Proposed Offshore Exploration Plan Limits Leases in Beaufort, Chukchi Seas

The Interior Department’s latest draft strategy for offshore oil and gas leasing designates portions of the Beaufort and Chukchi seas as off limits from consideration for future oil and gas leaving, to protect areas of critical importance to subsistence use by Alaska Natives, as well as for their sensitive environmental resources. The announcement on Jan. 27 noted that in December President Obama used this same authority under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act ”to place waters of Bristol Bay off limits to oil and gas development, protecting an area known for its world class fisheries and stunning beauty.”

“We know the Arctic is an incredibly unique environment, so we’re continuing to take a balanced and careful approach to development,” said Interior Secretary Sally Jewell. “At the same time, the President is taking thoughtful action to protect areas that are critical to the needs of Alaska Natives and wildlife.”

Four of the five areas withdrawn were previously excluded from leasing in the current 2012-2017 oil and gas program, three of the five were also excluded by the prior presidential administration. Those areas include the Barrow and Kaktovik whaling area of the Beaufort Sea and a 25-mile coastal buffer and subsistence area in the Chukchi Sea. The withdrawal also includes the biologically rich Hanna Shoal area of the Chukchi Sea, which has not previously been excluded from leasing. Interior officials noted that extensive scientific research has found this area to be of critical importance to many marine species, including Pacific walruses and bearded seals.

The announcement came on the heels of another announcement from President Obama saying he would ask Congress to declare areas of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Northwest Alaska as wilderness. That would include areas of the coastal plain identified as possibly rich in oil and gas resources.

Maritime Issues On Tap for Arctic Encounter Symposium

The second annual Arctic Encounter Symposium gets under way at the University of Washington and Museum of History and Industry in Seattle on Jan 30, with a focus on the role of the US as an Arctic nation in its upcoming council chairmanship. Participants, including industry leaders, policy makers and regional stakeholders will tackle topics in the maritime, energy, science and technology sectors.

The goal of the 2015 symposium is to facilitate a creative environment for development of a proactive agenda, short and long term domestic and international priorities, and a strategic execution plan.

Speakers will include Captain John Reeves of the US Coast Guard Cutter Healy, and Vice Admiral Charles Ray, Pacific area commander for the US Cost Guard Defense Force West, who will deliver a keynote address on the first day of the two day event.

Symposium participants will also hear discussions on the current status and continuing need for science-informed policy in the rapidly changing Arctic and resource manager perspectives on energy development and conservation in the US Arctic. The complete agenda is online at www.law.washington.edu.

Study Shows Skepticism With Fisheries Privatization

A survey of fish harvesters in Kodiak by University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers shows much concern over future of fisheries access because of privatization of fishing rights.

Nearly all Kodiak fishery participants interviewed expressed concern about the future of fisheries access in the community for the next generation, in large part because of the substantial financial barriers to entry generated by privatization of fisheries access, said Courtney Carothers, of the UAF School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, in a presentation Jan. 20 to the Alaska Marine Science Symposium in Anchorage. Many of those interviewed discussed the need for more entry-level opportunities necessary for access in all fisheries, the survey showed.

Findings from the study suggest that a diverse range of fishery participants share core values about the social dimensions of fishery systems. Support or opposition to past privatization processes tended to be articulated in reference to how the core values of hard work, opportunity and fairness were perceived to have been strengthened or eroded by such processes.

While survey data showed a range of perspectives on the effects of privatization on fishing and the Kodiak community, respondents to the study tended to talk about privatization as a significant change that had divisive, negative impacts in the community. Crewmembers and the next generation of fishermen were identified as disproportionately affected by privatization processes.

A small number of respondents, just 13 percent, said the positive effects of fisheries privatization were a stabilized local economy, higher pay and more jobs for crew, better fish prices and safer fisheries. Another 77 percent of respondents identified negative effects on the community, including absentee owners, reduced crew shares, a downturn in the local economy related to jobs and services, and a negative social shift in the widening of the economic gap between rich and poor.

The majority of respondents also disagreed that the Kodiak fishing community was healthier now than 15 to 20 years ago, or that individual fishing quotas have been good for the community.

The complete survey is online at https://sites.google.com/a/alaska.edu/kodiak-fishermen-survey/faq

The annual science symposium is earmarked Jan. 20 for the Gulf of Alaska plenary session, with Jan. 21 set aside for the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands, and Jan. 22 for the Arctic. More information is at www.amss.nprb.org/program-schedule/

The event, organized annually by the North Pacific Research Board in Anchorage, is sponsored by federal and state entities, and others, including the International Pacific Halibut Commission, Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association and Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers.

Alaskan Leader Fisheries Fined for 2013 Oil Spill

Washington state officials have fined Alaskan Leader Fisheries LLC $11,000 for a 2013 oil spill of 181 gallons of diesel fuel into Elliott Bay from one of its fishing vessels, the 167-foot catcher-processor Bristol Leader.

The Washington Department of Ecology also announced on Jan. 15 that Alaskan Leader Fisheries was billed $1,715 for the state’s costs of responding to and overseeing the spill cleanup.

The spill occurred while the Bristol Leader was taking on fuel from a tank truck at Terminal 91.

The incoming fuel, intended for empty tanks on the Bristol Leader, went instead to a partly full tank. Officials with the Department of Ecology determined that the vessel’s chief engineer had not followed the company’s written procedures and loading plan, which specified which tanks would receive fuel and in what order, and required the chief engineer to monitor tank levels and valve settings.

“The company could have prevented the spill if they had kept a close watch on the valves and fuel levels,” said David Byers, Ecology’s spill response supervisor.

Fuel flowed out of a fuel tank air vent and filled a surrounding 49-gallon containment bin. The fuel then flowed across the deck and overboard. An oil spill containment boom was placed around the Bristol Leader before fueling began, and kept most of the fuel from spreading beyond waters immediately around the vessel.

The company delivering the fuel to the Bristol Leader made the initial report.

Alaskan Leader Fisheries had no prior Washington spills, and cooperated with the spill cleanup response and follow-up investigation, state officials said.

The company was also issued a $1,966 assessment earlier for damage the spill caused to the public’s natural resources. That assessment was paid in March 2014.

Alaskan Leader Fisheries, with locations in Lynden, Washington and Anchorage, Alaska, is owned by the Alaska Leader Group and Bristol Bay Economic Development Corp.

Each of these groups consists of individuals who are lifelong fishing families who currently own and operate various fishing vessels in the salmon, longline and pot fisheries of Alaska.

Alaska Leader Fisheries manages the F/V Alaskan Leader, F/V Bristol Leader and F/V Bering Leader, which are owned 50 percent by ALG and 50 percent by BBEDC.