On April 20, 2010, David Gurney went to a Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative meeting in Fort Bragg, California, to record the “public/private” agency that was closing off large areas of state waters to fishermen and seaweed gatherers. Soon after the meeting began, it was announced that the public would not be allowed to record or speak at the meeting.
“I was surprised,” Gurney says, “The managers had decided to split up the thirty-four local stakeholders into separate sub-groups, against their will. They apparently didn’t want it on tape.”
But he had been working on a documentary of the MLPAI process for the past nine months, and the camera was rolling.
Executive Director Ken Wiseman immediately stopped the meeting.
“He and professional facilitator Eric Poncelet came up to me with an armed fish and game warden, and ordered me to quit filming,” Gurney says. “I was threatened with ejection and arrest if I didn’t.”
He complied, but three other times during the two-day meetings, he continued to record. “I wanted to get some quick B-roll footage, to show how the stakeholders had been split up against their own vote,” he says. Each time seen, he was ordered to stop.
Gurney also spoke up at the beginning of the proceedings when it was announced there would be no opportunity for public comment. “I knew that was also a violation of the law, to hold a public meeting and not allow any comment,” he says. “I simply told the MLPAI that I had not given up my rights by attending their meeting.”
Finally, near the end of the second day, Gurney asked a question that the staff did not want to hear.
“During the question and answer period, I asked whether the MLPAI would make any provisions to protect the ocean from other activities besides fishing. Things like oil drilling, wind and wave energy development, fish farms, etc. As the facilitator was telling me that no questions would be taken from the public, someone sent a Fish and Game Warden over to arrest me,” Gurney says.
He was quickly escorted out of the meeting hall, handcuffed, and taken away in a Fish and Game pick-up truck.
In 2004, the MLPA “Initiative” resurrected a ten-year old law with undisclosed private funding, to create it’s own, state-like agency. Director Wiseman at first said that California laws, including the Bagley-Keene Open Meetings Act, did not apply because the process was “advisory” to state government. And yet the state supplied scientists, advisors and armed Fish and Game Wardens to act as security guards for public MLPAI meetings. Many feel that the blurring of lines between private and public interests opened the floodgates for corruption, and claim that illegal private influence of the democratic process runs rampant in the MLPAI.
California’s open meeting laws guarantee that citizens and members of the press have a right to keep track of what goes on in a public process, and assures they will not be harassed at public meetings. Yet the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative, funded by the secretive Resources Legacy Fund Foundation, often had secret, unrecorded meetings, changed the rules of their process at whim, and abided only by the laws of their own choosing.
Mr. Gurney had earlier volunteered to serve on his community’s citizen watch-dog committee to keep an eye on the “Initiative.” Many in his town had expressed concerns that the privately funded commission had repeatedly crossed the line of illegality.
“I just wanted to get what I could on tape, for the historical record,” he said.
He is seeking a permanent injunction that will prevent further violations of Bagley-Keene, Constitutional and other laws by the MLPAI, as well as damages suffered in the arrest.
The California Attorney General’s Office has declined routine service of papers in the complaint, possibly forcing attorneys to initiate default proceedings against the state.
-Dan Bacher
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Author Bill Carter To Speak at Clemente's Restaurant During Astoria’s Annual Fisher Poets Gathering
For fourteen years, salty sea dogs have descended upon the tiny town of Astoria, Oregon for the annual Fisher Poets Gathering, set in a town most commonly known as the backdrop for Steven Spielberg’s film, “The Goonies”.
The Fisher Poets Gathering is an Astoria tradition, bringing men and women tied to the fishing industry together in celebration of the lifestyle and its people. Participants and visitors come from faraway places including Bristol Bay, Alaska, Nova Scotia, Canada and even Tampa Bay, Florida for their chance to celebrate the world’s oldest profession through poetry, stories and sea shanties.
This year, the author and award-winning director of “Miss Sarajevo”, Bill Carter will appear as an honored guest at Clemente’s Restaurant to read from his acclaimed memoir Red Summer, which describes his four seasons spent as a commercial fisherman in Alaska's Bristol Bay.
