Final reports of a transboundary rivers water quality monitoring program and a reclamation plan for a mine that has been leaking acid drainage for decades have been released by British Columbia and Alaska officials, and are drawing mixed reviews.
“We are proud of the joint water quality monitoring work we completed with B.C. in the Taku, Stikine and Unuk watersheds, said Kyle Moselle, executive director of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources’ Office of Project Management and Permitting. Their findings, he said, contribute to a growing scientific understanding of the current and evolving ecological conditions in these watersheds.
One thing Moselle and environmental and tribal entities do agree on is that pollution from the Tulsequah Chief mine into the Tulsequah River, in violation of project permits and B.C. laws, has gone on for too long.
The state of Alaska has worked with B.C. officials for over a decade to get the site’s legacy issues addressed, Moselle said. Mine reclamation and closure, especially for a legacy mine site that was designed and operated prior to modern environmental laws is complicated and will take significant time to properly complete, he said.
Meanwhile, Alaska remains committed to working with B.C. under a memorandum of understanding and cooperation for mutually beneficial outcomes that protect transboundary waters shared by both jurisdictions, he added.
Conservation and tribal entities that participated in the virtual meeting said the presentations did little to allay or meaningfully address their long-term concerns regarding transboundary salmon runs that continue to plummet.
While it is encouraging that B.C. is taking some action regarding the Tulsequah Chief’s pollution, the lack of funding and lack of action to hold any of the previous owners of the mine accountable raises concerns about B.C.’s commitment to a “polluter pays” policy, said Chris Zimmer of Rivers Without Borders. Political, community and indigenous leaders on both sides of the border also support requiring owners of transboundary mines to post a full reclamation bond at permitting to ensure mine cleanup at closure to avoid the kind of chronic pollution caused by the Tulsequah Chief mine.
“Sharing information is good, but it doesn’t protect the communities of this region from the industrialization of the headwaters of our largest salmon-producing rivers,” Salmon Beyond Borders Campaign Director Jill Weitz commented.
Prior to the virtual meeting, eight legislators from Southeast Alaska voiced concerns to B.C. Prime Minister John Horgan about future mining projects planned along transboundary waterways. They noted in a May 7 letter to Horgan that the Alaska Department of Fish and Game is poised to list Chinook salmon runs of the Taku, Stikine and Unuk rivers as stocks of concern.
“Similarly, Stikine River sockeye salmon runs are forecasted to not meet subsistence needs and B.C. salmon stocks are historically low,” they said.
The legislators said that without binding international agreements and funds for long-term water quality testing, Alaskans and British Columbians remain unprotected from the threat of significant water pollution and associated impacts from upstream mining activity.
Wednesday, May 26, 2021
NOAA, YDFDA Partner in Chinook Salmon Study
A dramatic decline in Chinook salmon populations on Alaska’s Yukon River has created hardship for commercial and subsistence fisheries alike, sparking a partnership between federal and state agencies and local fishermen to find answers.
The partnership research, which began in 2014, involves NOAA Fisheries, the Alaska Department of Fish & Game and the Yukon Delta Fisheries Development Association (YDFDA). It is now part of NOAA’s new Citizen Science Strategy, released in January, in which community-based collaborations increase the cost effectiveness of projects address social needs and provide hands on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) learning. They also connect the public directly with NOAA science missions.
The combined efforts of NOAA Fisheries and YDFDA proved particularly valuable last year, when the novel coronavirus pandemic shut down NOAA’s ability to conduct any fieldwork, said NOAA fisheries biologist Katharine Miller. COVID-19 restrictions in place to keep small remote villages safe meant that sampling of the fishery could continue only with citizen scientists in the villages, many of them high school students or recent graduates, said YDFDA biologist Courtney Weiss.
“There is some evidence that much Chinook salmon mortality occurs during the freshwater and early marine period, Miller explained. “The more we learn about the factors affecting survival of juvenile Chinook salmon in the river, the closer we can get to understanding what is happening to the adult returns.”
