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Monday, June 4, 2007 Legislative Watch: Congressman Wants More Money for Trollers
EUREKA – North Coast Congressman Mike Thompson, following the president's signature on emergency disaster relief for the Pacific salmon industry, has assembled members of Congress from California and Oregon to call for the prompt distribution of the funding.
"The president's approval of this disaster relief is long overdue," said Thompson. "The administration's failed water policies resulted in our country's largest commercial salmon fishery disaster, and North Coast residents have suffered because of it. Our salmon fishermen and businesses will finally get the aid they desperately need." The $60.4 million in emergency funding will be distributed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency, which has regulatory jurisdiction over the nation's fishing industries. Thompson and members of the state congressional delegations formally invited William Hogarth, director of NOAA Fisheries, to a meeting in Washington, D.C. to discuss how and when those affected by the disaster will receive aid. "We've been working for the past two years to get this funding, and now that we have it, we can't waste another minute getting it to our salmon fishermen and related-businesses," said Thompson. In other business, Thompson, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Terrorism, Human Intelligence, Analysis and Counterintelligence, has embarked on a five-day intelligence oversight trip to the United Kingdom and Sweden. The purpose, according to his office, is to examine the growth of religious extremism in Europe and the threat that this trend poses to the U.S. and our allies. In addition, Thompson will meet with local officials to discuss how the U.S. and European countries can better coordinate counterterrorism measures and the sharing of intelligence. "Strong intelligence is our best weapon for fighting terrorism," said Thompson. "And close collaboration with our allies and partners is critical given that many of these extremist groups operate in multiple countries. We need to share information with our allies and learn from each others' experiences if we are to counter the threats posed by these dangerous groups." Thompson, a Vietnam combat veteran, will also spend a day with wounded soldiers at the Army's Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany. This is his second visit to the hospital since fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan began. – Times-Standard News: Another Disease Found in Farmed Fish LAUNCESTON, Australia – Scientists from the University of Tasmania in Launceston have made an unexpected discovery that has rewritten 20 years of research.A team from the Tasmanian Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute has identified a new species of parasitic amoeba as the cause of a disease in farmed Atlantic salmon, ABC News Online reported. Amoebic gill disease is caused by a single-celled marine organism that attaches to the gills and can cause heavy stock loss. For about 20 years it was believed a certain species of amoeba was responsible for the disease, but PhD student, Neil Young has found that it's actually caused by a previously unknown, but related species. Young says the discovery will help in the development of diagnostics, treatments and vaccines that will benefit salmon farmers. – Fish Farmer, U.K.
BOSTON – Slapping the title "national marine sanctuary" on the 842-square-mile stretch of ocean known as Stellwagen Bank back in 1992 did little to protect whales from being hit by ships, or to prevent trawlers from degrading seafloor habitats that sustain dozens of species of fish.
Editorial: Marine Sanctuaries Must Be Tougher A favorable future for this extraordinary ecosystem, stretching from Cape Ann to Cape Cod, requires the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to set stricter limits on commercial and recreational activity. A recent status report on Stellwagen by NOAA's National Marine Sanctuary Program makes for depressing summer reading. Water quality monitoring is marginal, and pressure on marine life is high. Some whales get entangled in fishing gear. Others bear the marks of boat propellers on their backs. Draggers endanger historic shipwrecks while whale watch boats ferry 1 million customers through the sanctuary each year, stirring the fears of environmentalists. Tankers and cargo ships traverse Stellwagen en route to the Port of Boston in sight of recreational boaters who zip along at 20 knots. The sanctuary program, which manages 150,000 square miles of America's oceans and Great Lakes in 13 protected areas, seeks to promote stewardship by educating the public about the country's marine resources and maritime heritage. But it is unrealistic to expect that the public would ever feel as protective toward an underwater plateau at the mouth of Massachusetts Bay as it does about the national parks and wildlife sanctuaries that are easily reachable by auto. So, NOAA must take independent, aggressive action to ensure the survival of Stellwagen's 60 species of fish, 30 species of seabirds, and abundant sea mammals, including harbor seals, Atlantic white-sided dolphins, and humpback, fin, and minke whales. One hopeful sign is the creation of new commercial shipping lanes, coming in July, which should reduce whale strikes. But any sanctuary worthy of the name would also ban the use of floating lines that connect lobster pots, which easily entangle whales. Federal fishery officials should subsidize the cost of sinking lines, which are safer, for lobstermen on Stellwagen Bank. Buffer zones should also be created around the ill-fated, multi masted schooners resting at the bottom of Stellwagen Bank, where dragger nets and gill nets disturb the work of underwater archeologists. The