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Crab fishery regs garner support, criticism at federal council meeting (6/12)
Federal judge puts limit on Southeast halibut charters (6/12)
NY Times Editorial. Of Fish and Flexibility (6/12)
Presidential memorandum. National Policy For the Oceans, Our Coasts, and The Great Lakes (6/12)
Obama Declares June Oceans Month (6/15)
The Whale Rescuers: National Marine Fisheries Service offers disentanglement workshops (6/10)
STATE
Homer Tribune Editorial : Looking Inward for Answers to Fishing Questions (6/10)
First king salmon expected in Yukon, but limits imposed (6/14)
Opinion. Let king salmon move up the Yukon (6/14)
MISC
Boat builder Dave LeClercq helped launch Alaska's fishing fleet (6/13)
FEDERAL
Crab fishery regs garner support, criticism at federal council meeting (6/12). All of the testimony, as well as detailed discussion papers, will be considered as the North Pacific Fishery Management Council moves toward completion of its five-year review, which could be in October 2010, said David Wetherell, deputy director of the council.
The plan, which went into effect in August 2005, allocated quota shares for harvesting and processing of the crab based on historic participation in the fishery, plus a portion of the allowable harvest to community development quota groups established in 1992 to enhance the economies of Western Alaska coastal communities.
Points of contention within the current crab plan range from processor quota shares, which dictate that 90 percent of the harvest must go to certain processors, to the lack of quota shares for crew, and the economic havoc the plan has leveled on communities.
King Cove Mayor Ernest Weiss said the city of King Cove and the Aleutian East Borough were opposed to processor quota shares, "but would like to work with the reality that is."
His concerns include a loan program that would allow for the purchase of community quota shares.
Dave Frasier, testifying on behalf of Adak Fisheries and the Adak Community Development Corp., asked for consideration of a processor quota share plan more equitable to that community. More
Federal judge puts limit on Southeast halibut charters (6/12). A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has limited anglers aboard charter boats in Southeast Alaska to one halibut a day, a decision applauded by the region's long-line fleet but disappointing to charter operators.
U.S. District Court Judge Rosemary Collyer ruled June 4 against a preliminary injunction that would have allowed charter boat clients in Southeast to continue to keep two halibut per day despite fishery managers' objections. In a similar case a year ago, charter operators were successful in blocking the government's case for a one-fish limit.
The ruling applies only to Southeast Alaska charters. Anglers fishing there without a guide may continue to catch two halibut a day.
Collyer did rule, however, that the charter operators can proceed with a lawsuit that challenges a federal rule to cut the daily catch limit for charter clients from two to one.
The Halibut Coalition, speaking for a group of subsistence, recreational and commercial harvesters and processors, said they were pleased with the ruling against the preliminary injunction. The ruling protects halibut resource and all harvesters, as well as domestic consumers, by protecting the resource from overfishing by the charter fleet, they said. More
NY Times Editorial. Of Fish and Flexibility (6/12). Senator Charles Schumer has introduced a bill called The Flexibility in Rebuilding American Fisheries Act. Flexibility, in this case, means bending to the will of fishermen who want to keep vacuuming up depleted fish populations before they have a chance to recover. The bill aims to help New York fishermen whose livelihoods depend on fluke and other species. To achieve this narrow objective, however, it would poke holes in the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the basic law governing fishing in federal waters. The act, strengthened by Congress in 2006, imposes ambitious timetables for rebuilding fish stocks and gives scientists a say in setting limits.
It is those sensible restrictions under which the fishermen are now chafing, and which Mr. Schumer’s bill — the companion to a House measure sponsored by Frank Pallone of New Jersey — seeks to gut. More
Presidential memorandum. National Policy For the Oceans, Our Coasts, and The Great Lakes (6/12). The oceans, our coasts, and the Great Lakes provide jobs, food, energy resources, ecological services, recreation, and tourism opportunities, and play critical roles in our Nation's transportation, economy, and trade, as well as the global mobility of our Armed Forces and the maintenance of international peace and security. We have a stewardship responsibility to maintain healthy, resilient, and sustainable oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes resources for the benefit of this and future generations.