Capturing juvenile salmon in the silty waters of the Yukon is challenging, given the huge sediment load carried by the river, which creates an ever-shifting mosaic of mid-channel islands and sandbars. Capturing a four-inch-long Chinook is all about knowing where to fish and how to get around the river without getting stuck on a sandbar or lost.
“The project is successful because local residents who live and work in this environment year-round are our partners,” said Bob Foy, director of the Alaska Fisheries Science Center. “The venture also introduced these young people to the possibility of science careers and training in a field important to managing subsistence resources.”
One of these youths is Sharon Alstrom, who began working with the project in 2017. Alstrom is now an undergraduate at Rio Salado College in Arizona. During her studies toward a degree in biology, Alstrom is also working with Weiss at YDFDA on the Chinook salmon project.
“I love how this went from being just a job to a career,” she said.
The partnership research, which began in 2014, involves NOAA Fisheries, the Alaska Department of Fish & Game and the Yukon Delta Fisheries Development Association (YDFDA). It is now part of NOAA’s new Citizen Science Strategy, released in January, in which community-based collaborations increase the cost effectiveness of projects address social needs and provide hands on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) learning. They also connect the public directly with NOAA science missions.
The combined efforts of NOAA Fisheries and YDFDA proved particularly valuable last year, when the novel coronavirus pandemic shut down NOAA’s ability to conduct any fieldwork, said NOAA fisheries biologist Katharine Miller. COVID-19 restrictions in place to keep small remote villages safe meant that sampling of the fishery could continue only with citizen scientists in the villages, many of them high school students or recent graduates, said YDFDA biologist Courtney Weiss.
“There is some evidence that much Chinook salmon mortality occurs during the freshwater and early marine period, Miller explained. “The more we learn about the factors affecting survival of juvenile Chinook salmon in the river, the closer we can get to understanding what is happening to the adult returns.”
Capturing juvenile salmon in the silty waters of the Yukon is challenging, given the huge sediment load carried by the river, which creates an ever-shifting mosaic of mid-channel islands and sandbars. Capturing a four-inch-long Chinook is all about knowing where to fish and how to get around the river without getting stuck on a sandbar or lost.
“The project is successful because local residents who live and work in this environment year-round are our partners,” said Bob Foy, director of the Alaska Fisheries Science Center. “The venture also introduced these young people to the possibility of science careers and training in a field important to managing subsistence resources.”
One of these youths is Sharon Alstrom, who began working with the project in 2017. Alstrom is now an undergraduate at Rio Salado College in Arizona. During her studies toward a degree in biology, Alstrom is also working with Weiss at YDFDA on the Chinook salmon project.
“I love how this went from being just a job to a career,” she said.
Salmonfest Music Festival to Return in August
Salmonfest, the three-day Alaska music festival that supports protection and recovery of healthy salmon habitat is back for 2021, with ticket already available for Aug. 6-8 at the Kenai Peninsula Fairgrounds.
“We’re shedding the cocoon and want nothing more than to dance, sing and list to music with our fellow nature/salmon lovers,” Salmonfest organizers wrote in announcing this week that the 10th year of the event is happening, after being shut down in 2020 as a health and safety precaution because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We need live music, we need each other and we need to gather joyously,” the announcement stated.
The festival, with a big focus on opposition to the proposed Pebble mine in the Bristol Bay watershed, annually attracts up to 7,500 people. Even as the number of new infections of COVID-19 ebbs in most of the United States, Salmonfest plans to meet or exceed all local and state guidelines for health and safety as the pandemic continues, said Salmonfest director Jim Stearns.
Headliners are to be announced soon, but bands already signed on include the San Francisco soul, psych-rock and R&B band Con Brio and New Orleans singer-songwriter Carsie Blanton. Salmonfest annually books about 60 bands, which perform on four stages during the three-day event.