toughest challenge will be to place further limits on commercial fishing in the area. Despite concern for the local fishing industry, NOAA and Congress need to realize that sanctuaries require ocean zoning, and especially the establishment of "no take" zones and scientific research zones needed to guard spawning areas and nursery grounds. The report gives fair warning. Right now, Stellwagen is no sanctuary. - Boston Globe News: Bristol Bay King Fishery Opens KING SALMON -- The big dance of Alaska’s commercial salmon fisheries, Bristol Bay, began last week.The early focus for gillnetters will be on the bay’s overlooked king salmon. For some reason, these biggest of Pacific salmon have been woefully unappreciated compared to the regal prices kings command elsewhere such as Southeast Alaska, the Copper River and the Yukon River. But lately, Bristol Bay producers have tried to generate more money off Chinook with more aggressive marketing. Some fishermen are finding they can make a lot more by selling their catches directly to restaurants or other buyers, rather than to a processor. The Highliner decided to check state figures to see where bay Chinook are headed. Sure enough, we find the average Chinook price per pound has more than doubled over the last five years, even as harvests have grown: YearMMMAverage price By comparison, the average base price paid for Bristol Bay sockeye last season was 55 cents a pound, according to the Department of Fish and Game. Bristol Bay is one of the state’s biggest Chinook salmon fisheries, with most of the catch coming out of the Nushagak District – the western or Dillingham side of the bay. The department forecasts a large Nushagak Chinook catch of up to 145,000 fish, compared to last season's catch of 84,000. – Pacific Fishing correspondent Wesley Loy writing as The Highliner in the Anchorage Daily News Brief: B.C. Harbors to Get Improvements Three harbors on the North Coast will benefit from improvements made possible by $750,000 in funding from the federal government."The three sites are Fairview Harbour, the Port Edward Harbour Facility and the Port Simpson Harbour," said Dan Bate, communication coordinator for Fisheries and Oceans Canada. "They are all public-use facilities used by commercial and recreational boaters." - Prince Rupert Daily News <<<•>>> Tuesday, June 5, 2007 News: Coast Guard to be on Bristol Bay JUNEAU -- The 17th Coast Guard District and the Alaska Wildlife Troopers (AWT) announced that a combined law enforcement operation will take place during the summer at the salmon fishery in Bristol Bay.The AWT vessels Stimson and Wolstad will be embarking Coast Guard Boarding Officers along with Troopers for underway boardings of salmon fishermen. The primary concentration will be on driftnet fishermen, and vessels tendering salmon in the Kvichak, Nushagak and Egigik Bay areas in northeastern Bristol Bay, from June 19, 2007 until July 15. These vessels are primarily based out of Dillingham, King Salmon, Naknek and Egegik. The main focus of at-sea enforcement will be to ensure compliance with federal fishing vessel safety regulations. Depending upon the vessel's length and where it is operating, these requirements include survival suits, ring buoys, EPIRBs, survival craft, flares, and fire extinguishers. In order to help fishermen come into compliance, Coast Guard Sector Anchorage is again sending dockside examiners from June 10 thru June 20 to the ports of Naknek, King Salmon, Dillingham and Egegik to conduct voluntary dockside safety exams. These dockside exams are free, non-enforcement opportunities to have the Coast Guard check the vessel's compliance at a time and place convenient to the owner, with no penalties if there are safety problems. Vessels that complete a voluntary dockside exam and are in total compliance are issued a "dockside examination decal," valid for two years and displayed on the fishing vessel. Vessels with a valid decal are at the lowest priority for at-sea boardings. Fishing vessels boarded at-sea and found to be grossly out of compliance, or with especially hazardous conditions, may have their trip "terminated," and be directed back to port. These vessels will have to demonstrate compliance before being allowed to start fishing again. Lesser violations of the federal regulations may result in monetary civil penalties of up to $6500 per violation. "This effort is being driven by the overriding goal to prevent the loss of lives at sea. Every year the Alaska Wildlife Troopers respond to search and rescue calls in Bristol Bay for vessels sinking or on fire. Therefore it is imperative that every vessel have its minimal required safety equipment onboard and in good working order," stated Lt. Will Ellis of the Alaska Wildlife Troopers. Salmon fisherman can contact either Coast Guard Sector Anchorage at 907 271-1954, or the 17th District in Juneau at 907 463-2810, if they have questions about the federal safety regulations. – U.S. Coast Guard Feature: Car Fuel Smells Like "Grouper Sandwich" If a white Mercedes drives by and you begin to crave fried fish, you just might be smelling the future.A successful experiment of using cooking oil to fuel a car may soon lead to new business opportunities. "I'm not some closet tree hugger. I'm a normal guy, " said George Lewis, one of the owners of the new Leverock's, who converted a 1981 Mercedes 300D to run on used vegetable oil he gets from the restaurant at 840 S Pasadena Ave. "I just wanted to prove I could do it." Lewis used a kit from a Massachusetts company called Greasecar. He's been running the car for six weeks now on what the restaurant uses to cook french fries and seafood. "The car gets phenomenal grease mileage, " Lewis said. "It smells like grouper sandwiches." Now that Lewis has made the successful transition, he plans to turn the car into a Leverock's