Pribilof Islanders Ask NOAA Fisheries to Reduce Bering Sea Halibut Bycatch

NOAA Fisheries is being asked by the state of Alaska and representatives of the Pribilof Island community of Saint Paul to institute emergency action to lower halibut bycatch in the Bering Sea groundfish fisheries.

The request to Assistant Administrator of NOAA Fisheries Eileen Sobeck came in late December from Central Bering Sea Fishermen’s Association, the city of Saint Paul, the Tribal government of Saint Paul and Tanadguix Corp., an Alaska Native village corporation.

The four entities noted that the state of Alaska and six Alaska members of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council have already urged the Commerce Department to institute emergency action to prevent a reduction in the allowable catch in the directed halibut fishery critical to the area’s economy.

According to the International Pacific Halibut Commission, due to an increase in Bering Sea Area 4CDE bycatch levels from 2013 to 2014, the recommended total allowable directed halibut catch for that area would fall from 1.285 million pounds in 2014 to 370,000 pounds in 2015.

This would result in only a 73,000-pound community development quota halibut fishery for Saint Paul. Such a small amount of poundage would be insufficient for both an economically viable fishery and also processing at the local Trident Seafoods plant in Saint Paul, they said in a letter to Sobeck.

Bycatch of halibut in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska groundfish fisheries has become a constant source of friction between those directly engaged in groundfish fisheries and those holding quota shares in directed halibut fisheries. During the December NPFMC meeting in Anchorage, council member Duncan Fields of Kodiak offered a lengthy motion for emergency action to decrease halibut bycatch in the Bering Sea, and when the motion failed, council member Sam Cotten, the acting Alaska Commissioner of Fish and Game, along with five other Alaskans on the council, sought help from Sobeck in lowering that bycatch by 33 percent in 2015.

That would leave the directed halibut fishery with the right to harvest 960,000 pounds of halibut.

Fish Fight Lands Commercial Harvesters and Conservationists Back in Court

A federal fisheries decision that put commercial harvesters back into waters put off limits four years ago to reduce competition between them and Steller sea lions hungering for the same fish has prompted another federal lawsuit.

The environmental law firm Earthjustice filed a lawsuit this past week on behalf of the conservation groups Oceana and Greenpeace, saying that the decision by National Marine Fisheries Service undermines protections for the Steller sea lion population in the Western Aleutians who are already endangered and protected under the Endangered Species Act.

The lawsuit, online at http://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/files/StellerSeaLionComplaint12232014.pdf, alleges that the NMFS decision violates the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Policy Act and the Administrative Procedure Act.

Both the commercial fishing vessels and the Steller Sea lions are in pursuit of pollock, Pacific cod and Atka mackerel.

“We have been forced back to court once again by an agency that appears intent on sacrificing healthy ocean ecosystems for short-term economic gain,” said Michael LeVine, Pacific senior counsel for Oceana. “We find ourselves back in court to defend the basic premise that sea lions need fish caught by industrial fisheries to survive.”

In its lengthy explanation of its decision in late November, NMFS said the challenge it faced along with the North Pacific Fishery Management Council was to meet the Endangered Species Act requirement in a manner that also provides opportunities for the fisheries managed under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and did not unnecessarily restrict fishing opportunities.

“Maintaining the ability for fisheries to occur is a fundamental statutory requirement under the Magnuson-Stevens Act,” NMFS said, in a report from Juneau. Protection measures currently in place insure that jeopardy is not likely, but that they are more protective than necessary to avoid the likelihood of jeopardy, resulting in more economic costs to the fishing industry than necessary to comply with the ESA, NMFS said.

The complete explanation of its Steller sea lion decision was posted by NMFS at http://alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/sustainablefisheries/sslpm/eis/eisrod1114.pdf.

Acidification: Alaskans Unaware of Risk to Fisheries

An Alaska focused study published in the journal Marine Policy has found Alaskans are three times more aware of ocean acidification than other Americans, but concludes that they did not understand the direct risks to their state’s fisheries.

The research paper, entitled “Gauging perceptions of ocean acidification in Alaska," was written by Lauren Frisch of the University of Alaska and Jeremy Mathis, an oceanographer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory.

The complete article is online a http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X14003236. Researchers said they found that in Alaska the impacts of ocean acidification have the potential to be even worse than other coastal communities because of an accelerated rate of change in ocean chemistry, and statewide reliance on commercial and subsistence fishing.

