Alaska BOF Takes Up SE Alaska and Yakutat Finfish, Shellfish Issues

King salmon and enhancement allocation issues will be on tap when the Alaska Board of Fisheries meets January 11–23 to consider 155 proposals on Southeast Alaska and Yakutat finfish and shellfish.

The Board will review 44 shellfish proposals as well as 15 king and tanner crab submissions, 19 shrimp and miscellaneous shellfish and 9 king salmon proposals in addition to 23 salmon enhancement, special harvest areas, management plans and miscellaneous submissions.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) has recommended that several king salmon stocks be listed as stocks of management concern.

State biologists note that escapement of Chilkat River king salmon has fallen below the lower bound of the existing biological escapement goal (BEG) in five of the past six years, while escapement of chinooks on the King Salmon River has similarly fallen below the lower bound of the existing BEG in four of the past six years. Conservation management measures to reduce harvest of Chilkat River kings and increase escapement, plus actions to reduce Taku River chinook harvests, have so far proven insufficient to consistently achieve the biological escapement goal.

Escapement of Unuk River kings has also fallen below the lower bound of the existing BEG in five of the last six years, with management actions there also proving insufficient.

ADF&G commentary on the need for listing these kings as stocks of management concern are contained in three action plans. Links to the action plans can be found online at www.adfg.alaska.gov/

The above website also includes the meeting agenda, road map and other related information, including annual management reports for various fisheries of Southeast Alaska.

To minimize costs for the public and agencies the board will take up the shellfish (Jan. 11–14) and finfish (Jan. 15–23) proposals in two separate sessions.

Chinook Forecast for Southeast Lowest on Record

Forecasts for 2018 Chinook runs in Southeast Alaska’s Situk, Chilkat, Taku, Stikine and Unuk rivers completed by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) project are, with one exception, the lowest runs on record, using historical information spanning man decades.

The only exception is the Situk River, where the 2018 Chinook forecast is slightly above the recent 10-year average.

Inseason estimates and associated run projections produced in the spring and summer of 2018 will ultimately supersede these forecasts, state biologists said.

State biologists say reduced productivity of Chinook salmon stocks is a major concern in Southeast Alaska and other select areas of that state. ADF&G released the information to raise public awareness of poor 2018 king salmon forecasts and to provide notice that the agency intends to manage fisheries that encounter Chinook salmon this coming year in a conservative manner. During an Alaska Board of Fisheries work session in October, state biologists provided a stock status an update on Southeast Alaska salmon stocks that included kings. The latest update includes an evaluation of salmon stocks relative to guidance contained in the policy for management of sustainable salmon fisheries.

The state report said that while other Southeast Alaska Chinook salmon stocks – including Stikine, Taku and Situk river stocks – are not designated stocks of concern based on policy for management of sustainable salmon fisheries criteria, that low abundance of these stocks warrants very conservative fishery management in the near term.

Southeast Tanner Crab Opens February 10

The 2017–2018 commercial Tanner crab fishery in Southeast Alaska is set to open concurrently with the commercial golden king crab fishery at noon on February 10.

Biologists with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) say the length of the season will be determined by guidelines set forth in the Registration Area A Tanner crab harvest strategy.

The initial fishing period for Tanner crab in the core areas and non-core areas will be a minimum of six days, with additional fishing time based on the number of registered pots at the start of the fishery.

ADF&G plans to issue a news release on February 10 announcing the total number of pots registered in the fishery for the 2017-2018 season and whether the initial fishing period will be extended. After the initial period, the core area will close to fishing and the non-core areas will remain open for another five days.

Catch survey modeling of 2017-2018 commercial fishery harvest, October 2017 Tanner crab survey data, and summer 2017 red king crab survey data produced a regional biomass estimate 35 percent greater than the previous year.

State biologists said that limited, non-confidential Tanner crab stock assessment information is to be made available to the public in early January.

Pacific Fisheries Technologists Conference

“Tools of the trade” is the theme of the upcoming 69th annual Pacific Fisheries Technologists Conference at the Alyeska Resort in Girdwood, Alaska February 5–7.

“It’s all about sharing the latest and greatest technology advances,” said Chris Sannito, president of Pacific Fisheries Technologists and a research assistant professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences.

Presentations are invited on a variety of topics dealing with products, processes analyses and current affairs related to seafood, from fish harvesting and handling to environmental and regulatory issues.

Registration for the conference, which is held every five years in Alaska, is open, and speakers are invited to submit presentation abstracts through January 5. Sannito is based in Kodiak, where he works with Alaska Sea Grant’s Marine Advisory Program at the Kodiak Seafood and Marine Science Center, with a focus on seafood processing, environmental compliance and product development, including Pollock skin pet treats.

The annual international event, which moves between the Pacific states and provinces of Mexico and Canada, attracts several dozen participants engaged in commercial fisheries, university research and related government agencies. The agenda will include presentations and panel discussions ranging from pure research through innovations, worldwide regulations, ecology, economic considerations, quality, product safety, future trends and more.