The 2021 festival will feature a new amphitheater with a larger main stage and a large campground area, said Stearns.
The festival began in 2011 as Salmonstock, with the goal of promoting, preserving and protecting wild salmon and salmon habitat, as well as to create a compelling destination for family, friends, visitors and musicians to gather under Alaska’s summer midnight sun.
Since 2015, Salmonfest has donated over $150,000 for salmon related initiatives.
One annual feature of the festival is the Salmon Causeway, which offers education on salmon habitat issues and the opportunity to become personally engaged. Salmonfest’s non-profit steward organization, ARCHES Alaska, is preparing the new 40-acre campground behind the festival/fairgrounds. ARCHES plans to open a limited number of campsites in the campgrounds to ticket holders this year. Those reserving a numbered site will have the option to keep it for future Salmonfest events in perpetuity with a first right of refusal.
More information about Salmonfest 2021, including ticket sales and campground reservations, is available at https://salmonfestalaska.org.
“We’re shedding the cocoon and want nothing more than to dance, sing and list to music with our fellow nature/salmon lovers,” Salmonfest organizers wrote in announcing this week that the 10th year of the event is happening, after being shut down in 2020 as a health and safety precaution because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We need live music, we need each other and we need to gather joyously,” the announcement stated.
The festival, with a big focus on opposition to the proposed Pebble mine in the Bristol Bay watershed, annually attracts up to 7,500 people. Even as the number of new infections of COVID-19 ebbs in most of the United States, Salmonfest plans to meet or exceed all local and state guidelines for health and safety as the pandemic continues, said Salmonfest director Jim Stearns.
Headliners are to be announced soon, but bands already signed on include the San Francisco soul, psych-rock and R&B band Con Brio and New Orleans singer-songwriter Carsie Blanton. Salmonfest annually books about 60 bands, which perform on four stages during the three-day event.
The 2021 festival will feature a new amphitheater with a larger main stage and a large campground area, said Stearns.
The festival began in 2011 as Salmonstock, with the goal of promoting, preserving and protecting wild salmon and salmon habitat, as well as to create a compelling destination for family, friends, visitors and musicians to gather under Alaska’s summer midnight sun.
Since 2015, Salmonfest has donated over $150,000 for salmon related initiatives.
One annual feature of the festival is the Salmon Causeway, which offers education on salmon habitat issues and the opportunity to become personally engaged. Salmonfest’s non-profit steward organization, ARCHES Alaska, is preparing the new 40-acre campground behind the festival/fairgrounds. ARCHES plans to open a limited number of campsites in the campgrounds to ticket holders this year. Those reserving a numbered site will have the option to keep it for future Salmonfest events in perpetuity with a first right of refusal.
More information about Salmonfest 2021, including ticket sales and campground reservations, is available at https://salmonfestalaska.org.
Wednesday, May 19, 2021
USDA to Purchase $70.9 Million of Seafood for Food Assistance Programs
U.S. Department of Agriculture officials plan to purchase $70.9 million worth of seafood harvested in U.S. waters for a variety of domestic food assistance programs, including sockeye salmon, Alaska Pollock, Pacific rockfish and whiting and shrimp.
USDA has indicated that it will solicit bids online, with deliveries to begin by mid-August. Purchases are to include $25 million for Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic wild caught shrimp, $20 million for Alaska Pollock, $9 million for Pacific whiting fillets, $8.9 million for sockeye salmon and $4 million each for Pacific pink shrimp and Pacific rockfish fillets.
Bids are to be solicited online via the Web-Based Supply Chain Management (WBSCM) system and on the Agricultural Marketing Service's website at www.ams.usda.gov/selling-food.
Lori Steele, executive director of the West Coast Seafood Processors Association (WCSPA), said the USDA purchases will help supplement and stabilize existing markets, allowing the industry to keep American fishing and processing families working through difficult times. The purchases would also result in the public getting health, nutritious seafood from sustainable stocks, so it’s a win-win situation for everyone, she said.
