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Legal Fund Started to Fight for Subsistence Rights (KCAW Audio) (1/6)
Court – defendant in Jones Act case can demand jury trial (1/7)
Sign-up begins soon for limited access sport charter halibut boats (1/8)
Navy discusses potential environmental effects from training activities (1/8)
AFSC Publications
2009 IPHC Standardized Stock Assessment survey data (1/5)
Magnuson-Stevens Act Implementation
STATE
Alaska SeaGrant. Pacific Halibut/Sablefish Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) Holder Survey. Characterizing Crew and Fuel Price Impacts. Surveys due 3/31
MARKETING
Pacific cod closes in on certification showing sustainability (1/8)
Seafood Business (Jan 10)
MISC
Of Crab Pots and Celebrity (1/9)
FEDERAL
Legal Fund Started to Fight for Subsistence Rights (KCAW Audio) (1/6). A group of Southeast Native organizations has created a legal defense fund to protect what it says are subsistence rights. One of the first cases for the Alaska Subsistence Defense Fund will be the trial of State Senator Albert Kookesh (D-Angoon) and three other men charged with overfishing their subsistence sockeye permits near Angoon this summer.
Court – defendant in Jones Act case can demand jury trial (1/7). In an en banc decision, the Supreme Court of the State of Washington ruled that the defendant in a state court case brought under the Jones Act has a right to trial by jury. In the instant case, plaintiff crewmember brought suit in state court against his ship owner for personal injury. Plaintiff alleged negligence under the Jones Act and unseaworthiness under general maritime law. Plaintiff elected to have the dispute heard by the trial judge. Defendant’s request for a jury trial was denied. The court found in favor of plaintiff and awarded damages and prejudgment interest. Defendant appealed.
The state supreme court held that a Jones Act election by the plaintiff amounts to selecting whether the action is to be heard in admiralty or in law. There is no right to trial by jury in admiralty. If the action is to be heard in law, then both sides have an equal right to demand trial by jury. The case was remanded for a new trial. The court also upheld the assessment of prejudgment interest. Endicott v. Icicle Seafoods, Inc., No. 82635-8 (Washington, January 7, 2010). (Courtesy Bryant’s Maritime blog, This item was brought to my attention by my colleague Charles M. Davis, Esq.)
Sign-up begins soon for limited access sport charter halibut boats (1/8). A new fishery management program announced Jan. 4 is expected to stabilize the contentious guided sport halibut fishery by permanently limiting participation to some 920 vessels in Southeast and the Central Gulf of Alaska regions.
The permit plan - with a 60 day application period to begin in February - would include 502 vessels in Southeast Alaska, and 418 vessels in the Central Gulf of Alaska, which includes Cook Inlet, said Jay Ginter, regulatory branch chief for the National Marine Fisheries Service in Juneau.
The new plan, previously approved by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, will go into effect on Feb. 1, 2011. It grew out of a need to stabilize harvests from the guided sport fishery, which were increasing annually and coming in well beyond the guideline harvest level in some areas. More
Navy discusses potential environmental effects from training activities (1/8). The Navy held a public hearing and review of the Gulf of Alaska Navy Training Activities Draft Environmental Impact Statement/Overseas Environmental Impact Statement (EIS/OEIS) Thursday evening at Kodiak High School.
Information presented assessed the potential effects on the environment from current and ongoing Navy training activities, and the potential increase in those effects with future training the Navy would like to implement.
Kodiak community members were able to give written statements and oral statements that were recorded by a Navy court reporter.
Of the six Kodiak residents to give an oral testimony, only one was for the continued and increased Navy training. Others cited harm to marine environment, animals and fishermen.
Theresa Peterson, who works with the Alaska Marine Conservation Council (AMCC) and is a member of a fishing family, was concerned about the potential increase in Navy presence in the Gulf of Alaska. More
AFSC Publications
LADD, C., W. R. CRAWFORD, C. E. HARPOLD, W. K. JOHNSON, N. B. KACHEL, P. J. STABENO, and F. WHITNEY. 2009. A synoptic survey of young mesoscale eddies in the eastern Gulf of Alaska. Deep-Sea Res. II 56:2460-2473.
