce new 'blue' jobs in renewable ocean energy development, aquaculture, marine drugs and products, and ocean exploration," Rockefeller said. More
Opinion. Groups without a voice need seats on federal fish council (6/9).
May 29, 2009
Dear Senator Murkowski:
After attending the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council (the council), we have come to the conclusion there is a significant element missing in the debates, deliberations and votes of the Council.
The federally recognized tribes and/or Alaska Native organizations are a missing element in the decision-making process. We have no ability to raise our voices and to ask critical questions during council deliberations.
We believe it is paramount to submit this petition calling for a change in the Magnuson-Stevens Act. We therefore request an amendment to include four (4) voting seats allotted to federally recognized tribes and/or Alaska Native organizations from the Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim (AYK) regions.
Four voting seats are necessary due to geographical extent of Alaska; the enormous size of Alaska requires four voting seats.
Additionally, Alaska has 229 federally recognized tribes under the Alaska jurisdiction of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. A large portion of all U.S. tribes are found in Alaska. Preamble/More
Feds consider cuts in snow crab harvest to rebuild stock. 16 MILLION POUNDS: Harvest would drop from 58.5 million pounds in '08 (6/6). A rebuilding plan for Bering Sea snow crab, valued at about $100 million in 2008, proposes to greatly reduce the recommended harvest for 2009-2010. Staff members from the Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle, a branch of NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service, recommended at a mid-May meeting of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council's crab plan team that harvest limits for the coming season be set at 16 million pounds, down from 58.5 million pounds last year.
The Council is receiving that information at its meeting in Anchorage now under way and is expected to use that information, plus recommendations from its scientific and statistical committee and a summer trawl survey of current stocks, to decide in October on the total allowable catch for the coming season.
Gretchen Harrington, a fishery management plan coordinator for NOAA Fisheries in Juneau, said that under regulations set out by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act the U.S. secretary of commerce is mandated to take measures to rebuild snow crab stocks within 10 years of when the rebuilding plan was put into place in 2000. More
Coast Guard rescues sinking vessel in strait (6/11). SEATTLE (AP) -- A Coast Guard cutter from Port Angeles prevented a fishing vessel from sinking Wednesday night in the Strait of Juan de Fuca (FEW'-kuh) where it was taking on water.
The Coast Guard says a rescue team controlled the flooding on the 57-foot vessel and the cutter towed it to Port Townsend for repairs.
The vessel Zealot, homeport Ketchikan, Alaska, had three people on board. There were no injuries. Link
IPHC/NPRB. Bycatch characterization in the Pacific halibut fishery: A field test of electronic monitoring technology. The goal of this research is to test the ability of electronic monitoring (EM) systems to operate in a commercial setting by comparing estimates of bycatch based on video monitoring and standard NOAA Fisheries Service observer sampling with a known census of harvest.
We have been using EM alongside standard NOAA Fisheries Service sampling methods, and comparing catch estimates to a known census of catch. In 2008 we successfully recruited 4 vessels to participate in the study. This resulted in data collected for 13 trips and over 150 monitored longline sets. Fishing occurred in three different IPHC regulatory areas over a four month period.
We are currently soliciting participation in the study for spring 2009. We will be collecting additional data in March, April, and May of 2009 from vessels actively engaged in the halibut longline fishery. We hope to collect data for smaller vessels, preferably under 60ft fishing in the Bering Sea / Aleutian Islands or in the Gulf of Alaska. We anticipate sampling for an additional 50 to 70 days.
If you are interested, please contact Gregg Williams at the International Pacific Halibut Commission, (206) 634 1838.
Pollock B Season Starts (KUCB Audio)(6/10). Pollock B season started on Wednesday in the Bering Sea and the fleet has more than 472 thousand metric tons left to catch
Charter vessels limited to one fish per customer (6/11). June 5 saw a new rule take effect that will limit bag limits for halibut charter customers to one fish in Southeast Alaska. The move was finalized following a federal court decision not to grant an emergency injunction against the law. Charter boat owners won a similar appeal last year when the new quota was first adopted by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).