advertisement. Inspired by the process, he's toying with other business concepts. Lewis got the conversion idea a few months back while watching MTV with his sons. He saw a demonstration of a vegetable-oil car and wanted to try it himself. Lewis bought his 300,000-mile car for $1,100 and paid $1,000 for his Greasecar kit, $650 for a mechanic to install it, and another $1,000 in body work and a paint job. He said he now saves enough in fuel to be able to cover the entire cost of the car and conversion in about a year. "I drive it a lot more than I thought I would, " said Lewis, who also sells and develops real estate and travels extensively around the area. Lewis still uses his Toyota Sequoia when he has clients, but on a recent trip to Sarasota, he ran on grease. The trip was a visit to one of his friends, Tony Phelan, owner of Pinchers Crab Shack, who runs a Dodge truck on grease to deliver fresh fish to his five locations. Caspers Co., which owns many of the Tampa Bay area's McDonald's franchises, uses spent fryer oil for deliveries. Caspers takes the oil and refines it into biodiesel, which then mixes with regular diesel to power trucks that serve its 51 restaurants. "Our initial thought was to save money, " said Blake Casper, chief executive of Caspers. "The truth is it's a lot harder and more expensive than what you originally think." But Lewis uses unrefined vegetable oil, an important distinction, said Josiah Cuneo of Greasecar. Biodiesel runs in regular diesel engines, but the Greasecar converter package heats used grease so it mimics regular diesel. "It has to be the same viscosity as diesel, " Cuneo said, "but there's less variability in vegetable oil than in diesel." Greasecar lists testimonials from buyers, some of whom, like Lewis, own restaurants; others just knock on doors to find a business willing to give away their waste products. The company also mentions that Rudolf Diesel, who invented the engine bearing his name, originally had vegetable oil in mind as a fuel. The conversion kit adds a fuel tank for grease and a set of heaters to raise its temperature to 140 degrees Fahrenheit so it will flow like diesel. Because grease is thicker at room temperature, the kit also switches back to diesel before shutdown to keep fuel lines clean of solidifying grease. Cuneo said diesel engines run as well on grease as on diesel fuel and the emissions are cleaner. No engine adjustments are required. He said he has sold 3,500 conversion kits in the past seven years, but sales are doubling every year. Lewis runs his grease through a filter to remove any food particles, and then stores it in jugs until he's ready to drive. He said he uses about a quarter of the 50 gallons the restaurant consumes in a week, but he's thinking about ways to exploit the rest. In researching his conversion, Lewis learned of Bio-Beetle, a company that rents cars that run on biodiesel on Maui and in Los Angeles. He said he's thinking about a similar arrangement for Florida tourists who want to vacation in an environmentally sound way. – Tampa Bay Times
GOLD BEACH, Ore. - Scott Boley, 58, salmon troller and seafood processor, died at his Gold Beach home May 28 of natural causes.
News: Fishermen and Farmers Lose a Friend, Advocate "Oregon Salmon Fishermen lost an advocate, Klamath farmers lost an ally and we both lost one of the really good guys," said Greg Addington, Klamath Water Users Association executive director. Until recently, some commercial fishermen blamed irrigators and the government's water management for fish woes. And some Klamath Basin irrigators thought the fishermen wanted all their water. When the government severely restricted Oregon and California Coastal fishing last year, Boley and Klamath farmer Dick Carleton organized meetings and tours of ports and farms, and their groups drew up an alliance, dispelling myths and finding solutions. Last winter, the two men accepted an award on behalf of Klamath farmers and ranchers and commercial fishermen from the Oregon Department of Agriculture for their efforts in finding solutions to support fisheries, farms and Klamath River health. Fellow salmon troller Rick Goche said Boley had a unique perspective of Klamath issues being raised in the Klamath Basin, and he had a unique knowledge base of experience, science and politics of troll salmon. Schooled in ocean engineering, Boley was an asset on the federal Pacific Fishery Management Council, the Port of Gold Beach and on the Oregon Salmon Commission, as well as other groups. He was involved in hatchery programs and a new DNA testing program that identifies where the salmon originates. "Scott Boley treated people with respect and earned a boatload of it in return," Coos County Commissioner John Griffith said. Klamath County Commissioner Bill Brown said, "Scott was at everything we did. He was able to deliver a message in a way that was understandable." – Coos Bay World If you have doubts about today’s global media market, consider the following article that appeared in the Pakistan Daily Times: News: Kodiak Island Fishermen Test Halibut Excluder Net It’s called the halibut excluder — a scary name for a nifty device, especially if you’re a hapless halibut caught in a cod trawl net off Kodiak Island.The island’s fishermen are working with scientists and a custom net manufacturer to modify cod trawl nets so that halibut, gathered up with the cod, can swim free. Four trawl fishermen were allowed to fish outside the regular season to test the device. While modifications are needed, the halibut excluder could fix a big problem known as bycatch — fish that are unintentionally caught. “If everyone used this you would expect the halibut bycatch to be cut in half,” said John Gauvin, cooperative research coordinator for the Marine Conservation Alliance Foundation, which is working with commercial