Display booths will be available to gold, silver and nonprofit sponsors, including research institutes, academia, government agencies and environmental organizations. Sponsors for the event banquet, president’s reception and more are still being sought and asked to contact Sannito at csannito@alaska.edu

Ocean Acidification Legislation Introduced

Legislation introduced in the US Senate would identify and assess communities most dependent on coastal and ocean resources that may be impacted by ocean acidification. The bipartisan Coastal Communities Ocean Acidification Act of 2017 was introduced by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, with Senators Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., Susan Collins, R-ME, Gary Peters, D-MI; and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-RI.

“This is significant legislation for those living in a state or community whose livelihood greatly depends on the health of our oceans,” Murkowski said.

The act called for conducting coastal community vulnerability assessments related to ocean acidification. It would strengthen collaborations with a wide range of stakeholders, including regional Ocean Acidification Networks and Sea Grants, into the planning and implementation of coastal community vulnerability assessments. The act would require that the assessment identify communities most dependent on ocean and coastal resources, the nature of the social and economic vulnerabilities of the communities, and identify the harmful impacts of ocean acidification on those communities.

According to Sarah Cooley, director of the Ocean Acidification Program at Ocean Conservancy, the assessment will be a step further in understanding the nature of unique risks faced by coastal communities because of ocean acidification, by identifying where further research could be devoted and whether adaptation strategies can be put into place to help those communities.

Colley said the science is clear that the ocean is becoming acidified. “This is a major threat to a variety of ocean resources that coastal communities depend on, and we must rise to the challenge and tackle this problem head on,” she said.

The companion bill in the House, HR 2719, sponsored by Rep. Chaellie Pingree, D-ME, was introduced in May, but has seen little committee activity.

Pebble Mine Promoters Announce New Business Partner

British Columbia’s Northern Dynasty Minerals, owner of the Pebble Limited Partnership, says it has entered into a framework agreement with First Quantum Minerals Ltd., contingent on completion of due diligence, which would allow for the project to move forward.

Northern Dynasty President and CEO Ron Thiessen said that the immediate capital contribution from First Quantum Minerals Ltd. would allow Northern Dynasty to initiate federal and state permitting for the mine in the very near term.

First Quantum chairman and CEO Philip Pascall said his company would make a $37.5 million payment to Northern Dynasty in coming days, as part of an agreement calling for payments totaling $150 million toward the permitting process over the next four years.

According to Pebble Partnership spokesman Mike Heatwole the company will be applying for wetlands permits by the end of this year.

Shares of Northern Dynasty stock fell nearly 17 percent before rebounding to about an eight percent loss on December 18 after Northern Dynasty announced entering into the agreement with First Quantum Minerals.

The proposed mine site lies near the headwaters of the Bristol Bay watershed in Southwest Alaska, where the majority of residents contend such development poses potential adverse impact to salmon habitat. This past summer over 37 million sockeyes were harvested, 10 million more than projected. Backers of the mine contend that it can be developed and operated in harmony with the fishery, which produces the world’s largest run of wild sockeye salmon.

“Bristol Bay’s record-breaking salmon run this summer is a testament to the health and bounty of this world class fishery,” said Norm Van Vactor, CEO of the Bristol Bay Economic Development Corp. in Dillingham, Alaska. “Even after 100 years, this commercial fishery is the economic backbone of the region and a literal food factory for the world,” he said. “First Quantum Minerals is wasting their time investing in a project that has little to no local support and no legitimate claim to economic feasibility. At the end of the day, the Pebble mine threatens our fishery and all it supports, and that is just a risk Bristol Bay is not willing to take,” he said.

Mike Niver of Commercial Fishermen for Bristol Bay said harvesters know that by taking care of the waterways upstream from the Bay that the salmon will continue to take care of them. “Bristol Bay is no place for experimentation and Pebble mine is a very bad investment,” he said.

Togiak Herring Forecast

A forecast of 136,756 tons of biomass has been issued for the Togiak herring fishery in 2018, allowing for a harvest of 27,351 tons, based on the 20 percent exploitation rate, with 1,500 tons for the Togiak spawn-on-kelp fishery.

Alaska state fisheries biologist set the Dutch Harbor food/bait allocation at 1,810 tons, based on seven percent of the remaining allowable harvest, with 24,042 tons for the Togiak District sac roe fishery. The purse seine allocation was set at 16,829 tons, or 70 percent; and the gill net allocation at 7,212 tons, or 30 percent. Last year’s forecast of a biomass of 130,852 tons allowed for a Togiak District sac roe fishery of 22,943 tons, with 16,060 tons for the purse seine harvesters and 6,883 tons for the gillnet fleet.

Biologists with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) also announced a guideline harvest level for the 2018 Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery of 11,128 tons, based on a 20 percent harvest rate of a forecast mature biomass of 55,637 tons.

Like last year, the forecast will not be updated with winter test fishery weight at age, as had been done prior to the 2017 fishery, biologists said.

ADF&G has scheduled a stakeholder meeting at the Northern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association in Sitka at 6 p.m. on January 12 to discuss management strategies for the coming season.