NMFS adopted the rule in order to combat the habitual overharvest of the charter fleet’s guideline harvest level. The Halibut Coalition reports a 58% decrease in harvestable biomass over the last 12 years in Area 2C, the management area that incorporates the waters surrounding Petersburg. That has led to significant cuts to the commercial fleet’s allocation in recent years.
Similar cuts to the charter fleet have been called for by commercial organizations. Julianne Curry of the Petersburg Vessel Owner’s Association (PVOA) said the organization supported the one fish bag limit.
“We here at the Vessel Owners are very happy that the judge did not issue a preliminary injunction. It’s not just important to us as commercial fishermen, but it’s also important to the resource as a whole. One of the main concerns that the IPHC, many fishermen, and subsistence users have is a chronic overharvest by one sector,“ she said.
For her, allowing the rule to go into effect was a step in the right direction. She said that the fight wasn’t over, however, as regional charter groups look to appeal the decision in federal court. That hearing could happen in early July, according to Curry. More
Journal Recounts 'High Pressure' Used at NPFMC Meetings (KMXT Audio)(6/9). In the current issue of the Alaska Journal of Commerce, reporter Margie Bauman has a trio of stories on how Crab Rationalization came to be. One story is about what she described as the "high pressure tactics" used at a June 2002 North Pacific Council meeting in Unalaska where processor shares were floated. KMXT's Jay Barrett spoke with Bauman about that meeting, and the meeting wrapping up in Anchorage.
Bauman says it's important for Alaskans - even those who are not involved in the fishery - to be informed about the activities of the North Pacific Council. She says even though it has been privatized, the crab fishery is still a public resource. You can read Bauman's articles online at the Alaska Journal of Commerce online, and you can hear more of the conversation on this week's Alaska Fisheries Report.
Rational noncompliance and the liquidation of Northeast groundfish resources. Marine Policy, 2009. In a nationwide study, Drs. Dennis King and Jon Sutinen examined fisheries enforcement compliance rates and their associated financial implications. In a case study of the Northeast multispecies groundfish (NEGF) fishery, they found that given the conditions in the fishery and current levels of enforcement, there are high economic incentives for fishermen to violate regulations. They also found evidence that social factors that usually support voluntary compliance, including moral obligation and community pressure, are declining as the credibility of fisheries regulations among fishermen decreases and economic pressures increase. The authors call for a smart compliance program that focuses enforcement and penalties on frequent offenders, while strengthening the basis of moral obligations to comply.
Copper River king run slow; sport fish limit sliced in half (6/10). GLENNALLEN -- A lagging Copper River king salmon run has prompted the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to cut the annual sport fish limit on that river in half -- to two fish at least 20 inches long. The department wants at least 24,000 kings to arrive upriver to spawn but biologists are worried they may not approach that benchmark.
Only 7,671 kings have been harvested in the Copper River District commercial gillnet fishery through June 9 -- the fewest through that date in at least 40 years. Not a single king has passed the Gulkana River counting tower yet.
Between 2002 and 2008, an average of 39 kings have passed the tower by that date.
In addition, according to Fish and Game, the research fish wheels run by the village of Eyak in Baird Canyon have shown the poorest return since 2003. Any king salmon caught before June 15 does not count against the two king salmon that may be harvested after that date. Link
Kodiak Salmon Season Underway (KMXT Audio) (6/9). The Kodiak area commercial salmon season starts today (Tuesday), and while its early for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to gauge how the season will play out in terms of effort levels and harvest, there is cause for optimism. KMXT's Erik Wander has more.
Alaska SeaGrant On YouTube. Alaska Sea Grant and the Marine Advisory Program are now on YouTube, where clips can be viewed of many of our award-winning videos and DVDs on subjects ranging from seafood quality and sea safety to beach walking, marine debris and crab research. Clips also have been added to their respective description pages within the Alaska Sea Grant bookstore. See them on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/alaskaseagrant
NY Times Editorial. The Seafood Eater’s Latest Conundrum (6/9). It’s been more than 20 years since conservationists pushed tuna fleets to stop using fishing methods that killed tens of thousands of dolphins a year. Since then, choices for seafood-eating consumers have become more complex and confusing.