fishermen on the project. Halibut is an important commercial and sport fishing industry in Alaska, with the largest concentration in the Gulf of Alaska near Kodiak. The catch limit in the gulf is 26 million pounds. They’re often caught in nets for Pacific cod. Fishermen are allowed a certain amount of bycatch but must stop fishing when they exceed the limit — 2,000 tons of halibut each year. If that amount is exceeded, the fisheries are shut down — no small matter for the approximately 100 trawlers working the gulf. Compiled by Elaine Riot News: Wave Energy and Fishing Conflict Rises to New Level REEDSPORT, Ore. - About a dozen commercial crabbers - and some trawlers and salmon trollers, too - met Thursday evening with one thing on their minds: access to fishing grounds.Several proposals are being considered for wave energy parks off the Oregon coast that would consist of several buoys - up to 200 or so - anchored to the seafloor. The footprint could be as much as 3 square miles of ground, not including the off-limits area surrounding the wave parks. But it's the depth at which the parks would be placed that has fishermen upset. The companies who own the wave buoy technology and who have applied for parks off of Gardiner, Coos County and Bandon - Ocean Power Technologies and Finavera Renewables - have said the buoys need to be placed on sandy ocean bottoms, between about 25 and 40 fathoms. It's the same area where commercial crabbers place their pots in the wintertime and by salmon trollers during the summer. Beach draggers (trawlers towing nets) can only access some species of fish at those depths. “There's nothing positive here for the fishing industry,” salmon troller and Port of Umpqua Commissioner Barry Nelson said. Port Commissioner and Oregon Solutions team co-convener Keith Tymchuk said there was a benefit to the fishermen - and OPT, the company proposing the wave energy park off Gardiner – to be part of the process. Commercial crabbers agreed Wednesday, at the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission meeting, to begin developing an ad campaign to promote the industry's perspective. ODCC Interim Administrator Hugh Link read a letter outlining the fleet's perspective on Thursday night:
“We respectfully request that OPT find a way to share, not take, traditional fishing grounds away from Oregon fishermen,” the letter concluded. Tymchuk said there still is time to find some resolution to the issues and that he would share the crabbers' issues with OPT. – Coos Bay World <<<•>>> Wednesday, June 6, 2007 News Brief: Ruined Trawler Laid to Rest DUTCH HARBOR -- It took a while, but a salvage team and the U.S. Coast Guard have finally laid the ruined trawler Exodus Explorer to rest in the Aleutian abyss.As readers might recall, the cod-laden boat sustained major damage after running aground outside the Adak harbor back in March. Magone Marine, a Dutch Harbor salvage outfit, managed to refloat the wreck, and on the morning of May 22 they scuttled her in 1,500 fathoms about eight miles northeast of Adak Island’s northernmost point, according to state officials. The crew of Magone’s tug, the Redeemer, originally had planned to tow the stripped-down, 94-foot vessel to a spot farther out but it began to swamp in choppy seas. So they cut the hulk loose early for safety reasons. – Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy writing in his Anchorage Daily News blog, The Highliner News: Fisheries Royalties Aid Struggling Communities UNALASKA -- The Aleutian Pribilof Island Community Development Association is paying out its first annual dividend to its member communities this month under a new money-management strategy the association began seven years ago.The $600,000 dividend has been divided among the association's six member communities. The payments are calculated based on the size of the community, ranging from about $70,000 for Nikolski to about $130,000 for Saint George. That may not sound like a lot of money, but APICDA CEO Larry Cotter said that for tiny communities struggling to stay afloat in remote corners of Southwest Alaska, it will make a difference. "Nelson Lagoon is having trouble paying for fuel this year," Cotter said. "I think False Pass is going to fall short on its projected tax revenues, and Saint George is in pretty desperate financial shape, so this is going to help them." The dividend is paid out of an $11.2 million long-term reserve account that APICDA created in 2000. The fund works more or less like a small-scale version of Alaska's Permanent Fund, although there's no income averaging and its investment rules aren't set in stone. Most of APICDA's revenues come from investments and community development quota (CDQ) fisheries royalties. Some fishing-dependent communities like Unalaska already have rainy-day funds to protect against the volatility of the industry, although most of the five other CDQ associations do not. Still, Cotter said he doesn't see the need for APICDA to add much to the amount set aside so far. "Personally I think it's an adequate size," he said. "I don't see any need to grow it, other than to make sure it's inflation-proofed. There's a lot of investment opportunities out there, and I'd like to see us put our money to work in those opportunities, and in the things we need to do in our villages." APICDA is planning on investing in a number of infrastructure projects in its member communities in coming years. The association anticipates finishing construction of a processing plant in False Pass this year. Plants are slated to be built in Saint George and Nelson Lagoon next year and a plant in Atka will be rebuilt. APICDA also has plans for a tourist lodge in Saint George. - KIAL
VALDEZ, Alaska — A small diesel fuel spill in Prince William Sound was caused when a fishing boat struck a rock, authorities said Monday.