“These kinds of purchase programs offer our industry an ‘overflow valve’ for some of our seafood products as well as some economic stability when other markets are unstable or unavailable,” she explained.
Steele said the West Coast seafood industry has a number of products ideal for such markets and hopes to continue working with USDA to bring a greater diversity of high-quality seafood to their programs.
In a letter to the USDA in March the WCSPA, Midwater Trawlers Cooperative, Oregon Trawl Commission and Fishermen’s Marketing Association asked that the seafood purchases include Pacific pink shrimp, Pacific rockfish and Pacific whiting. Ten West Coast lawmakers, including Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.; Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif.; Reps. Kurt Schrader, Peter DeFazio, Suzanne Bonamici, and Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore.; Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif.; and Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Wash., added their support in a letter to Vilsack in early April.
Alaska’s congressional delegation also applauded the purchase plans. Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, with Rep. Don Young, all R-Alaska, said that this largest single seafood purchase in USDA history would have a tremendous impact on the struggling seafood sector, and also ensure food assistance programs can provide nutritious and healthy food for Americans as the nation continues to navigate the pandemic.
Purchase plans were announced by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who noted that the impacts of COVID-19 dealt a heavy blow to the American seafood industry.
Vilsack said these purchases, along with others for fruits and vegetables, would benefit food banks and non-profits working to help Americans feed their families while the government works to get the economy back on track.
The seafood buys are part of an overall $159.4 million USDA package that also includes apricots, chickpeas, dry peas, lentils, Navy beans, pistachios and peaches, with all purchases authorized under Section 32 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act.
USDA has indicated that it will solicit bids online, with deliveries to begin by mid-August. Purchases are to include $25 million for Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic wild caught shrimp, $20 million for Alaska Pollock, $9 million for Pacific whiting fillets, $8.9 million for sockeye salmon and $4 million each for Pacific pink shrimp and Pacific rockfish fillets.
Bids are to be solicited online via the Web-Based Supply Chain Management (WBSCM) system and on the Agricultural Marketing Service's website at www.ams.usda.gov/selling-food.
Lori Steele, executive director of the West Coast Seafood Processors Association (WCSPA), said the USDA purchases will help supplement and stabilize existing markets, allowing the industry to keep American fishing and processing families working through difficult times. The purchases would also result in the public getting health, nutritious seafood from sustainable stocks, so it’s a win-win situation for everyone, she said.
“These kinds of purchase programs offer our industry an ‘overflow valve’ for some of our seafood products as well as some economic stability when other markets are unstable or unavailable,” she explained.
Steele said the West Coast seafood industry has a number of products ideal for such markets and hopes to continue working with USDA to bring a greater diversity of high-quality seafood to their programs.
In a letter to the USDA in March the WCSPA, Midwater Trawlers Cooperative, Oregon Trawl Commission and Fishermen’s Marketing Association asked that the seafood purchases include Pacific pink shrimp, Pacific rockfish and Pacific whiting. Ten West Coast lawmakers, including Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.; Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif.; Reps. Kurt Schrader, Peter DeFazio, Suzanne Bonamici, and Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore.; Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif.; and Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Wash., added their support in a letter to Vilsack in early April.
Alaska’s congressional delegation also applauded the purchase plans. Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, with Rep. Don Young, all R-Alaska, said that this largest single seafood purchase in USDA history would have a tremendous impact on the struggling seafood sector, and also ensure food assistance programs can provide nutritious and healthy food for Americans as the nation continues to navigate the pandemic.
Purchase plans were announced by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who noted that the impacts of COVID-19 dealt a heavy blow to the American seafood industry.
Vilsack said these purchases, along with others for fruits and vegetables, would benefit food banks and non-profits working to help Americans feed their families while the government works to get the economy back on track.
The seafood buys are part of an overall $159.4 million USDA package that also includes apricots, chickpeas, dry peas, lentils, Navy beans, pistachios and peaches, with all purchases authorized under Section 32 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act.