Seafood from distant waters — caught and processed by giant factory ships — is now available everywhere. But that means environmentally conscious consumers find themselves confronted with scores of fish to avoid, either because they have been overfished or because certain fishing methods endanger other species. At the same time, fish farming has become a far more diverse industry, with different practices and opposing factions. Some retailers are labeling the origin of the fish they sell.
How are consumers to weigh these concerns? Should they avoid eating most fish unless they have the time to keep track of changing conditions around the world?
Get hooked on sustainable fish with home delivery by Surfin' Seafood (6/11). Services that deliver healthy food to your home are thriving in Seattle, from Spud's organic produce to Smith Brothers Farms' milk and dairy products. The latest addition to the lineup is Surfin' Seafood, which delivers hand-cut, flash-frozen, vacuum-packed fish fillets and shellfish.
To order, customers visit www.surfinseafood.com and choose one of four packages: the Seafood Sampler ($85 for six to eight pieces), the Mini ($110 for eight to 10 pieces), the Family Pack ($160 for 10 to 12 pieces) or the Seafood Lover Package ($195 for 12 to 14 pieces).
Each order contains at least four varieties of seafood in three-quarter- to one-pound pieces. An order might include halibut from Sitka, Alaska, albacore tuna from the South Pacific or Dungeness crab meat from Washington. July shipments (order before June 24) will include Copper River salmon from southeast Alaska.
Surfin' Seafood delivers your first order along with a cooler and an ice pack ($20 refundable deposit required). Next time around, just leave the empty cooler on your porch and the company will replace it with a fresh one. Deliveries are made the second week of the month, and there's no obligation to order monthly. More
Photo feature: Sharing their wares (6/11). Tom Sunderland (second from right) and Ron Christianson, right, of Ocean Beauty Seafoods, talk Wednesday to visitors at the Global Food Alaska 2009 trade show and conference at the Soldotna Sports Center. The event, which continues today, brings together Alaska's food producers, buyers and related businesses.
Kodiak. Local fishermen get their eight minutes of fame (6/10). Their eight minutes of fame came and went — for this week, at least.
Tuesday night’s “Deadliest Catch,” the Discovery Channel reality-TV series featuring the dangerous life of crab fishermen in the Bering Sea, introduced the all-Kodiak crew of the F/V Incentive. All of the crew — Capt. Harry Lewis and crewmembers Larry Ryser, Doug Dawson, Jimmy Johnson, Larry Gunderson, Dominic Costello and Nuni Canete — have strong Kodiak ties, making the vessel the first 100-percent Kodiak crew yet on the series.
Ryser and Dawson were in Kodiak last night to quietly watch their big national-television premiere. There was no red carpet — just a few phone calls and text messages from family and friends excited to watch them. And lots of jokes about which footage was used and what “really happened.”
Their real party and premiere, however, was earlier in the spring when the studio invited the Incentive to Burbank, Calif., to meet the production crew. Ryser said he met some girls who served as editors of the series — girls who, though not having met him in person yet, seemingly already knew him after piecing and cutting hours of Incentive footage.
Ryser said he was pleasantly surprised by his mini-celebrity status. More
My Turn: Rainforest Wild Benefits All Southeast Fishermen (6/12). By Beth Poole and Bob Waldrop | Juneau Empire
Have you ever tasted the difference between a Cabernet Sauvignon from Sonoma County and one from Napa Valley? Each region has its own soil structure, geology and weather conditions that create a unique and celebrated wine experience. Bring that idea up to Alaska and you have seafood, which comes with an incredible story for every fisherman, boat and region that harvests from the sea.
By voting to pass a 1 percent assessment to fund Rainforest Wild, Southeast's Regional Seafood Development Association, Southeast fishermen have an opportunity to not only tell their story to the marketplace but also realize infrastructure and quality improvements, and conduct education and training programs for new products and methods. Doing so will also allow Southeast's RSDA to seek outside state and federal funds and funnel those dollars directly to member fishermen. More
Togiak Seafood's Created (KDLG Audio) (6/7). One of the most well known and successful high-end salmon processors in the state of Alaska is getting into the Bristol Bay market. KDLG’s Mike Mason has the story.