News Brief: Small Fuel Spill in Prince William Sound The 82-foot-long Windward hit the rock shortly after 8:30 p.m. Sunday, rupturing one of the vessel's fuel tanks, The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation said. No one was hurt in the mishap near Goose Island about 30 miles south of Valdez. The crew was able to transfer some of the fuel from the 2,000 gallon tank, but an amount estimated at less than 300 gallons spilled into the Sound, DEC spokesman Bob Petit said. A 400-foot-by-60-foot sheen was reported at the scene. Petit said it quickly dissipated. The Windward made it to Valdez on its own speed, arriving Monday morning. The Coast Guard was investigating. – Associated Press News Brief: Copper River Salmon Run Strong CORDOVA -- Copper River commercial salmon fishermen are having a strong year.According to the latest tally from the Department of Fish and Game, gillnetters had boated nearly 676,000 sockeye as of Sunday, which trounces the 20-year average by that date, 544,000. Last season, fishermen had caught about 468,000. The news isn't as good for the king salmon catch, which stood Sunday at 22,000 fish, well back of the 20-year average of 32,000. The department gave the Copper River fleet another 12-hour opener on Monday. The sockeye fishery will last into August, while kings should finish up by the end of this month. – Anchorage Daily News News: Bans Make Japan's Seafood Suppliers Crabby HONG KONG - Japanese and sushi fanciers everywhere are facing the prospects of a slimmer menu.With stocks declining sharply, Russia has banned the export of live crabs, the bulk of which go to Japan, and the European Union is moving to restrict catches of another Japanese favorite, eel. Russia, which in 2005 supplied about 60% of the crabs consumed in Japan, announced Wednesday that it had halted exports of live crabs to stop illegal fishing amid plummeting numbers. The price of eel, already running high in Japan due to a ban on live imports from China since the end of last year due to chemical contamination, is likely to climb even further if the countries taking part in a two-week meeting at the Hague that began Sunday agree on a proposal to list European eels as an endangered species. The proposal, under a multinational wildlife management treaty known as the Washington Convention, would cut back drastically on European eel exports, requiring the issuance of export permits by country of origin. The global supply of eels is already running dangerously low, with the EU forecasting an end to commercial eel fishing as early as 2015. This would be bad news for Japanese, who gorge on grilled eel in the summer, when they believe eating the slithery creatures imparts the stamina to survive the punishing July and August heat. Europe has been doing a booming trade in supplying northeastern Asian countries, the world’s main eel farming grounds, with larval eel. China and Taiwan import great quantities of European eel fry and raise them for export to Japan. The heavy reliance on European eel is due in part to a ban by Japan on the export of its own eel fry to conserve domestic production. As in Europe, Japan has seen eel stocks decline for decades because of overfishing and the construction of dams and the concreting over of shorelines that has blocked eels from making their annual migration upriver. Japan’s ban on the export of its eel fry has given rise to a prosperous illicit transport trade to China and Taiwan by smugglers who sterilize the baby eels and pack them in luggage in small plastic bags. The ban has caused resentment among Taiwanese eel farmers, who are considering restricting their exports to Japan and reserving production for rising domestic consumption. Japan continues to import roast eel from China, but it has recently tightened safety controls on concerns for food safety. While Japanese have long been known for their heavy consumption of fish, rising affluence around the world and the growing popularity of sushi has led to soaring demand and rising stress on fish stocks. - Forbes.com <<<•>>> Thursday, June 7, 2007 News in Depth: Underwater Miners Target Homer HOMER – Long since Homer’s founding fathers first landed on the Homer Spit looking for pay dirt, hopefuls have been scavenging the area looking for minerals. In fact, you can still see folks mining the beaches, hauling coal in plastic buckets to burn through the winter.Looking for something more valuable, a small, new company, Hemis, is coring Cook Inlet and magnetically mapping the area around Anchor Point in the hopes of finding gold and other minerals. The ball started rolling for the company in January, when Hemis purchased the previous efforts in the form of maps and permits made by the preceding explorer, the Aspen company. “Aspen was paid $50,000 and will be paid this amount on each anniversary of the agreement so long as Hemis continues work in the area,” an Aspen release said. Aspen also keeps a 5% royalty, according to a release. Geologists with Aspen gathered their data in the 1980s, and the company is now pursuing the permits needed to explore the area for gold and any other potentially commercially valuable minerals they find. Hemis Chief Geologist Douglas Oliver said the presence of gold on the beaches of the Inlet has been known for more than a century, and would likely be found alongside magnetite, as it would appear on magnetic mapping. In an investor release by Hemis President Norman Meier, he wrote that Oliver will face some challenges in Alaska, but that there are advantages as well. “In Alaska you are always fighting the lack of infrastructure. However, Cook Inlet is located close to the main population center and the offshore nature of this project eliminates the need to build roads. The accessibility of this project was a key factor in our decision to pursue this,” Meier said quoting Oliver. The main Hemis office is in Zurich, Switzerland, with a corporate office in Nevada. Entrix, a Houston-based company with an office in Anchorage, is in charge of, and will seek the necessary permits needed to explore offshore Anchor Point. This month, company officials met with Kenai Peninsula Borough mayor’s administration, as well as other affected parties, to make their presence known, since none of the exploration permits thus far have triggered public notices. The permits it needs are with state and federal agencies. Joanne Collins, Anchor Point Chamber of Commerce president, said she was surprised that Hemis would be looking for