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Monday, January 14, 2008 Alaska sport anglers demand more fish PALMER -- A routine meeting of the Matanuska Valley Fish and Game Advisory Committee turned into a grill session last week as local fishermen demanded state fisheries managers do more to boost Mat-Su salmon runs. About 30 anglers, guides and lodge owners turned out for the late-night meeting in Palmer. Many claimed the state has sacrificed Mat-Su runs in favor of boosting catches for Kenai Peninsula commercial fishermen. "I've lived here my whole life in the Valley, born in Palmer, and I've watched the decline in fish the last 15 years," said area guide Howard Riley. "Just general math says when they close commercial fishing, we have fish here, and when they don't, we don't have the same amount of fish." News from Jeff Fox, a state fisheries manager who oversees commercial fisheries in Upper Cook Inlet, that anglers would fare little better this year floated like a lead sinker for many in the audience. "A lot of the clients that we had don't come back as often as they used to because of the dwindling numbers of fish. What's being done to guarantee us a future in that area?" asked Rhett Nealis, a Talkeetna-area guide. The discussion was heated because of a Board of Fisheries meeting scheduled for February. The board typically discusses Upper Cook Inlet issues only every three years. Several proposals to change how fisheries are managed in Upper Cook Inlet are on the table including measures to restrict commercial fisheries. Last year was no prize for Valley salmon slayers. Low water and a late rush of fish spelled a poor silver salmon, or coho, season for anglers. Of more concern has been a string of poor sockeye salmon, or red, returns over the past five years that led to a $1.6 million state appropriation to get more data on why returns are low. Many Valley fishermen believe the commercial drift fleet intercepts too many sockeye returning to the Susitna River drainage. A study last year showed about 157,000 of the 1.8 million sockeye caught by the Kenai driftnet fleet were Valley-bound fish. That's less than 10 percent of the total catch and, according to Fox, about what biologists expected to see. For Mat-Su fishermen the issue is about getting enough local salmon past the commercial fishery to satisfy Valley spawning needs. Sockeye returns have failed to meet minimum escapement goals for many of the past several years. The state sets those goals to ensure healthy returns in the future. Stephen Runyan, a fishing guide and employee at Three Rivers Fly and Tackle in Wasilla, said while northern Cook Inlet stocks are dwindling, Cook Inlet driftnetters are enjoying strong catches. "I'm not saying there should be no commercial fishing, but there should not be commercial fishing at the expense of other groups," Runyan said. But Fox said the drift fleet is already being restricted, and there's no clear evidence that restricting it further will result in higher Valley salmon returns. "The actions we're taking aren't working. Why aren't they working is the question," Fox said. Fox said other factors could be to blame for the Mat-Su's poor runs, from pike eating salmon fry to poor water quality in lakes and streams and beaver dams blocking returning fish. Add that sonar counters on some streams are reporting fewer fish than are known to be returning, he said, and it's difficult to put a finger on the exact reason for low salmon counts. "There is no magic bullet out there," he said. When the board met three years ago, Runyan and other fishermen said the board "gutted the salmon management plan" and neglected the concerns of Mat-Su anglers. This year, the advisory board and other angling groups are planning a full-court press to tip the balance back toward the Valley. Jeff Regnart, central region supervisor of the state Commercial Fisheries Division, said the Board of Fisheries meeting is the best place to get Valley salmon concerns resolved. "Do whatever you can," Regnart said. "That's where it's going to be done." – Anchorage Daily News