Yet, the oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes are subject to substantial pressures and face significant environmental challenges. Challenges include water pollution and degraded coastal water quality caused by industrial and commercial activities both onshore and offshore, habitat loss, fishing impacts, invasive species, disease, rising sea levels, and ocean acidification. Oceans both influence and are affected by climate change. They not only affect climate processes but they are also under stress from the impacts of climate change. Renewable energy, shipping, and aquaculture are also expected to place growing demands on ocean and Great Lakes resources. These resources therefore require protection through the numerous Federal, State, and local authorities with responsibility and jurisdiction over the oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes.
To succeed in protecting the oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes, the United States needs to act within a unifying framework under a clear national policy, including a comprehensive, ecosystem-based framework for the longterm conservation and use of our resources. More
Obama Declares June Oceans Month (6/15). Friday, President Obama launched a new ocean protect initiative that aims to unify the management of U.S. ocean territory, coasts and the Great Lakes. Currently, 140 U.S. laws and 20 federal agencies are involved in oceans management, which has lead to regulatory "chaos," as Sarah Chasis, the director of the Ocean Initiative at the Natural Resources Defense Council, put it.
The high-level attention to oceans policy can't come soon enough, and won praise from the NRDC and other majorenvironmentalgroups. More
The Whale Rescuers: National Marine Fisheries Service offers disentanglement workshops (6/10). JUNEAU - With the Pacific population of humpback whales growing at seven percent annually, mariners can expect more encounters with the giant mammals. To reduce injury to the federally protected creatures and gear loss to harvesters, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is recruiting volunteers to join a response network to assist the few federal personnel who are authorized to disentangle whales.
Reports of whale entanglements in Southeast and the Gulf of Alaska jumped from fewer than six in 2004 to more than 20 in 2005. Edward Lyman, disentanglement coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, began visiting Alaska in 2005 on a campaign to promote entangled whale reporting. During that same year a long-closed commercial salmon fishery on the Taku River reopened. Lyman speculated that the reopening might have contributed to the jump in encounters.
Southeast Alaska incident reports have since dropped to about eight per year in 2007 and 2008, a rate that Lyman said seems to be the slowly increasing average of confirmed reports for the Panhandle. Data from international and Alaska whale counters confirms harvesters' reports that the humpback population is growing. According to Lyman, whale census efforts involving 11 countries estimate the Central and North Pacific whale population at 10,000 to 12,000 individuals. More
STATE
Homer Tribune Editorial : Looking Inward for Answers to Fishing Questions (6/10). Every year, thousands of fishing fans flock to Homer to drop their lines in the waters of Kachemak Bay, hoping to land the big one in the self-proclaimed halibut capital of the world.
Campers and vacationers roll in to the Homer Spit, logging hours at the Fishing Hole and teaching young anglers how to bait a hook, cast a line or simply whack a landed salmon in the head with a rock.
Even more look to reel in their first king salmon as they troll the Anchor River, or perfect their fly fishing techniques as they wade into the pristine waters on the southern Kenai Peninsula.
But for how long?
For a number of years now, anglers, commercial fishermen, subsistence users and various state and federal agencies have stepped up to weigh in on Alaska's fisheries and just what needs to be done to preserve them for future generations. And while it's certainly understandable that everyone comes with their own agenda, at what point do we really start looking out for each other?
So far this summer, Alaska fisheries - the Kenai Peninsula included - have suffered a few setbacks with the closure of the Anchor River to king salmon fishing, the untimely death of some 40,000 late-run silver salmon smolt in the Nick Dudiak Fishing Lagoon and the southeast fisheries' implementation of the one-halibut rule that local charter operators fear will soon move to include southcentral fisheries.