gold under the waters of the Inlet. “It also kind of took me by surprise when I first heard about it — but people like to know what’s going on and its important that we’re kept up-to-date on things, especially when it comes to mineral development,” Collins said. Mayor William’s right-hand man, Tim Navarre, said none of the permits the company needs lie with the borough — and said the work the company has done so far has been noninvasive. The company sent one crew out through Memorial Day weekend to geo-magnetically map the area, a noninvasive method of learning about the geology of the area. A second crew is due back to the Inlet in August, he said. According to the Hemis exploration plan, the proposed project is a small maritime operation requiring two vessels; one for oceanographic survey information, and another to retrieve about 50 sediment borings. They note that all the prospective mine sites are outside any of the critical habitat areas around the Anchor Point area. A letter to the Tribune from Oliver said, “The purpose of acquiring marine sediment samples is to determine the presence of an economic gold resource. The majority of the proposed project is located in state waters on active state Offshore Prospecting Permits in the Lower Cook Inlet. Specifically, three proposed sampling locations are within three miles of the Cook Inlet shoreline, and two locations are in federal waters up to five miles from shore.” The nearest spot is one mile off the Anchor Point Boat Launch where the waters of the Anchor River meet the Inlet. As of Tuesday, the price of gold was $675.10 per ounce. – Homer Tribune News in Depth: Court Decision Could Hamper Pebble Miners HOMER – Last week the 9th District Court of Appeals said Kensington Mine, near Brenners’ Bay, Juneau, could not pollute a natural alpine lake with mine tailings.While Kensington Mine is hundreds of miles away from Southcentral Alaska, the decision has impacts closer to home, some say, with the development of the Pebble Prospect near Lake Illiamna. Buck Lindekugel, Conservation Director for the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council said the decision was a real blow against Pebble, a Northern Dynasty project, because preliminary plans were to dump tailings into Frying Pan Lake. “They cannot do that with this decision — not according to the EPA standards,” he said. The court struck down the Kensington Mine special permit from the Army Corps of Engineers. The permit would have allowed Kensington Mine to dump 4.5 million tons of tailings. Had that happened, the act would have raised the level of the lake 50 feet. The Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, among other agencies, won the decision in the name of holding private developers on public lands accountable to clean water laws. The council said the Army Corps of Engineers chose to use the Kensington Mine as a “test case to reverse decades of settled law and return to the days when mines dumped their tailing into clean lakes, rivers and streams.” Had the permits been allowed, Kensington would have been the first mine of its generation to dump chemically treated tailings in natural, clean water, the council reported. The Kensington decision affects processes where it’s necessary to keep materials beneath the surface of water so they do not oxidize as they come in contact with air, as well as the froth flotation method used to separate copper and gold from ore. As it works, the gold or copper is floated to the surface of water where it is skimmed off and processed. Everything that’s left is tailing. Pebble and other mines must keep their tailings out of existing bodies of water, thus directing mining operations to store tailings in above ground repositories. However, Executive Director of the Alaska Mining Association, Steve Borell said the decision is a narrow one. “It was a very bad decision because it will not allow all agencies to permit the most environmentally sound [mining] plans,” Borell said. He sees the issue on more of global scale, saying that U.S. mining laws are the most stringent in the world. “If your objective is to stop development, then this is a great win. But that only means that resources somewhere else will be developed, without an environmentally sound method like we have here,” Borell said. Lindekugel said the situation came to the courts because federal and state agencies signed off to allow it under the lure of economic gain. But that’s not good enough, he said. “Think about how much Alaskans depend on water — it supports so many other industries. It’s pretty significant in maintaining our way of life in Alaska,” he said. While it once was the case that Northern Dynasty had preliminarily planned a two-mile long open pit, a mile and a half wide, and 1,700 feet deep, about 15 miles north of Iliamna Lake, Northern Dynasty spokesman Sean Magee said plans changed once they discovered the East deposit. “The only answer I can really give you is that we have no idea what the implications of the Kensington decision might be. That will come out over time,” Magee said. “What is clear, however, is that we’ll have to satisfy all regulations with the laws that are in place at the time.” And as far as plans go, Northern Dynasty reports nothing has been set in stone, and the permitting process still has not yet begun. That’s a couple of years down the road, likely, as the company continues to discover the extent of the resource. Magee said water is necessary in tailings storage because water neutralizes the chance of oxidation — to prevent the possibility of creating acidic situations. And though mines around the world have stored tailings under existing bodies of water, Magee is not suggesting that is a plan for Pebble. “In fact, there is no plan for Pebble. We’re still focused on the environmental and geological studies,” he said. “Until we have a mine plan, we don’t have a mine plan.” Tom Waldo, Earthjustice staff lawyer in the Kensington case, said the Clean Water Act was another target in the crosshairs — a result of the George W. Bush administration’s gutting of environmental standards. “The Bush administration adopted a new definition of ‘fill material.’ The precedent (the Kensington Decision) sets is that you cannot get around the rules by calling pollutants ‘fill material,’” Waldo said. – Homer Tribune
The Council of the Haida Nation and the government of Canada have signed an agreement to work together on developing the Bowie Seamount as a marine protected area.