KODIAK -- Local fisherman Kurt Waters has been a part of the fishing community for about 24 years; he has given a lot to the fishery, including nearly the use of his hand. Several years ago, as a crabber in the Bering Sea, he had the bright idea for an improvement to the crab-pot holding system. “There are these air-dogs that usually hold the (crab) pot together,” Waters said. “We were breaking the dogs, so we put hydraulic dogs on it, bringing a little trawler mentality to the crab industry.” The not-so-workable improvement ended up crushing his hand, costing him two fingers. The incident didn’t deter him from continuing the fishing life or his dream of someday owning his own boat. Now he and fellow trawl fishermen are worried and frustrated. They are worried that a series of proposals to limit or eliminate trawl fishing in Alitak Bay will be adopted by the Alaska Board of Fisheries. If passed, trawl fishermen say the measures will have a tremendous economic impact on the Kodiak 40-vessel trawl fleet and the trawl community. “In terms of the volume for the fleet, pollock is probably the biggest moneymaker,” said Julie Bonney, executive director of the Alaska Groundfish Data Bank in Kodiak. “As much as 70 percent of the 620 (fishing area) quota comes out of that bay. It’s a really important fishery area.” Waters said that in 2006 he caught 7 million pounds of fish. Fish and Game estimates pollock harvested from Alitak Bay in 2007 at 4.9 million pounds and 5.6 million in 2006. The largest harvest was 11.7 million in 2004. “It’s not just the trawl fleet that benefits from the trawlers,” local fisherman Alvin Burch said. “Each vessel creates two days work for 140 people every time we deliver.” Waters said the closure would represent just another of the dwindling areas where he and other trawlers can’t fish. There are already a number of closures because of the Steller sea lion habitat protection measures, which is one reason trawlers say they can’t relocate as easily as others might think. “When they were discussing (the issue) at the meeting (and said), ‘Well, it will be easy for these guys to fish somewhere else,’ I meant what I said,” Waters said. “We wouldn’t be there if it was easy to catch fish somewhere else.” Waters said it’s an expensive trip and takes 18 hours to get to the bay at a cost of 30 gallons of fuel per hour. “The fleet has already given up a lot,” Bonney said. “There are just not a lot of other places to go.” The series of proposals were originally brought before the Kodiak Fish Advisory Committee by Alexus Kwachka and Peter Hannah out of concern for what they believe is the last population of king crab on the island. “In the pelagic trawl fishing (fleet) there is a great deal of fishing actually done on the bottom,” Kwachka said in his proposal. “Loss of crab due to contact with the pelagic trawl will continue and crab stocks in the area will be negatively impacted.” Hannah believes the trawlers do more than harm king crabs. “(There is) a high potential for salmon and herring bycatch by pelagic trawl gear in Deadman’s Bay on Kodiak Island,” Hannah wrote in his proposal. “Salmon escapement and successful directed fisheries in Deadman’s Bay will be hindered due to bycatch associated with pelagic trawling and incidental bycatch of herring will continue to affect these stocks.” Waters, Burch and Bonney said they understand the public’s concern, but believe the proposals are based on emotion, not science. Conservation groups around the world are nearly unanimous in their condemnation of the large trawlers and have published hundreds of reports condemning their environmental impact. Greenpeace, which has led the charge against trawling vessels for years, says trawlers strip-mine the ocean and demolish ocean’s ecosystem around the world. Other environmental groups, such as Oceana and the Marine Conservation Biology Institute, also issued publications critical of trawlers. The issue is just as emotional in Kodiak, as evidenced by several recent letters to the editor. “I guess the question is going to be, Is the board going to react to emotion and politics or are they going to look at the scientific information in terms of doing the right thing?” Bonney asked. “Pollock fishing is a very clean fishery and it’s sustainable.” Burch agreed in his Jan. 8 letter to the editor. “It’s important that people know that just because someone says something is true about trawl fishing, doesn’t mean that it is true,” he wrote. What is the truth? In the last 18 years, two studies have been done on the effects of trawl gear on king crabs, one in 1990 and the other in 1996. The results of the two studies concluded that the effect was minimal. In the 1990 study by Fish and Game researcher William Donaldson, Donaldson tethered a group of hard-shell red king crabs on the ocean’s bottom, then proceeded to run over the group with trawl gear six times. The study was done to gauge the impact of “trawl gear on injury rates of crab that were in the trawl path but not caught by the gear.” According to the study, of the 114 crabs recovered, five of the crabs sustained injuries and only one had injuries