Alaska's Golden Anniversary. A half-century of seafood processing (6/3). Fifty years ago this year, on Jan. 3, 1959, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the proclamation making Alaska the nation's 49th state. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of statehood, Alaskans have spent much of 2009 revisiting the long struggle to win admission to the union, and recognizing the industries that sustain the young state – oil, mining, tourism and, of course, commercial fishing.
Today Alaska stands as a seafood powerhouse, a prodigious producer of pollock and other groundfish, salmon, halibut, sablefish, king crab and other species.
While much of the glamour goes to the harvesters — the gillnetters who as late as the 1950s took sockeye salmon by sailboat, for example, or the crazy brave crabbers made famous on the Discovery Channel’s “Deadliest Catch”— the foundation for Alaska’s seafood success is its processing sector.
A common refrain heard in these parts is: “Alaska is different.” And as states go, it truly is. Catching and packing fish in cold and largely roadless Alaska is a logistical challenge full of extreme risk, high transportation costs and great distances to both American population centers and key Asian and European markets.
Yet in the 50 years since statehood, Alaska has built an advanced and still evolving seafood processing industry, both on shore and at sea, to handle the state’s enormous catches.
Here are some key indicators:
Volume: Of the 9.2 billion pounds of seafood U.S. fishermen landed in 2007, Alaska led all states in delivering more than half the total at 5.3 billion pounds, according to the latest data from the National Marine Fisheries Service. Alaska pollock, the main species supporting the state’s groundfish industry, alone tallied more than 3 billion pounds. More
Sarah Palin (6/3). As a lifelong outdoorswoman who learned to love sportfishing at an early age, my experience fishing commercially has been a joy as I join my husband at a set net site in Bristol Bay that his family has fished for generations. We have since passed this tradition on to our children, spending our summers harvesting the magnificent red salmon that return to Bristol Bay year after year as a result of Alaska’s careful management.
We Alaskans are proud of our fishing heritage. Worth nearly $6 billion in both direct and indirect economic output, and accounting for 54,000 jobs, the commercial seafood industry in Alaska is vitally important to our state and local economies.
This year, Alaskans celebrate the 50th anniversary of Alaska statehood and 50 years of sustainable fisheries management; our commitment to sustainability is rooted in our state Constitution.
Alaska’s Constitution mandates that Fishbe utilized, developed and maintained on the sustained yield principle‚ and it has guided fisheries management ever since Alaska achieved statehood in 1959. This long-term dedication to sustainability has resulted in Alaska being able to offer the nation, and the world, an abundance of wild seafood. Alaska’s effective and precise fisheries management practices are considered a model to be emulated. More
MISC
Dead whale towing an odd job for captain (6/10). Captain Bernie Culbertson received an odd job assignment last week—to take the carcass of the dead humpback whale that rode into Prince William Sound on an Exxon tanker out to its marine burial ground.
“It’s an easy day to be in the office,” Culbertson said, explaining that SeaRiver contracted him to dispose of the humpback. “It’s a new adventure. Not many people have towed a whale.”
The SeaRiver Kodiak, a tanker owned by ExxonMobil Corp., came into the Valdez Marine Terminal a week ago Monday with the dead humpback on its bulbous bow—the protruding part on the front underbelly of the vessel. The whale was later tied to berth 4 of the VMT, while federal authorities were deciding the best course of action.
Culbertson’s fishing vessel the Leah C picked up the humpback on Wednesday morning to tow it out of port. The crew ended up releasing the body outside Montague Island, about 70 miles south of Valdez, Culbertson said in an interview upon his return. The U.S. Coast Guard escorted the vessel out of the narrows.
On the marine radio, U.S. Coast Guard announced the 300-foot safety zone surrounding the vessel, protecting the boat “with a dead whale in tow.”
The humpback’s funeral procession passed many vessels in the Sound, including the Princess cruise ship docked that day, a BP tanker, and SERVS tug boats. More
Marine Conservation Alliance
431 N Franklin St Ste 305
Juneau, AK 99801-1186