News Brief: Canadian Natives Eye Marine Reserve The seamount, also known as Sgaan Kinghlas (Supernatural Being Looking Outward) is a shallow water area about 180 km west of the Charlottes, and is an isolated island of biodiversity in the deep ocean. At its base, the seamount is about 55 km long by 24 kilometers wide. It rises to only 25 meters below the surface, in an area where the normal bottom depth is over 3,000 meters. “Out of sight will no longer mean out of mind,” said Council of the Haida Nation president Guujaaw, “Sgaan Kinghlas represents a shift in recognizing the need for respect and care for the Earth. This is a very important guidestone in turning around the trends that have been leading to the depletion of life in the sea.” The agreement allows the federal government to proceed with formally designating the seamount a marine protected area under the Oceans Act. - Queen Charlotte Observer News: Canadian Falls Short of Salmon Treaty Obligations OTTOWA -- Canada is failing to meet its obligations under an international treaty to protect and restore threatened wild Atlantic salmon stocks, say conservation groups.The federal government agreed in 2005, along with 17 other nations that make up the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization (NASCO), to develop plans to restore wild salmon populations in its East Coast rivers. The species is in serious decline. The number of mature, spawning salmon in North America's Atlantic waterways has fallen from roughly 917,000 in 1975 to 113,000 this year -- a loss of 89% -- according to scientific estimates for NASCO. The decline is attributed to a range of problems including overfishing, pollution and habitat loss due to the building of dams and other development. Government officials from Canada and NASCO's 17 other member nations begin a week of closed door meetings in Maine today to assess what progress, if any, has been made in restoring wild salmon stocks. Conservation groups, which have seats at the NASCO table, will be questioning those countries that have failed to develop a rigorous protection program according to 13 established criteria -- such as scientific research, salmon habitat restoration, and regulation of the aquaculture industry. According to NASCO's own review, only the United States and England have developed conservation plans that meet all 13 criteria set out in 2005. Canada has only met seven of the 13 conditions. Russia, Greenland, Finland and Scotland have also failed to develop full conservation plans. Guy Beaupre, a senior official with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans who will lead Canada's delegation at the NASCO talks this week, says Canada is still writing its plans under the NASCO treaty. He also dismisses the importance of meeting every one of the 13 criteria. Beaupre says the federal government contributes $2 million a year towards Atlantic salmon scientific research, and has recently set aside a $30-million endowment to fund habitat restoration projects. But Sue Scott, spokeswoman for the Atlantic Salmon Federation, a New Brunswick-based conservation group, says Canada's performance is lackluster. "We have a strong heritage in wild Atlantic salmon, yet the federal government is actually cutting back resources and is often more involved in developing the salmon aquaculture industry than in protecting wild salmon." Among nearly 3,000 Canadians surveyed in 2006, more than 55% ranked Atlantic salmon as the highest or second-highest priority for conservation spending, ahead of sockeye salmon, Atlantic cod, the leatherback turtle and even the blue whale. In Canada last year, only Atlantic salmon populations on the island of Newfoundland had enough mature fish returning from the sea to meet minimum reproductive conservation requirements. – Calgary Herald News: Disease Outbreak Bad News for Crawfish LAFAYETTE — A disease that can kill off crawfish has been confirmed in commercial ponds across southwest Louisiana and in the Atchafalaya Basin, state officials said Monday.White spot disease, which is not harmful to humans, was first detected last month at a crawfish farm near Arnaudville. Further testing has confirmed the disease in 20 ponds in six parishes and in at least two samples of wild crawfish from the Basin, according to information from LSU Agricultural Center and the state Department of Agriculture and Forestry. State Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Bob Odom said the 20 positive results for commercial ponds were out of 29 tested, raising fears the disease is widespread. Test results are pending on more than 70 other samples taken since the disease was first discovered here. Mark Shirley, southwest regional aquaculture specialist for the LSU Agricultural Center, said samples of crawfish were collected last week from ponds within a mile radius of the first positive tests. Random sampling from ponds in all crawfish-producing parishes is expected this week, Shirley said. Crawfish season is drawing to a close and most farmers are draining their ponds. Farmers who are restocking with “seed” crawfish in preparation for next year have been cautioned to carefully screen for white spot disease. The disease is named for the spotty calcium deposits on the shells of infected shrimp, but crawfish with the disease don’t always exhibit the spots. Shirley said infected crawfish show signs of weakness and lethargy and may die. White spot disease has never before been detected in Louisiana crawfish. The disease is believed to pose less of a threat to wild mudbugs in the Basin than to crawfish raised in the confines of a pond. Still unknown by researchers is how the disease spread to crawfish and whether its effect on next year’s crop will be as severe as in shrimp farms in