The evening will shine the spotlight on a proposed mining development of national concern – Pebble Mine.
If built, Pebble Mine will become one of the largest open-pit mines in the world. Its location, near the spawning grounds for two major rivers, and possible impact on both the food supply and 11,000 jobs, is causing major concern and uniting fishermen, conservationists, jewelers, grocery stores and various other groups in opposition.
“I’m not against mining at all,” says Carter. “There are just some places that make more sense to build mines than others. Because of the potentially negative impact on Bristol Bay’s sustainable $120 million per year fishing industry, Pebble Mine makes absolutely no sense.”
The Clemente's event occurs in Astoria, Oregon on Friday, February 25th from 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. at Clemente’s Restaurant (1198 Commercial Street). Owner Lisa Clement, hailing from a fourth generation Astoria salmon fishing family, has created two themed cocktails, with proceeds benefiting Trout Unlimited’s efforts to fight Pebble Mine. For more information about Trout Unlimited visit: www.savebristolbay.org
Also speaking is Steve Schoonmaker from Kasilof, Alaska - an Alaskan fisherman, dynamite poet and articulate opponent of the mine.
To interview Bill Carter or to learn more information about Red Summer, please contact Michael Phillips at michael@watershedcom.com.
The Fisher Poets Gathering is an Astoria tradition, bringing men and women tied to the fishing industry together in celebration of the lifestyle and its people. Participants and visitors come from faraway places including Bristol Bay, Alaska, Nova Scotia, Canada and even Tampa Bay, Florida for their chance to celebrate the world’s oldest profession through poetry, stories and sea shanties.
This year, the author and award-winning director of “Miss Sarajevo”, Bill Carter will appear as an honored guest at Clemente’s Restaurant to read from his acclaimed memoir Red Summer, which describes his four seasons spent as a commercial fisherman in Alaska's Bristol Bay.
The evening will shine the spotlight on a proposed mining development of national concern – Pebble Mine.
If built, Pebble Mine will become one of the largest open-pit mines in the world. Its location, near the spawning grounds for two major rivers, and possible impact on both the food supply and 11,000 jobs, is causing major concern and uniting fishermen, conservationists, jewelers, grocery stores and various other groups in opposition.
“I’m not against mining at all,” says Carter. “There are just some places that make more sense to build mines than others. Because of the potentially negative impact on Bristol Bay’s sustainable $120 million per year fishing industry, Pebble Mine makes absolutely no sense.”
The Clemente's event occurs in Astoria, Oregon on Friday, February 25th from 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. at Clemente’s Restaurant (1198 Commercial Street). Owner Lisa Clement, hailing from a fourth generation Astoria salmon fishing family, has created two themed cocktails, with proceeds benefiting Trout Unlimited’s efforts to fight Pebble Mine. For more information about Trout Unlimited visit: www.savebristolbay.org
Also speaking is Steve Schoonmaker from Kasilof, Alaska - an Alaskan fisherman, dynamite poet and articulate opponent of the mine.
To interview Bill Carter or to learn more information about Red Summer, please contact Michael Phillips at michael@watershedcom.com.
Dan Wasel Appointed to Head of Inside Sales
International supplier of accessories and equipment for marinas, Marina Accessories, Inc. (MAI), is pleased to announce the addition of Dan Wasel. Dan will act as Head of Inside Sales and Account Management, assisting the outside sales team in servicing their accounts and being the point of contact for current and future clients.
“We’re very excited to add Dan to our team,” says Marina Accessories Business Manager Keith Bjella. “His background in Economics and Business will play an important role while functioning as a liaison between our inside and outside sales teams.”
A recent graduate of the University of Washington with dual majors in Economics and Political Science, Dan brings a wealth of cross-industry knowledge. His addition to the business coincides with a complete overhaul of the company’s supply chain management system. Logistics, operations, procurement processes, and other systems have been updated and consolidated, better positioning Marina Accessories to meet the dynamic needs of their customers.
“We’re very excited to add Dan to our team,” says Marina Accessories Business Manager Keith Bjella. “His background in Economics and Business will play an important role while functioning as a liaison between our inside and outside sales teams.”