estimated as fatal. Rose’s study was similar. “Unobserved mortality is a significant concern as one of the incidental effects of fishing,” he wrote in his study. “In addition to direct bycatch and habitat effects, unobserved mortality has been one of the justifications used by managers for closing large areas to bottom trawling.” In the experiment, Rose studied the rate of injuries to red king crabs after the passage of several different types of trawl gear. Injury rates of 5, 7 and 10 percent were estimated for crabs passing under the three commercial trawl footropes. The number of crabs captured in each tow varied from 34 to 233. Of these, 82 to 98 percent showed no signs of injury. Rose said the two studies are a good beginning, but more research is needed. He hopes a study he is currently working on will shed more light on the subject. “The difference in this new study is it’s going to be set up to estimate mortality, as opposed to just looking at injuries,” Rose said. In the study, to be completed later this year, researchers will hold crabs that have come in contact with trawl gear for up to a week to better determine the effects of the gear on crabs. The study will help gauge longer term effects of trawl gear. “Another difference is this will not be just behind the footrope,” Rose said. “It will also be behind the trawl and beside the trawl. Also, we’ll be doing snow king and Tanner crab.” The proposals were not just concerned with trawl gear effects on crabs, but also with the effect of bycatch on other fish populations in the area such as halibut, salmon, herring, Pacific cod and Tanner crab. According to a report generated by Fish and Game, an average of 22 vessels each year fish inside Alitak Bay. “All Pacific salmon, Pacific herring, Tanner crab and king crab are considered prohibitive species in the pelagic trawl fishery,” the report stated. “In the Gulf of Alaska, these species are required to be returned to the water and reported on fish ticket records.” From 2004 to 2007 pollock harvests totaled approximately 24.3 million pounds in Alitak Bay. Based on both fish ticket data and observer data, the average bycatch was less than 5 percent. Fish ticket data had Pacific herring bycatch estimated at 1.2 percent and observer data estimated the bycatch at 0.9 percent. Fish ticket data showed Pacific herring bycatch at 1.2 percent and observer data recorded the bycatch as 1.5 percent. King crab bycatch for the same time was estimated, based on observer data, as 59 pounds and 179 pounds for Tanner crabs. The difference in fish ticket data and observer data leads some people to believe that more observers are necessary on trawlers. In the final proposal under consideration by the board, the proposal would require 100 percent observer data on trawl vessels inside the bay. Trawlers balk at the idea, saying it’s too expensive, as the trawler fleet will have to pay the bill. “I’ve got the bill right here in my hand,” Burch said. “For the month of the October, for (my boat) the Dawn, Oct. 1 and 2 $315 a day. I got credit for one observer day and paid for two because of travel.” He did much the same for Oct. 10-12, paying $315 a day and getting credit for only one day. “My final bill was $2,095,” Burch said. Fish and Game supports the idea of full observer data because it would increase their knowledge base on bycatch, and also because the “Office of Law Enforcement for NMFS indicates that fishing behavior of pelagic trawl fleet is different when vessels have observer coverage.” Not so, said NMFS special agent in charge Ken Hanson. In fact, he said he has no idea where that statement came from. “I don’t know who reportedly made that statement,” Hanson said. “I don’t know how or where that came from. This is totally a state issue; we don’t regulate trawling in Alitak Bay.” In the end, Waters and the rest of the Kodiak trawling community just want a fair hearing, one based on facts and not emotion. And if the bay is closed? “We’ll adapt,” Waters said. “It’ll be hard, it’ll hurt, but we’ll adapt.” -- Kodiak Daily Mirror
Oregon marine protected areas still talk In follow-up to a Nov. 1 meeting between Governor Ted Kulongoski and fishermen, crabbers and charter boat operators, the governor scheduled Chief of Staff Chip Terhune to lead discussions regarding marine reserves and wave energy efforts. "Governor Kulongoski made it very clear no marine reserve will be created without local engagement," Wentz remarked. "Nor will any be created that negatively impact the Oregon coast economy. The conversations we are having now are important to insure those values are upheld."