LAAKE, J., A. PUNT, R. HOBBS, M. FERGUSON, D. RUGH, and J. BREIWICK. 2009. Re-analysis of gray whale southbound migration surveys, 1967-2006. U.S. Dep. Commer., NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-AFSC-203, 55 p. (.pdf, 1.57 MB). Online.
CIECIEL, K., E. V. FARLEY, Jr., and L. B. EISNER. 2009. Jellyfish and juvenile salmon associations with oceanographic characteristics during warm and cool years in the eastern Bering Sea. N. Pac. Anadr. Fish Comm. Bull. 5:209-224. (.pdf, 1.24 MB). Online.
Alaska SeaGrant. Pacific Halibut/Sablefish Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) Holder Survey. Characterizing Crew and Fuel Price Impacts. Surveys due 3/31. The Alaska IFQ halibut and sablefish fisheries are an important fisheries management program not just for Alaska, but the entire world. Lessons from this fishery have shaped and will continue to shape the design of quota programs around the globe.
We greatly appreciate your assistance in answering this short survey on crew makeup in the current halibut and sablefish fisheries. Comparatively little data are available regarding crew and their connection to regional economies. With your help this survey will fill in some of those missing pieces. Results from this survey allow us to measure the economic impact of the quota share holders and crew on different communities throughout the North Pacific.
The survey is funded by the Alaska Sea Grant Rapid Response Program, and led by Glenn Haight, Fisheries Development Specialist with Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program. The survey was designed and will be analyzed by Alexander Kotlarov, a PhD student with the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, working under the guidance of Dr. Keith Criddle.
The survey includes 14 short questions that you will probably be able to answer from memory. We understand that your crew levels may fluctuate with fishing season and year; we are looking for answers that best reflect conditions during the 2009 fishing year. More
Pacific cod closes in on certification showing sustainability (1/8). Harvesters in Alaska's multi-million dollar Pacific cod fisheries are anticipating Marine Stewardship Council certification by mid-January, a move that would enhance sales of the versatile white fish.
The MSC seal on seafood verifies that the fish came from a sustainable fishery, an increasingly important factor for European sales, said Larry Cotter, executive director of the Aleutian Pribilof Island Community Development Association, one of several major entities engaged in the Pacific cod fishery.
The MSC sustainability label is also important to an increasing number of U.S. retailers, including Walmart and Whole Foods, which have committed to buying seafood only from sustainable fisheries. MSC, based in London, has the world's main certification program for sustainable seafoods.
Premium prices for MSC-certified Pacific cod could be 3 percent to 5 percent higher than non-certified fish, according to one seafood trade publication.
"Europe is big on MCS products and it is important for pollock. I assume it will be important for cod as well, so I would say it's a plus for us," Cotter said.
The pollock fishery in Alaska is carried out with long line, pot, trawl and jig gear. Millions of metric tons of the fish are harvested annually, and it is marketed in a variety of products worldwide, including fillet cod products and salt cod in parts of southern Europe and Brazil. More
Of Crab Pots and Celebrity (1/9). We know now why being a commercial crab fisherman in Alaska is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.
We know now why the deckhands and captains who take on the treacherous waters of the Bering Sea every winter are compensated so well for filling the bottom of their boats with crab.
Because of the Discovery Channel’s hit reality show “Deadliest Catch,” viewers get an inside peek into life aboard the boats that trawl the Bering Sea in search of the succulent Alaskan King and Opilio crabs.
But no matter how many marathons viewers of the show take in, unless you’ve actually been there and done it, you really don’t know what it’s like staring death in the face when those relentless waves come crashing down on the boat.
Bremerton’s 52-year-old Jon Jorgenson, one of the most seasoned fishermen in the fleet, has experienced it. He’s currently working on the Time Bandit, one of the featured vessels on “Deadliest Catch.” The Time Bandit will pull out of Dutch Harbor for the start of the opi, or snow-crab season, later this week. Discovery Channel film crews will be onboard selected vessels, shooting footage for Season 6 of the show.