A recent graduate of the University of Washington with dual majors in Economics and Political Science, Dan brings a wealth of cross-industry knowledge. His addition to the business coincides with a complete overhaul of the company’s supply chain management system. Logistics, operations, procurement processes, and other systems have been updated and consolidated, better positioning Marina Accessories to meet the dynamic needs of their customers.
Proposed Salmon Farming Standards Ignore Environmental Impacts
Salmon farming standards being proposed by an industry trade association don’t address the most critical environmental and social threats resulting from current open net pen salmon farming – particularly on Canada’s West Coast, environmental groups said Thursday.
The warning, issued by the David Suzuki Foundation and Living Oceans Society, came on the final day for public input into the Global Aquaculture Alliance’s (GAA) draft standards for salmon farming. The proposed standards are being criticized by both groups as being too weak to support any claim of environmental or social responsibility, or sustainable salmon farming.
“The GAA has proposed a set of standards that primarily require that the certified operation has complied with the law and is trying to do a good job,” said Jay Ritchlin, director of the marine and freshwater conservation program at the David Suzuki Foundation. “While this may offer some value by discouraging the worst farming practices, it shouldn’t be confused with an indication of significantly improved social or environmental performance by these aquaculture operations.”
The GAA is creating a lot of confusion by promoting the standard as Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) while also designing a standard that will certify a large majority of existing salmon aquaculture operations globally without any change in operations.
“Suppliers, retailers and consumers who are honestly concerned about the sustainability of the seafood they sell and consume should not be led to believe that this standard satisfies their concerns,” said Shauna MacKinnon, sustainable seafood campaign manager at the Living Oceans Society.
The GAA states on page 1 of its standard that “BAP standards…assure healthful foods produced through environmentally and socially responsible means.” However, the two groups say that the environmental portion of the proposed standards doesn’t meet the bar for two main reasons:
Any salmon farm that essentially complied with government regulation and made some aspirational commitments would qualify for certification. Significant impacts from salmon farming on wild salmon and marine ecosystems have been researched and documented while local and national regulations have been in place. Conforming to regulations that have been demonstrated to be inadequate is not a mark of environmental responsibility.
The GAA standard does not include any provisions to minimize the impact of disease and parasites on wild salmon. This issue, which is the subject of much peer-reviewed science, international research conferences and now a part of a Canadian Federal Commission of Inquiry, is clearly one of the most important impacts to assess in regard to the environmental responsibility of salmon farming, and it is virtually unaddressed in these standards.
“These standards suggest that most of the industry currently operates at a high level of sustainability and has effectively eliminated or minimized its threats to wild salmon and ecosystems. And that is simply not the case,” Ritchlin said.
The groups say there is also a significant design flaw in the certification. GAA shrimp certifications, for example, have been predominantly granted to products that were assessed at the processing plant, not at the shrimp farm where the majority of environmental impacts occur. In other words, the GAA certification could apply to a processing plant rather than a farm site, and therefore doesn’t clearly tell the buyer whether a product’s performance was evaluated at the most relevant time and place.
“GAA certification might help buyers filter out the very worst actors from the supply chain, but that is not the same as achieving an acceptable level of sustainability,” MacKinnon said.
Both the David Suzuki Foundation and Living Oceans Society are involved in multiple processes aimed at developing standards, improving technology and conducting assessments for sustainable seafood, including aquaculture operations. They note that the GAA’s standard-setting process and governance, while improved from several years ago, is still the one most closed to stakeholder input at key stages.
They are asking the GAA to clearly identify that the standard is not an indication of significant social and environmental improvement over basic regulatory compliance and to remove the option of certifying a product that has not been assessed throughout its production chain. The groups are also urging seafood buyers and sellers not to consider GAA farmed salmon as meeting commitments they’ve made regarding the purchase of sustainable seafood.
Sutton Eaves, seaves@davidsuzuki.org.
The warning, issued by the David Suzuki Foundation and Living Oceans Society, came on the final day for public input into the Global Aquaculture Alliance’s (GAA) draft standards for salmon farming. The proposed standards are being criticized by both groups as being too weak to support any claim of environmental or social responsibility, or sustainable salmon farming.