Accurately evaluating ocean acidification risk directly influences the ability to respond to change. The research builds on earlier NOAA-led research that showed communities in Southeast and Southwest Alaska are more at risk than other areas of the state because of their heavy reliance on fisheries expected to be impacted by ocean acidification.

“We wanted to learn the best way to provide Alaskans with the information they need to properly respond to ocean acidification, said Frisch, a research associate at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Ocean Acidification Research Center. “The first step was to determine where there are gaps in the understanding of ocean acidification so that we can then work to fill them in.”

Back in 2013, some 2,000 Alaskans received a questionnaire asking about their role in the state’s fishing industry, as well as their belief in, understanding of, and concern about ocean acidification. Some 18 percent of those who received that questionnaire responded, which is high for studies of this nature.

Results showed limited understanding of how Alaska will be uniquely impacted by ocean acidification. Those affiliated with the state’s fishing industry were not significantly more concerned about ocean acidification than the others, and only 33 percent believed that ocean acidification will decrease revenue for fisheries.

They perceived ocean acidification as a distant risk.

With all the other challenges we’re faced with, it can be difficult to think about ocean acidification as an immediate risk, Mathis said. “We really have to work harder to get the message out to stakeholders around Alaska that ocean acidification is something that they need to consider sooner rather than later.”

“Moving forward, we need to figure out how to enhance this understanding that acidification is not uniform, and therefore adaptation plans will be more successful if they are local,” Frisch said. “Educating communities with local examples about their specific risk could help foster this understanding. The best thing we can do is provide vulnerable communities the tool set to evaluate risk themselves.”

Industry Pitches In for Crab Research Project

An Alaska crab research project in Kodiak and Seward has received new red and blue king crab collected in November and December through efforts of the crab industry and fishermen.

Officials with the Alaska King Crab Research Rehabilitation and Biology Program said Mitch Simeonoff of Ahkiok and Rick Metzger of Deadman’s Bay collected 30 red king crab in Alitak Bay in early November.

Ten broodstock crabs are housed at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Kodiak, while 20 were shipped to Seward.

Red king crab larvae that hatch from these females will be raised at the Alutiiq Pride Shellfish Hatchery in the spring of 2015 to support continued research on the feasibility of stock rehabilitation in Kodiak.

Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers was credited for the collection of blue king crab, researchers said. Egg-bearing blue king crab were collected in December and delivered to St. Paul by the F/V Bristol Mariner, skippered by Tom Suryan and owned by Kevin Kaldestad. Trident Seafoods housed the crab and packed and shipped them to Seward. Females will be cared for at the Alutiiq Pride Shellfish Hatchery, where the research biologists will investigate the role of incubation temperature on hatch timing. Broodstock collection is expensive and time consuming and the research program could not continue without the support of the crab industry and fishermen, researchers said. Success in collecting red and blue king crab this year illustrates the dedication of scientists as well as the interest of industry and local fishermen in supporting this work, researchers said.

Supporters and sponsors of the research program include the Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers, Aleut Community of St. Paul Tribal Government, Aleutian Pribilof Island Community Development Association, Alutiiq Pride Shellfish Hatchery, Bering Sea Fisheries Research Foundation, Central Bering Sea Fishermen’s Association, Chugach Regional Resources Commission, Gulf of Alaska Coastal Communities Coalition, the Groundfish Forum, Kenai Peninsula Borough, Kodiak Island Borough, the city of Kodiak, Norton Sound Economic Development Corp., NOAA Fisheries, Santa Monica Seafoods, the city of Seward, United Fishermen’s Marketing Association, University of Alaska Fairbanks School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, University of Alaska Southeast, and the Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program.

Outlook Upbeat for Alaska Seafood Harvesters, Processors

A new labor report on employment in Alaska’s seafood industry says the harvesting sector in 2013 averaged monthly employment growth not seen since 2000, and predicts continued growth in the processing sector through 2022.

The November edition of Alaska Trends, focused on seafood harvesting and processing jobs, also notes that the six community development quota groups tasked with boosting the economy of 65 villages in Western Alaska had gross revenues of $318 million in 2013, from a variety of sources that included fishing, processing, quota royalties, program revenue, and investment income, and combined net assets for 2013 amounted to $899 million.

Daniel Strong, a research analyst with the Alaska Department of Labor in Juneau, said seafood processing industry employment is projected to grow by 6.7 percent between 2012 and 2022, and the highest-paid processing occupations are expected to grow at nearly twice that rate.

Across all industries in the processing sector, expected growth ranges from a low of 6.9 percent for electrician helpers to 15.3 percent for captains, mates and boat pilots, Strong noted.