Oregon to Receive an Additional $13 Million in COVID Fisheries Relief
NOAA Fisheries has announced an additional $13 million in fisheries assistance funding to Oregon under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021.
This comes in the wake of a first round of CARES (Coronavirus Relief Law) funds to Oregon, with payments totaling some $18 million to marine-related and coastal fishery businesses, including $2.5 million provided by the state of Oregon.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife will continue to coordinate distribution of this aid in the state for commercial fishing businesses, charter/for-hire businesses, qualified aquaculture operations, processors and other fishery-related businesses.
But first ODFW must develop a round two spending plan approved by NOAA Fisheries.
Chris Kern, fish division deputy administrator for ODFW, said the new plan will build on the plan used in round one, with improvements to streamline the process and address some eligibility problems identified in round one.
ODFW is to hold a public virtual meeting, at a date yet to be announced, to get feedback and address concerns.
ODFW’s CARES webpage – www.dfw.state.or.us/fish/CARES/index.asp - will also be updated as more information becomes available. Individuals interested in learning more about the funds are urged to subscribe to the page to receive email updates. Additional information is also expected to be posted at www.psmfc.org as it becomes available.
Meanwhile, questions and concerns may also be sent to ODFW.CARESact@odfw.oregon.gov.
This comes in the wake of a first round of CARES (Coronavirus Relief Law) funds to Oregon, with payments totaling some $18 million to marine-related and coastal fishery businesses, including $2.5 million provided by the state of Oregon.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife will continue to coordinate distribution of this aid in the state for commercial fishing businesses, charter/for-hire businesses, qualified aquaculture operations, processors and other fishery-related businesses.
But first ODFW must develop a round two spending plan approved by NOAA Fisheries.
Chris Kern, fish division deputy administrator for ODFW, said the new plan will build on the plan used in round one, with improvements to streamline the process and address some eligibility problems identified in round one.
ODFW is to hold a public virtual meeting, at a date yet to be announced, to get feedback and address concerns.
ODFW’s CARES webpage – www.dfw.state.or.us/fish/CARES/index.asp - will also be updated as more information becomes available. Individuals interested in learning more about the funds are urged to subscribe to the page to receive email updates. Additional information is also expected to be posted at www.psmfc.org as it becomes available.
Meanwhile, questions and concerns may also be sent to ODFW.CARESact@odfw.oregon.gov.
Comment Period Now Open for June NPFMC Meeting
Written comments are being accepted online through May 26 for agenda items slated for the June meeting of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council. All comments are to be reviewed and then posted on the council website.
The schedule posted online at https://meetings.npfmc.org/Meeting/Details/2104 notes that the council itself will be meeting June 9-11 and June 14-16 via https://npfmc.adobeconnect.com/council/. The Advisory Panel will meet June 3-4, via https://npfmc.adobeconnect.com/ap/ and June 7-9. The Scientific and Statistical Committee meets June 1-4 via https://npfmc.adobeconnect.com/ssc/.
The meeting itself will again be held on Adobe Connect. Instructions for that connection are online at https://www.npfmc.org/wp-content/PDFdocuments/meetings/ACconnect.pdf.
The schedule posted online at https://meetings.npfmc.org/Meeting/Details/2104 notes that the council itself will be meeting June 9-11 and June 14-16 via https://npfmc.adobeconnect.com/council/. The Advisory Panel will meet June 3-4, via https://npfmc.adobeconnect.com/ap/ and June 7-9. The Scientific and Statistical Committee meets June 1-4 via https://npfmc.adobeconnect.com/ssc/.
The meeting itself will again be held on Adobe Connect. Instructions for that connection are online at https://www.npfmc.org/wp-content/PDFdocuments/meetings/ACconnect.pdf.