“The GAA has proposed a set of standards that primarily require that the certified operation has complied with the law and is trying to do a good job,” said Jay Ritchlin, director of the marine and freshwater conservation program at the David Suzuki Foundation. “While this may offer some value by discouraging the worst farming practices, it shouldn’t be confused with an indication of significantly improved social or environmental performance by these aquaculture operations.”
The GAA is creating a lot of confusion by promoting the standard as Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) while also designing a standard that will certify a large majority of existing salmon aquaculture operations globally without any change in operations.
“Suppliers, retailers and consumers who are honestly concerned about the sustainability of the seafood they sell and consume should not be led to believe that this standard satisfies their concerns,” said Shauna MacKinnon, sustainable seafood campaign manager at the Living Oceans Society.
The GAA states on page 1 of its standard that “BAP standards…assure healthful foods produced through environmentally and socially responsible means.” However, the two groups say that the environmental portion of the proposed standards doesn’t meet the bar for two main reasons:
Any salmon farm that essentially complied with government regulation and made some aspirational commitments would qualify for certification. Significant impacts from salmon farming on wild salmon and marine ecosystems have been researched and documented while local and national regulations have been in place. Conforming to regulations that have been demonstrated to be inadequate is not a mark of environmental responsibility.
The GAA standard does not include any provisions to minimize the impact of disease and parasites on wild salmon. This issue, which is the subject of much peer-reviewed science, international research conferences and now a part of a Canadian Federal Commission of Inquiry, is clearly one of the most important impacts to assess in regard to the environmental responsibility of salmon farming, and it is virtually unaddressed in these standards.
“These standards suggest that most of the industry currently operates at a high level of sustainability and has effectively eliminated or minimized its threats to wild salmon and ecosystems. And that is simply not the case,” Ritchlin said.
The groups say there is also a significant design flaw in the certification. GAA shrimp certifications, for example, have been predominantly granted to products that were assessed at the processing plant, not at the shrimp farm where the majority of environmental impacts occur. In other words, the GAA certification could apply to a processing plant rather than a farm site, and therefore doesn’t clearly tell the buyer whether a product’s performance was evaluated at the most relevant time and place.
“GAA certification might help buyers filter out the very worst actors from the supply chain, but that is not the same as achieving an acceptable level of sustainability,” MacKinnon said.
Both the David Suzuki Foundation and Living Oceans Society are involved in multiple processes aimed at developing standards, improving technology and conducting assessments for sustainable seafood, including aquaculture operations. They note that the GAA’s standard-setting process and governance, while improved from several years ago, is still the one most closed to stakeholder input at key stages.
They are asking the GAA to clearly identify that the standard is not an indication of significant social and environmental improvement over basic regulatory compliance and to remove the option of certifying a product that has not been assessed throughout its production chain. The groups are also urging seafood buyers and sellers not to consider GAA farmed salmon as meeting commitments they’ve made regarding the purchase of sustainable seafood.
Sutton Eaves, seaves@davidsuzuki.org.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
NPFMC Takes Steps to Reduce Chinook Bycatch in Gulf of Alaska
By Margaret Bauman
The North Pacific Fishery Management Council, at its December meeting in Anchorage, identified a number of concerns about bycatch of Chinook salmon in Gulf of Alaska fisheries and initiated two analyses to implement short-term and long-term salmon bycatch control measures.
The council planned a review of its work plan at its meeting in Seattle, beginning Jan. 31, with an initial review at its March meeting in Anchorage and final action at its June meeting in Nome.
Rochelle Van Den Broek, executive director of Cordova District Fishermen United, was one of many people submitting testimony. Van Den Broek said in written testimony to the council that her organization is very concerned about the health and sustainability of king salmon in Alaska, and urged the council to take an immediate proactive approach to determine bycatch stocks of origin, support research on Chinook abundance and to investigate options to curtail Chinook bycatch.
Jeff Stephan of the United Fishermen’s Marketing Association in Kodiak, one of a number of people testifying on the issue at Anchorage, said he found the council’s action “a reasonable step forward.