Washington poacher gets jail time A judge sentenced a former Olympia man to a year in prison Thursday for illegally fishing on Nisqually tribal lands in a case that pitted state law against tribal code. It doesn't appear that Larry P. Guidry Jr., 41, will serve additional time because Thurston County Superior Court Judge Chris Pomeroy ordered that the sentence run concurrent with a prison term Guidry has been serving since 2006. He will, however, have another felony conviction on a lengthy criminal record and be ordered to pay $10,000 in restitution to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. On Wednesday, Pomeroy found Guidry guilty of 11 crimes for the illegal fishing and selling of commercial quantities of fish without a license or endorsement from Fish and Wildlife. In December 2005, Fish and Wildlife officers saw Guidry, a non-Nisqually tribal member, catching chum salmon during a tribal fishery. At issue was whether his wife, Lorena, an enrolled member of the Nisqually Indian tribe, needed to be present for him to legally participate in the fishery. In June 2006, Guidry pleaded guilty in separate criminal cases in Thurston County Superior Court. In one case, he was sentenced to 24 months in prison for illegal possession of methamphetamine and two counts of illegal possession of stolen property, which occurred in December 2005. In the other case, he was sentenced to 33 months in prison for first-degree theft, which occurred in May 2006. He was transported from the Stafford Creek Corrections Center in Aberdeen to Thurston County Jail to be arraigned on the illegal-fishing charges in early September. He has been at the jail since and will return to prison soon. He will receive credit for the time served in jail. Guidry was convicted of one count of first-degree engaging in fish-dealing activity without a license; one count of first-degree illegal trafficking in fish, shellfish or wildlife; four counts of participation of a non-Indian in Indian fishery for commercial purpose; four counts of first-degree unlicensed commercial fishing; and one count of obstructing a law enforcement officer. – The Olympian, Washington
California black abalone nearly extinct "The scientific review team reported major declines in the population of black abalone, especially in the areas around the Channel Islands off Southern California," said Rod McInnis, Southwest Regional Administrator for NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service. "These proposed regulations seek federal protection for black abalone and request input from the public in determining what areas might be included as critical habitat for the species." Black abalone were once plentiful in the intertidal waters from Northern Baja California, Mexico, to Monterey, Calif., although there is some scientific debate about how far north the population once extended. The species was utilized by early California natives and peaked as a commercial fishery in the state in 1973 with almost two million pounds harvested. Since the 1980s, black abalone abundance has plummeted primarily from a bacterial disease known as withering syndrome. Other causes of the rapid population decline are likely due to historical overfishing, poaching and natural predation. NMFS has considered recent preliminary evidence which suggests a small disease resistant population may exist at San Nicolas Island. Even with this possibility, the likelihood that black abalone populations will continue to decline towards extinction (within the next 30 years) is very high. – Science Daily <<•>> Tuesday, January 15, 2008Pebble awaiting OK of $100M budgetANCHORAGE – Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. is taking a winter hiatus from core drilling but plans to resume drilling in February, anticipating an overall budget of approximately $100 million for the 2008 season. While the budget awaits approval at a board meeting, scheduled for late January, spokesman Sean McGee said that it will most likely be in the range of the 2007 budget, which included upward of $60 million for exploration, plus $35 million for environmental work and community relations. To date, approximately $200 million has been invested in what is now known as the Pebble Limited Partnership, a joint investment by Northern Dynasty and Anglo American US (Pebble) LLC, McGee said. "We are continuing our work toward the day where we can propose a mine plan," McGee said. "We are still focused on doing the science at this point," he said. "We don't yet have a proposed development plan. Pebble is still a concept." – Peninsula Clarion, Kenai NOAA says it’s not just sea lionsVANCOUVER, Wash. -- As NOAA Fisheries officials mull the fate of California sea lions that prey on salmon at the Columbia River's Bonneville Dam, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers biologist last week told of efforts to shoo off thousands of Caspian terns and double-crested cormorants that eat millions of ocean-bound young salmon each year. The sea lions, sheltered by the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act, are known to have eaten about 3,800 adult spring Chinook salmon at or near the dam last year, about 4 percent of the run. Their take probably was higher. State fisheries officials, commercial and sports fishers and Indian tribes are seeking special permission for "lethal removal" of some of them, especially those who return each year. But Jeff Dorsey, a biologist with the Corps of Engineers, told commissioners from the fish and wildlife commissions of Oregon and Washington on Thursday that the terns alone have eaten ocean-bound smolts in numbers ranging from about 5 million to 14 million a year since 1997 and that the cormorants are worse. The Corps of Engineers built East Sand Island six miles up from the mouth of the Columbia