Yukon River’s Kwik’Pak Fisheries Optimistic About 2021 Harvest Potential
Kwik’Pak Fisheries, near the mouth of the Yukon River in western Alaska, has said that it is looking forward to a full fishing season in the summer of 2021, taking delivery from its 300 small boat Yupik Eskimo harvesters of the oil-rich keta salmon.
The keta salmon harvested by Kwik’Pak, a subsidiary of Yukon Delta Fisheries Development Association, navigate annually up to 2,000 miles of cold, powerful currents to where the Bering Sea meets the mouth of the Yukon.
Manager Jack Schultheis says the company, now in its 20th year at Emmonak, is looking forward to a full fishing season, after just three openings last summer.
The fishing season for Kwik’Pak will start from middle to late June, with the 300 to 400 processing employees hailing from Emmonak and other villages on the Lower Yukon.
The fishery begins with harvesters using dipnets to catch keta salmon, until the Alaska Department of Fish and Game confirms that enough Chinook salmon have escaped upriver toward to the Canadian border to meet treaty requirements. Then the gillnet fishery begins.
The department wants to conserve every king that they can and we are going to work with them because that’s what we have to do, he said.
Kwik’Pak also operates a youth training program at the processing facility. Last year, it trained 25 youths in a cross-section of jobs at their processing facility. This year, Schultheis said, plans are to hire 100 or more youths during the fishing season.
Masks will not be required at the processing facility, but all employees must be fully vaccinated against the novel coronavirus virus. Schultheis said staff from the Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation are coming to Emmonak to vaccinate everyone who still needs the shots.
“The harvest projection from ADF&G makes us feel good,” he said, adding that projections are for four million pounds of commercial salmon harvest after subsistence needs are met. “We will have fish to sell. We’ll be in the market. People will have jobs.”
About 30% of Kwik’Pak’s harvest is sold in domestic market, mostly as fillets, and there are also plans to promote as much smoked keta salmon as possible, according to the company.
There is also a very strong demand for Alaska salmon across the board, including the United Kingdom, Holland, Belgium, France, and of course into Japan, Schultheis said. European sales are about half fillets and half headed and gutted, while Japan takes all H&G, he explained.
The keta salmon harvested by Kwik’Pak, a subsidiary of Yukon Delta Fisheries Development Association, navigate annually up to 2,000 miles of cold, powerful currents to where the Bering Sea meets the mouth of the Yukon.
Manager Jack Schultheis says the company, now in its 20th year at Emmonak, is looking forward to a full fishing season, after just three openings last summer.
The fishing season for Kwik’Pak will start from middle to late June, with the 300 to 400 processing employees hailing from Emmonak and other villages on the Lower Yukon.
The fishery begins with harvesters using dipnets to catch keta salmon, until the Alaska Department of Fish and Game confirms that enough Chinook salmon have escaped upriver toward to the Canadian border to meet treaty requirements. Then the gillnet fishery begins.
The department wants to conserve every king that they can and we are going to work with them because that’s what we have to do, he said.
Kwik’Pak also operates a youth training program at the processing facility. Last year, it trained 25 youths in a cross-section of jobs at their processing facility. This year, Schultheis said, plans are to hire 100 or more youths during the fishing season.
Masks will not be required at the processing facility, but all employees must be fully vaccinated against the novel coronavirus virus. Schultheis said staff from the Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation are coming to Emmonak to vaccinate everyone who still needs the shots.
“The harvest projection from ADF&G makes us feel good,” he said, adding that projections are for four million pounds of commercial salmon harvest after subsistence needs are met. “We will have fish to sell. We’ll be in the market. People will have jobs.”
About 30% of Kwik’Pak’s harvest is sold in domestic market, mostly as fillets, and there are also plans to promote as much smoked keta salmon as possible, according to the company.
There is also a very strong demand for Alaska salmon across the board, including the United Kingdom, Holland, Belgium, France, and of course into Japan, Schultheis said. European sales are about half fillets and half headed and gutted, while Japan takes all H&G, he explained.
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