“I believe the council action on this issue is a reasonable step forward on the road to implementing a suite of conservation and management actions that will result in the accomplishment of significantly minimizing Chinook salmon bycatch in the Gulf of Alaska, and in beginning the process of remediating the cumulative impacts of the past 25 years,” Stephan said. “We hope that the council continues to expedite their focus and attention to addressing this bycatch.
“There is now more attention building to the management, allocation, conservation and utilization effects of the cumulative impacts of this Gulf of Alaska Chinook salmon bycatch,” he said. “Commercial seiners, setnetters and driftnetters, subsistence users, aquaculture associations, Fish and Game advisory committees, communities, guided sport-charter businesses, non-guided anglers and others are now awakening to the impacts of this bycatch on their businesses and cultural activities.
“Chinook salmon is the state fish of Alaska (and of Oregon) and it has importance to the cultural, commercial and utilization characteristics of Alaska and its residents,” he said.
The federal council noted it a staff report that bycatch of Chinook salmon over the last five years, from 2006 through 2010, has averaged 20,185 fish, exceeding the 20-year average of 20,185 salmon from 1991 through 2010.
While an expedited review and rulemaking efforts have been initiated for the gulf Pollock fishery, where the bycatch is occurring, the council also is working on a longer-term amendment package to address comprehensive salmon bycatch management in the gulf trawl fisheries.
Alternatives to be considered under the expedited western/central Gulf of Alaska pollock fishery analysis include establishing a Chinook salmon prohibited species limit for the directed Pollock fishery – a hard cap by regulatory area – and increased observer coverage on under 60-foot vessels. Other options are requiring membership in a mandatory salmon bycatch control cooperative in order to fish in a directed Pollock fishery, and status quo.
The council also is initiating a regular track analysis, with four alternatives, including status quo. Other options would be establishing a Chinook salmon prohibited species limit for non-pollock trawl fisheries, required membership in a mandatory salmon bycatch control cooperative, and requiring full retention of all salmon in all western/central gulf trawl fisheries.
The range of prohibited species catch limited to be analyzed for the directed Pollock fishery includes 15,000, 22,500 or 30,000 fish, applied to the western/central gulf fisheries as a whole.
The council said these limits would be apportioned among regulatory areas proportional to the distribution of either Pollock allowable catch, historic average bycatch of king salmon, or historic average bycatch rate of kings.
In order to reduce the uncertainty associated with bycatch estimates, expanded observer coverage could be required for under 60-foot vessels as an interim measure, until the observer program restructuring amendment is implement, the council said.
The council also specified a number of conditions for the mandatory bycatch cooperative, including contractual requirements for full retention of salmon, bycatch control measures, salmon hotspot reporting, and monitoring of individual vessel bycatch performance. The cooperatives would have to provide annual reports to the council.
Council staff has been tasked to look at a number of options with respect to the mandatory cooperative, including issues with respect to thresholds for cooperative membership and appropriate contract elements and reporting requirements.
The council also has tasked staff to discuss several other issues. These include bycatch rate data by fishery and season, correlations between bycatch rate and time of day, flexibility to adjust Pollock season dates, Pollock trip limits, salmon excluder deployment in the gulf, impact on subsistence users, and a discussion of benefits of developing cooperative management structure for gulf Pollock fisheries.
The North Pacific Fishery Management Council, at its December meeting in Anchorage, identified a number of concerns about bycatch of Chinook salmon in Gulf of Alaska fisheries and initiated two analyses to implement short-term and long-term salmon bycatch control measures.
The council planned a review of its work plan at its meeting in Seattle, beginning Jan. 31, with an initial review at its March meeting in Anchorage and final action at its June meeting in Nome.
Rochelle Van Den Broek, executive director of Cordova District Fishermen United, was one of many people submitting testimony. Van Den Broek said in written testimony to the council that her organization is very concerned about the health and sustainability of king salmon in Alaska, and urged the council to take an immediate proactive approach to determine bycatch stocks of origin, support research on Chinook abundance and to investigate options to curtail Chinook bycatch.