Job numbers in the processing sector grew by 2.4 percent in 2013, primarily driven by increased salmon harvest, bringing the year’s monthly average to 8,393 jobs, less than 400 shy of the 2000 level, said Josh Warren, an Alaska Department of Labor economist in Juneau, writing in the state agency’s monthly report on economic trends.

The increase in harvesting and jobs has also produced a larger seasonal swing, Warren said. Alaska’s seafood harvesting has one of the strongest seasonal patterns in the nation, with a difference of about 25,000 jobs between the highest and lowest months. Winter employment shrank or remained stable in 2013, while peak summer employment reached a record of 25,859 jobs in July. In June alone, there were 2,500 more harvesters than for the same month in 2012.

Salmon harvesting jobs were the main source of growth in harvesting employment between 2012 and 2013, with a gain of 452 jobs, or 10 percent.

This growth came from a small increase in reported crew sizes by permit holders, as well as more fishing, Warren noted.

Job numbers in the groundfish fisheries had a much lower profile than other fisheries data, such as catch volume and value.

Groundfish make up the largest share in terms of volume and salmon in value among all fisheries, with nearly $680 million worth brought to the docks in 2013.

Salmon harvests made up just 17.5 percent of total seafood volume, and 36.5 percent of total commercial fisheries value. Three billion pounds of walleye pollock, over half the overall volume of seafood landed in 2013, were 25 percent of total Alaska landings value.

Variations in methods, regulation, and markets dictate the effort and employment necessary for each fishery. Limits on size, equipment type, and the number of days allowed for salmon fishing mean more job opportunities and crew are needed. Larger ships fishing for pollock in the Bering Sea need fewer crew and fetch higher catch prices.

Warren noted that Southeast Alaska has been the regional leader in both volume and value of the salmon fishery since 2011, thus generating the largest job counts.

Southcentral Alaska was second, with its halibut fleet and Prince William Sound and Cook Inlet salmon fisheries. Employment in the Aleutians/Pribilof Islands was third-highest because of its diversity and triple digit employment in salmon, halibut, groundfish and crab harvesting.

Harvesting employment dropped 12.6 percent overall in Kodiak in 2013, but was still higher than 2011 levels. While Kodiak’s salmon fisheries grew, employment dropped in halibut and various other groundfish fisheries due to an overall decrease in landings and a reported decline in the number of crew members necessary to fish each permit, Warren said.

Salmon fishery employment in the Bristol Bay region was flat overall. June and July of 2013 saw record employment, but in August employment was half of what it had ben the prior year. In northern Alaska, the region gained an average of four yearly jobs, largely from a strong herring return.

The Aleutians and Pribilof Islands lost 150 jobs in 2013. Aleutian salmon harvesting jobs rebounded to their 2011 level, which was a 20 percent increase from 2012. Declines in that region’s other fisheries overpowered the rebounding salmon employment, because salmon is such a small portion of the overall harvest.

Southeast Alaska meanwhile gained 210 harvesting jobs in 2013, reaching a level not seen since 2000.

Most species showed job growth from 2012, except for groundfish and crab, which had negligible losses. The longest continuous growth in Southeast Alaska has been in salmon fisheries.

In Southcentral Alaska, 73 percent of the harvesting jobs were in salmon fisheries.

Harvesting

Nearly 28,000 people worked in the seafood processing sector in 2013, nearly four out of five of them doing hands on labor making surimi, processing fish roe, or cutting and trimming. Other fish processing workers were employed in supporting services, including grading, machine operation, ship maintenance, packing, and general labor.

Strong notes that Alaska had about 170 fish processing facilities in 2012. Most of the onshore processing plants were in Southeast and Southcentral Alaska, but the highest numbers of processing workers were in the Aleutians and Pribilof Islands, followed by Southeast, Bristol Bay and Southcentral Alaska. Processing work is mostly seasonal and few workers are employed year-round.
Strong noted that in 2013 only 2 percent of seafood processors, who represent 18 percent of seafood processing occupations, worked an average of at least three quarters, and many of them were office workers or material movers. The majority, 91 percent, worked two or fewer quarters.

Seafood processors tend to stay in the industry for at least a few years. Strong found that from 2007 to 2012, more than half of them returned for a second season, and that over the same period, one out of four had worked in the industry for the past five years or longer.

Higher-Wage Jobs
While jobs in seafood processing are generally for low hourly wages, high seasonality and low resident hire, the industry also has a number of higher-wage jobs following a different trend.
Strong noted that the 11 highest paid jobs in the industry relate to engineering, high-level management, installation, maintenance, and repair work. This group included ship engineers at 34 percent, followed by captains, mates, and boat pilots, and general and operations managers.