River in the 1960s to get the birds off of Rice Island upriver, where they also were a problem. The terns were moved there in 1986 through habitat destruction and harassment at their old home. It worked, maybe too well. Corps figures show there were a few hundred breeding pairs of terns there in 1999. There are about 9,000 now. There were only about 100 breeding pairs of the double-crested cormorants on the island in 1989, he said. There are about 14,000 today, and in 2006 they ate an estimated 16 million juvenile salmon. Commission members asked Dorsey if biological species hostile to the cormorants could be introduced to drive them off. He said there are bald eagles there and that he has pictures of one eating a cormorant while thousands of other cormorants stood around watching. "It doesn't work," he said. The engineers are building alternate nesting sites for the birds in Fern Ridge Reservoir near Eugene, at Summer Lake and Crump Lake in Eastern Oregon and at three sites in the San Francisco Bay area, hoping to get them to move from the Columbia to areas where they won't rely on salmon. Virtually all of the salmon runs in the Columbia are listed under the Endangered Species Act. Dorsey said the Corps of Engineers' goal is to stabilize the Caspian tern population on East Sand Island at 3,125 to 4,375 pairs. – Contra Costa Times
Coast Guard boat tows fishing boatA U.S. Coast Guard cutter towed a fishing vessel to safety this weekend after the boat's engine failed. The 55-foot Equinox is safe in Seward after becoming disabled 34 nautical miles south of Montague Island in the Gulf of Alaska on Saturday morning, according to the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard cutter Mustang was diverted from another mission to tow the dead-in-the-water boat. None of the four people aboard was injured. A Coast Guard inspection found no safety discrepancies, the agency said. – Anchorage Daily News
Salmon commission panel fundedFunding for the state's participation in the Pacific Salmon Commission, a key panel in Alaska's commercial fishing relationship with Canada, was included in the passage last month by Congress of the omnibus spending bill. The commission, which will receive $3 million, is a panel created by the Pacific Salmon Treaty, according to Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, who has spearheaded the state's effort to get operational funding for the country's continued participation. The commission manages Fraser River salmon stocks in British Columbia. The program is important to furthering the cooperation of the United States with Canada to protect commercial fisheries for both countries. – Arctic Sounder <<•>>
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Tanner crab opening pushed backThe Alaska Department of Fish and Game Division of Commercial Fisheries announced the once-delayed Tanner crab fishery would open on Wednesday off Kodiak. The opening had been pushed back because of gale warnings. Authorities declined to have employees do tank inspections on vessels during gales. But by Tuesday, the wind had abated and tank inspections were scheduled.
Disease causes fish farmer to lose moneyOSLO -- Norwegian fish farmer Marine Harvest said it is to book an additional charge of 80 mln nkr ($15 million) in the fourth quarter, on top of the 54.1 mln ($10 million) already announced, due to a continued worsening of the fish sickness situation in Chile. “Due to the ISA disease, a cost of 80 mln nkr mainly relating to expected destruction/slaughter in the first quarter will be charged in the fourth quarter accounts,” the firm said. Despite the worsening of the health of its fish stocks in Chile, Marine Harvest reiterated that it remains confident in the outlook for its operations in the region in the longer-term. In the fourth quarter, Marine Harvest said it harvested a total of 100,800 tonnes of fish from its operations in Norway, Chile, Canada and Scotland. Late last year Marine Harvest cut its 2007 harvest estimate to 335,000-345,000 tonnes of gutted weight from the previous figure of 370,000-390,000 tonnes due to ongoing problems with the health of its fish stocks in Chile. – Forbes
Don’t go fishing in the Gulf of MexicoGALVESTON — Two men described as longtime friends were receiving medical treatment Monday, after a fight on a shrimp boat that led to one man breaking a beer bottle over the head of the other, who responded with a meat cleaver. Both men suffered cuts to their heads and were treated and released Monday at a University of Texas Medical Branch hospital. -- Daily News, Galveston County, Texas
Rain causes death of 400,000 farmed fishHeavy rain caused the deaths of 400,000 gilthead bream in Turkey’s Güllük Gulf in the Aegean Sea last week. Sudden change in natural conditions and the flow of fresh water to the sea caused by heavy rainfall resulted in the deaths of the fish, a group of experts investigating the affair said. It seems Mother Nature did what environmentalists have been trying to do for sometime: Getting the fish farms, which are too close to the coast, moved to the open sea. Environmentalists have been struggling to get fish farms to relocate offshore citing the coastal pollution they cause. However, it was neither the pressure nor the campaigns by the environmentalists that forced the relocation of the fish farms, but the heavy rain. Six of nearly 15 fish farms located near Güllük Gulf have already relocated offshore, following the rain. The group of experts also stressed during a press conference that there was no danger to human health since the fish died due to a lack of oxygen caused by the inflow of fresh water. The sale of gilthead bream had been banned in Mugla province due to claims that some fish farm owners were trying to sell dead fish on the market. – Turkish Daily News |