Jeff Stephan of the United Fishermen’s Marketing Association in Kodiak, one of a number of people testifying on the issue at Anchorage, said he found the council’s action “a reasonable step forward.
“I believe the council action on this issue is a reasonable step forward on the road to implementing a suite of conservation and management actions that will result in the accomplishment of significantly minimizing Chinook salmon bycatch in the Gulf of Alaska, and in beginning the process of remediating the cumulative impacts of the past 25 years,” Stephan said. “We hope that the council continues to expedite their focus and attention to addressing this bycatch.
“There is now more attention building to the management, allocation, conservation and utilization effects of the cumulative impacts of this Gulf of Alaska Chinook salmon bycatch,” he said. “Commercial seiners, setnetters and driftnetters, subsistence users, aquaculture associations, Fish and Game advisory committees, communities, guided sport-charter businesses, non-guided anglers and others are now awakening to the impacts of this bycatch on their businesses and cultural activities.
“Chinook salmon is the state fish of Alaska (and of Oregon) and it has importance to the cultural, commercial and utilization characteristics of Alaska and its residents,” he said.
The federal council noted it a staff report that bycatch of Chinook salmon over the last five years, from 2006 through 2010, has averaged 20,185 fish, exceeding the 20-year average of 20,185 salmon from 1991 through 2010.
While an expedited review and rulemaking efforts have been initiated for the gulf Pollock fishery, where the bycatch is occurring, the council also is working on a longer-term amendment package to address comprehensive salmon bycatch management in the gulf trawl fisheries.
Alternatives to be considered under the expedited western/central Gulf of Alaska pollock fishery analysis include establishing a Chinook salmon prohibited species limit for the directed Pollock fishery – a hard cap by regulatory area – and increased observer coverage on under 60-foot vessels. Other options are requiring membership in a mandatory salmon bycatch control cooperative in order to fish in a directed Pollock fishery, and status quo.
The council also is initiating a regular track analysis, with four alternatives, including status quo. Other options would be establishing a Chinook salmon prohibited species limit for non-pollock trawl fisheries, required membership in a mandatory salmon bycatch control cooperative, and requiring full retention of all salmon in all western/central gulf trawl fisheries.
The range of prohibited species catch limited to be analyzed for the directed Pollock fishery includes 15,000, 22,500 or 30,000 fish, applied to the western/central gulf fisheries as a whole.
The council said these limits would be apportioned among regulatory areas proportional to the distribution of either Pollock allowable catch, historic average bycatch of king salmon, or historic average bycatch rate of kings.
In order to reduce the uncertainty associated with bycatch estimates, expanded observer coverage could be required for under 60-foot vessels as an interim measure, until the observer program restructuring amendment is implement, the council said.
The council also specified a number of conditions for the mandatory bycatch cooperative, including contractual requirements for full retention of salmon, bycatch control measures, salmon hotspot reporting, and monitoring of individual vessel bycatch performance. The cooperatives would have to provide annual reports to the council.
Council staff has been tasked to look at a number of options with respect to the mandatory cooperative, including issues with respect to thresholds for cooperative membership and appropriate contract elements and reporting requirements.
The council also has tasked staff to discuss several other issues. These include bycatch rate data by fishery and season, correlations between bycatch rate and time of day, flexibility to adjust Pollock season dates, Pollock trip limits, salmon excluder deployment in the gulf, impact on subsistence users, and a discussion of benefits of developing cooperative management structure for gulf Pollock fisheries.
Alaska Freezer Longline Fleet Files Suit Against National Marine Fisheries Service
The Freezer Longline Coalition (FLC) last week filed suit on behalf of its members against the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and entered the Steller Sea Lion litigation opposing NMFS’s interim final rule and final Biological Opinion (Bi-Op). In the lawsuit, the FLC asks the Court to declare that the actions of NMFS were arbitrary and capricious, an abuse of discretion, not in accordance with law, and without observance of procedure required by law. Accordingly, the FLC requests that the Court vacate the Bi-Op, the Interim Final Rule, and use other sources of relief available to the Court.