While this group comprised just 1.2 percent of all industry workers, they earned 6 percent of total wages. The median annual wage for the industry was $24,689, compared to $66,720 for the highest-paid occupations. These wages ranged from a low of $57,889 for ship engineers to a high of $148,678 for chief executive officers.

In the management sector, jobs paid an average of $82,364 annually, accounting for 36 percent of the total wages.

About 64 percent of this group’s wages went to plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters; electrician helpers; structural metal fabricators and fitters; other engineers, captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels and ship engineers.

Most of these higher paying jobs require more qualifications than other fish processing industry jobs.
Two-thirds of these jobs require a bachelor’s degree but most of these jobs require less than five years of experience and no on-the-job training.

The higher paying occupations tended to go to older workers with over half being 45 years of age or older, on average.

CDQs
Alaska Economic Trends also looked at employment in the six community development quota groups, which represent 65 communities that are among the most economically disadvantaged in the state, with chronically high unemployment.

In the 22 years since their inception, the CDQ groups have become powerful players in the heavily industrialized commercial Bering Sea and Aleutian Island fisheries, notes state labor economist Caroline Schultz, author of this article.

Financial statements from the CDQs for 2013 show that these six corporations eared $318 million in gross revenue from various sources. These included fishing, processing, quota royalties, program revenue, and investment income. For the same year, the corporations’ combined net assets totaled $899 million.

Each of the CDQs has a different approach to economic development, aiming to tailor programs and investments to the needs of their communities. These may include direct employment, investment in subsidiaries, scholarships, community grants, training, scientific research, and infrastructure.

Initially the CDQ groups partnered with non-CDQ harvesters by leasing their allocation to vessels and processors. Now some of the CDQ groups own their own catcher vessels, factory trawlers, and on-shore processing facilities. While the law allocates about 10 percent of the total harvest quota to CDQ groups, they control an estimated 40 percent of the pollock trawl fleet in the Bering Sea.

The CDQs do not, for the most part, directly employ fish harvesters and processors, who are instead managed by subsidiaries and joint ventures. The CDQ subsidiaries generate an additional 1,000 plus jobs in the region.

The CDQs also provide funds for local governments, tribal organizations, and schools, giving the villages the ability to govern, provide basic services and improve their standard of living.

In 2011, the latest year for which the Western Alaska Community Development Association had totals, the six CDQ groups provided nearly $7.3 million for infrastructure projects and more than $17.7 million for community benefit projects.

CDQ groups also granted in 2011 more than 725 scholarships, worth $2.1 million, and then spent $780,000 on training and skill development.

Schultz noted that there is disagreement between CDQ groups about the fairness of the quotas based on population and historical ties to fisheries. There are concerns that the groups’ incentives aren’t always aligned with their region’s best interests, such as disputes over the impact of salmon caught incidentally in the pollock trawl fishery on weak salmon subsistence harvests on the Yukon River.

Broader, long-term concerns for the Bering Sea fisheries include climate change, ocean acidification and stock depletion, but the biggest challenge for the CDQs is to alleviate poverty and provide economic and social benefits to this region of Alaska.

Rising Air, Sea Temperatures are Impacting Fisheries

A global warming report released today by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says Arctic air temperatures are continuing to rise at twice the rate of global air temperatures, triggering dramatic changes in the Arctic.

“Arctic warming is setting off changes that affect people and the environment in this fragile region, and has broader effects beyond the Arctic on global security, trade, and climate,” said Craig McLean, acting assistant administrator for the NOAA Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. McLean’s comment came during a news conference at the American Geophysical Union fall meeting in San Francisco.

“This year’s Arctic Report Card shows the importance of international collaboration on long-term observing programs that can provide vital information to inform decisions by citizens, policy makers and industry,” McLean said.

Contributors to the NOAA-led report included some 63 authors from 13 countries.

The annual update on effects of global warming has been provided since 2006. This year’s report includes major findings related to Arctic Ocean productivity, air temperatures, snow cover, sea ice, Arctic Ocean temperature, the Greenland ice sheet and vegetation, plus a new report on the status of polar bears.

The report notes that declining sea ice is leading to an increase in sunlight reaching the upper layers of the Arctic Ocean, setting off increased photosynthesis and greater production of phytoplankton, tiny marine plants which form the base of the food chain for fish and marine mammals. The timing of phytoplankton blooms throughout the Arctic Ocean is also being affected, with more frequent secondary blooms during the fall, the report said.