And while few seem to doubt that nature has its own way of thinning the stocks and healing the earth, figuring out just what impact our human presence has on things is a little more difficult. More
First king salmon expected in Yukon, but limits imposed (6/14). FAIRBANKS -- State Fish and Game Department officials say the first pulse of king salmon heading up the Yukon River is expected anytime. Subsistence fishing has been closed for District Y-1 until further notice because of special restrictions placed on this year's salmon harvest.
Subsistence fishing in districts Y-2 and Y-3 will be closed as the first pulse of salmon heads upstream.
A below-average to poor harvest is expected this year, and officials say the limits on subsistence fishing are needed to ensure enough fish reach Canada to meet treaty agreements. Link
Opinion. Let king salmon move up the Yukon (6/14). As the start of the salmon fishing season on the Yukon River draws near, I know that subsistence users on the river face worrisome days ahead. I share their concerns.
For the first time, the Yukon River subsistence chinook fishery will be closed as the first pulse of fish makes its way up the river. In addition, subsistence fishermen in the lower river Districts 1, 2 and 3 will be limited to two 18-hour openers per week as the season begins — a 50 percent reduction in fishing time.
Furthermore, the Federal Subsistence Board has taken the rare step of restricting the harvest of Yukon kings in federal waters to federally qualified subsistence users only. That means only rural residents of communities on the Yukon River drainage or Stebbins may harvest chinook salmon on the lower Yukon.
Similar management actions will be implemented in upriver fishing districts as the fish make their way to the spawning grounds and into Canada.
These actions are not taken lightly. In fact, making decisions that restrict subsistence users are among the most difficult that the Federal Subsistence Board and federal subsistence resource managers face.
The outlook for this year’s chinook salmon run is below average to poor. This comes on the heels of two years during which not enough fish reached the spawning grounds in Canada.
We don’t know the reasons for these lower-than-expected returns. The declines may be due to several factors, including bycatch in the Bering Sea commercial pollock fishery, other intercept fisheries, poor ocean conditions and other environmental factors.
The Federal Subsistence Board is concerned about the bycatch of Yukon River chinook salmon by the Bering Sea pollock fleet. On behalf of the board, I addressed the North Pacific Fishery Management Council when it met in Anchorage in April and urged the council to set the chinook bycatch cap at just over 29,000. Several of our federal subsistence regional advisory council members joined me in that effort. More
MISC
Boat builder Dave LeClercq helped launch Alaska's fishing fleet (6/13). Dave LeClercq transformed a childhood fascination with boats into a decades-long run as the most productive boat builder for the Alaska fishing fleet. He died June 6 on Mercer Island. He was 93.
As a boy growing up in Alki, Mr. LeClercq joined with childhood friends Chuck Hickling and Ted Jones — both later legends of the hydroplane circuit — to build racing boats.
Mr. LeClercq's father died when he was 12, and the Great Depression descended shortly after, forcing Mr. LeClercq into carpentry the same year. That's when Mr. LeClercq developed a lifelong trait as a man who would simply outwork anyone else, said his son, Nick LeClercq, a general contractor in Seattle.
"He didn't know where his next meal was coming from," he said. "He didn't have the luxury of feeling sorry for himself."
At age 22, Mr. LeClercq joined with a young naval architect, William Garden, to open a small shipyard on Northlake Way. The partnership turned into a lifelong friendship, even as Garden became a world-class naval architect.
Mr. LeClercq was "high-energy, a natural, an excellent production man," said Garden, now 90 and living in Sidney, B.C. "I used to design them, and he'd build them."
After a stint building minesweepers and landing craft during World War II, Mr. LeClercq settled on fishing boats, and into a Lake Union property on Westlake Avenue. At the time, vessels in the Bristol Bay, Alaska, fleet were limited to just sail and oar, but the advent of Alaska statehood in 1959 changed fisheries laws to allow power boats. More
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