The FLC’s mission is to promote public policy that facilitates the intelligent and orderly harvest of Alaska cod and other groundfish species in the Bering Sea /Aleutian Islands and the Gulf of Alaska and to encourage the reduction of waste and improve resource utilization in the longline fishery. The FLC also represents longline fishery interests in matters concerning the management of the longline fishery with respect to target species and protected resources.
Speaking on behalf of the FLC, FLC President David Little said “The National Marine Fisheries Service delayed the issuance of the Bi-Op for 5 years; during this period the SSL population has continued to increase. After 5 years, NMFS finally releases the Bi-Op, immediately declares an emergency situation, and decides to waive public processes; this is not a justified course of action.”
The complaint focuses among other things on NMFS’s arbitrary application of Steller sea lion mitigation measures to the freezer longline fleet. FLC Executive Director Kenny Down, commenting on the Bi-Op, stated “By far the most concerning issue to our sector is the insufficient reasoning given in the final Bi-Op for the mitigation measures to include the hook-and-line fleet. Including the longliners in these measures is arbitrary and not supported by the document, by NMFS’s past findings, or by NMFS’s own science.
“A case has simply not been made that including the longliners in the interim final rule’s mitigation measures contributes in a measurable way to Alaska cod availability for the Steller sea lion diet. The fishing method employed in the hook and line fleet, and historical patterns of activity, including very low overall catch, clearly show that the fleet meets the principles and objectives of the Bi-Op under current management measures, and as such longliners should not have been included in mitigation regulations implemented without due process on January 1st.”
Rob Wurm with Alaskan Leader Fisheries, one of the FLC charter members, said before the group in summation “The actions of the agency in this case gives us no other reasonable option apart from filing this complaint in court.”
For more information regarding the Freezer Longline Coalition, please contact the FLC office at 206-284-2522 or send inquiries to kennydown@comcast.net
The FLC’s mission is to promote public policy that facilitates the intelligent and orderly harvest of Alaska cod and other groundfish species in the Bering Sea /Aleutian Islands and the Gulf of Alaska and to encourage the reduction of waste and improve resource utilization in the longline fishery. The FLC also represents longline fishery interests in matters concerning the management of the longline fishery with respect to target species and protected resources.
Speaking on behalf of the FLC, FLC President David Little said “The National Marine Fisheries Service delayed the issuance of the Bi-Op for 5 years; during this period the SSL population has continued to increase. After 5 years, NMFS finally releases the Bi-Op, immediately declares an emergency situation, and decides to waive public processes; this is not a justified course of action.”
The complaint focuses among other things on NMFS’s arbitrary application of Steller sea lion mitigation measures to the freezer longline fleet. FLC Executive Director Kenny Down, commenting on the Bi-Op, stated “By far the most concerning issue to our sector is the insufficient reasoning given in the final Bi-Op for the mitigation measures to include the hook-and-line fleet. Including the longliners in these measures is arbitrary and not supported by the document, by NMFS’s past findings, or by NMFS’s own science.
“A case has simply not been made that including the longliners in the interim final rule’s mitigation measures contributes in a measurable way to Alaska cod availability for the Steller sea lion diet. The fishing method employed in the hook and line fleet, and historical patterns of activity, including very low overall catch, clearly show that the fleet meets the principles and objectives of the Bi-Op under current management measures, and as such longliners should not have been included in mitigation regulations implemented without due process on January 1st.”
Rob Wurm with Alaskan Leader Fisheries, one of the FLC charter members, said before the group in summation “The actions of the agency in this case gives us no other reasonable option apart from filing this complaint in court.”
For more information regarding the Freezer Longline Coalition, please contact the FLC office at 206-284-2522 or send inquiries to kennydown@comcast.net
Irish Scientists Make Shellfish Safer to Eat
New technology to make shellfish safer to eat has been pioneered by scientists at Queen’s University Belfast, Ireland.
The new test, developed at Queen’s Institute for Agri-Food and Land Use, not only ensures shellfish are free of toxins before they reach the food chain but is likely to revolutionize the global fishing industry.