The report also notes that as sea ice retreats in summer, sea surface temperatures in all the seas of the Arctic Ocean is increasing. The most significant linear trend, the report said, is in the Chukchi Sea, northwest of Alaska, where sea surface temperatures are increasing at a rate of 0.9 degrees Fahrenheit every decade.

Air temperatures likewise have been changing. The jet stream pattern during early 2014 sent extreme cold air southward into eastern North America and central Russia and extreme warm air northward into Alaska and northern Europe. Alaska recorded temperature anomalies more than 18 degrees Fahrenheit, higher than the January average, the report said.

The complete report is online at http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/reportcard

Presidential Action Halts Oil and Gas Leasing in North Aleutian Basin OCS

President Obama has used his presidential authority to indefinitely prohibit oil and gas leasing, development or production in Bristol Bay, home of the world’s largest wild sockeye salmon run.

“This has been a long time coming, and Bristol Bay fishermen are breathing a collective sigh of relief,” said David Harsila, president of the Alaska Independent Fishermen’s Marketing Association.

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said Obama’s decision of Dec. 16 “caps decades of work from the community to protect the region’s economic and cultural heritage.”

Jewell paid tribute to the late Harvey Samuelsen, a veteran commercial fisherman and spokesman for the people of Southwest Alaska, who championed protection of the bay and its fisheries, and the economic well being of fishermen, Native communities and other Alaskans.

Alaska Gov. Bill Walker said Jewell had called him in advance of the announcement to give him the news. “I look forward to working cooperatively – in Alaska’s clear interest – with the federal government to safely and economically develop regions of our state and offshore waters for oil and gas,” he said. “Bristol Bay, however, is not that place.”

Samuelsen’s son, Robin Samuelsen, chairman of the Bristol Bay economic Development Corp. in Dillingham, said he was “overjoyed that the President recognized how important Bristol Bay is,” not only to area residents but to the rest of the world. “My father worked his whole life to protect our fisheries and create opportunity for the people,” he said.

Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, also applauded the action, and paid tribute to Harvey Samuelsen, saying no Alaskan has been a more fierce supporter of Bristol Bay. “It’s appropriate to honor his legacy and contributions to Alaskans today and in the future by naming this reserve in his honor,” he said.

Begich noted that the federal government estimated the net economic value of Bristol Bay’s oil and gas resources at about $7.7 billion over the life of that development. By contrast, fisheries production there is valued in excess of $2 billion annually, or up to $80 billion over the same period that oil and gas development is projected, he said.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said that given the lack of interest by industry and the public divide over allowing oil and gas exploration in this area, she was not objecting to the decision at this time. “What I do not understand is why this decision could not be made within the context of the administration’s upcoming plan for offshore leasing – or at least announced at the same time,” she said.

NPFMC Boosts Pollock Allocations

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council, in its December meeting in Anchorage, boosted pollock allocations in groundfish fisheries, but left unresolved bycatch issues threatening some directed halibut fisheries.

For the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands, the total allowable catch of pollock was raised from 1,267,000 ton to 1,310,000 tons, while Pacific cod allocations were cut from 246,897 tons to 240,000 tons. Atka mackerel allocations also saw a boost from 32,322 tons to 54,500 tons.

In the Gulf of Alaska, the council raised the pollock TAC from 174,976 tons to 199,151 tons, and the Pacific cod quota from 64,738 tons to 75,202 tons.

The council took final action on management of the 2015 charter halibut fishery in Alaska, with a two-fish daily bag limit and five fish annual limit in area 3A, and a one-fish daily bag limit for Area 2C.

The council released for public review analysis of the sablefish pot longline gear, noting that interactions with whales has affected the ability of sablefish quota share holders to harvest their individual fishing quotas.

Also released for public review was an analysis of Chinook and chum salmon bycatch measures in the Bering Sea pollock fishery, with the council noting that the current chum salmon bycatch reduction program does not meet the council’s objectives to prioritize Chinook salmon bycatch avoidance. The current Chinook salmon bycatch reduction program under Amendment 91 was designed to minimize bycatch to the extent practicable in all years, under all conditions of salmon and pollock abundance.

The council noted that while king salmon bycatch impact rates have been low under the program, there is evidence that improvements could be made to ensure the program is reducing king salmon bycatch at low levels of salmon abundance. This could include measures to avoid salmon late in the year and to strengthen incentives across both seasons, either through revisions to the incentive plan agreements or regulations.