While the current process for monitoring potentially dangerous toxins in shellfish takes up to two days, the new test slashes the testing time to just 30 minutes using new biosensor technology and provides a much more reliable result.
The test detects paralytic shellfish poisons, which paralyze anyone who consumes them and kill around 25 per cent of people who are poisoned.
Leading the project is Professor Chris Elliott, Director of the Institute of Agri-Food and Land Use at Queen’s School of Biological Sciences, who said: “Toxins secreted by algae, and which concentrate in shellfish, are a major hazard to consumers and can bring huge economic losses to the aquaculture industry.
“While the existence of these toxins has been known for some time, there have been major concerns about the effectiveness of tests used to detect them. There is also growing evidence that climate change is causing many more toxic episodes across the world, resulting in the closure of affected shellfish beds.
“The new test, developed at Queen’s, is much quicker and more reliable than existing methods. It works by using unique ‘detector proteins’ to seek out minute amounts of toxins present in mussels, oysters, cockles and scallops.
“The test will not only make shellfish safer to eat, but it will also have a significant impact on global aquaculture industries as they struggle to deal with the rising problems of toxins caused by climate change.
“The test has been developed as part of a €10 million BioCop research project led by Queen’s and involving 32 international research partners and the European Commission.
“We have also signed a substantial contract with the UK-based company Neogen Europe to commercialize the idea. This will be the third such aquaculture product developed by Queen’s and Neogen Europe, helping the company to develop its unique portfolio of rapid food safety tests and reinforcing Queen’s reputation as a global leader in this area.”
Research at Queen’s will also be aided by a US$500,000 grant from The American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to further develop the test in the USA so it can be conducted in laboratories and on boats as soon as the shellfish are caught, helping cut the time taken to get the catch from fishing nets to supermarket shelves.
For more information on the Institute for Agri-Food and Land Use at Queen’s University visit http://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/InstituteofAgri-FoodLandUse/AboutUs/
For more information about the BioCop project visit www.biocop.org
The new test, developed at Queen’s Institute for Agri-Food and Land Use, not only ensures shellfish are free of toxins before they reach the food chain but is likely to revolutionize the global fishing industry.
While the current process for monitoring potentially dangerous toxins in shellfish takes up to two days, the new test slashes the testing time to just 30 minutes using new biosensor technology and provides a much more reliable result.
The test detects paralytic shellfish poisons, which paralyze anyone who consumes them and kill around 25 per cent of people who are poisoned.
Leading the project is Professor Chris Elliott, Director of the Institute of Agri-Food and Land Use at Queen’s School of Biological Sciences, who said: “Toxins secreted by algae, and which concentrate in shellfish, are a major hazard to consumers and can bring huge economic losses to the aquaculture industry.
“While the existence of these toxins has been known for some time, there have been major concerns about the effectiveness of tests used to detect them. There is also growing evidence that climate change is causing many more toxic episodes across the world, resulting in the closure of affected shellfish beds.
“The new test, developed at Queen’s, is much quicker and more reliable than existing methods. It works by using unique ‘detector proteins’ to seek out minute amounts of toxins present in mussels, oysters, cockles and scallops.
“The test will not only make shellfish safer to eat, but it will also have a significant impact on global aquaculture industries as they struggle to deal with the rising problems of toxins caused by climate change.
“The test has been developed as part of a €10 million BioCop research project led by Queen’s and involving 32 international research partners and the European Commission.
“We have also signed a substantial contract with the UK-based company Neogen Europe to commercialize the idea. This will be the third such aquaculture product developed by Queen’s and Neogen Europe, helping the company to develop its unique portfolio of rapid food safety tests and reinforcing Queen’s reputation as a global leader in this area.”
Research at Queen’s will also be aided by a US$500,000 grant from The American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to further develop the test in the USA so it can be conducted in laboratories and on boats as soon as the shellfish are caught, helping cut the time taken to get the catch from fishing nets to supermarket shelves.
For more information on the Institute for Agri-Food and Land Use at Queen’s University visit http://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/InstituteofAgri-FoodLandUse/AboutUs/
For more information about the BioCop project visit www.biocop.org
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