Asia, which were decimated when the disease emerged there in the early 1990s. - Arcadian Advocate, Louisiana <<<•>>> Friday, June 8, 2007 News: Dutch Harbor Fuelers Face Union Vote UNALASKA -- Three months after the Teamsters unsuccessfully tried to unionize them, employees at two local fuel providers will vote on whether they want to organize under a different union.Later this month, elections will be held at North Pacific Fuel and Delta Western Fuels, in which employees will decide whether they want to join the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. Six Delta Western employees in Dutch Harbor are eligible for membership. The Teamsters attempted to organize the same companies in late February and early March. Some pro-union employees at North Pacific picketed that business following disagreements over contract negotiations with the company, and the protest later spread to Delta Western. But the Teamsters' efforts ultimately fizzled, at which point the ILWU's Jan Gilbrecht said the longshoremen's union decided to step in. "It was our advice to them that they go with the Teamsters, since they would then have more solidarity as fuelers," she said. "And now the Teamsters have pulled out, [so] both fuel units are now looking for the ILWU to represent them." Fourteen people work for Delta Western in Dutch Harbor, and in March eight of them were eligible for union membership. This time around, there are two fewer eligible employees, and what exactly happened to one of them has sparked a confrontation between the ILWU and the company in the run-up to the union election. Sol Hazen, a truck driver, was fired by Delta Western in April. Gilbrecht said Hazen was told he was being fired for calling in sick with a hangover. But Hazen was also a Teamsters and ILWU organizer, and Gilbrecht doesn't buy Delta Western's explanation for his termination, which happened days after he and other pro-union employees petitioned for this month's election. "It's our belief that they really fired Sol to silence a union supporter and try to scare the other workers away from voting for the union," she said. Hazen's position has since been filled by a contract employee, who isn't eligible for union representation, and the ILWU has filed a petition over the incident with the National Labor Relations Board. Brian Bogen, CEO of North Star Utilities Group, of which Delta Western's is a part, was in the Dutch Harbor office today, and ILWU members staged a demonstration outside during his visit. Bogen described Hazen's firing as a confidential personnel matter, but defended the company's actions. "We believe that we took a very appropriate course of action to deal with an issue we had inside of the organization," he said. "And if it is deemed that we did something inappropriate, we'll fix it. We don't believe it will be, but if it is we'll take care of it." Union elections will be held at both Delta Western and North Pacific on June 22. – KIAL Legislative Watch: House Agrees: No Fishing Subsidies WASHINGTON -- The House of Representatives joined the Senate this week in calling on world leaders to slash fishing subsidies, which critics blame for depletion of marine stocks, some to near extinction.The nonbinding resolution calls for continued U.S. efforts to stop countries from expanding fishing fleets through state subsidies, guard against overfishing and prevent "illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing." The House on Tuesday passed the resolution, introduced by Guam Democrat Madeleine Bordallo, chair of the House Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans. The Senate passed a similar resolution last month. The Bush administration has been advancing a plan at the World Trade Organization to prohibit subsidies that allow fleets to travel farther to harvest more fish. Some analysts estimate that about $20 billion a year is spent on subsidies for things like fuel and equipment for fishing fleets. The U.S. plan leaves room for some subsidies, like those that aim to scale back some fishing. That proposal's fate is tied to the Doha round, the world trade talks that have been moving at a glacial pace since 2001. Negotiators are angling to reach a deal by the end of the year, but big differences in agriculture threaten to derail the round. – Reuters
VANCOUVER -- British Columbia salmon farmers have been meeting with the public in a bid to promote the industry and the products it produces.
News Brief: B.C. Salmon Farmers Charm Public The BC Salmon Farmers Association said its members enjoyed another successful booth at the recent Eat Vancouver, British Columbia’s “everything food and cooking festival." The BC Salmon Farmers expanded their offerings at the show, providing information, one on one chats with salmon farmers as well as a tasting station and product for sale. This year, featured products included pan seared Atlantic salmon portions, smoked salmon from Hardy Buoys and salmon sushi. According to the trade association, at several points during the show, lineups were six people deep, making it one of the busiest booths at the event. - Fish Farmer News: Researcher Dedicated to Alaska's Sharks HOMER -- Don't ask Ken Goldman for good shark stories—not the blood-drenched, flesh-tearing kind, anyway. A research biologist at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Homer, Goldman has dedicated the last 18 years of his life to investigating these animals and overturning the kind of easy sensationalism sharks inspire.Intrigued by how much wasn't known about sharks, Goldman began studying them and by his freshman year of college at San Francisco State University, he was a member of the American Elasmobranch Society, an organization of researchers around the world dedicated to the study of sharks, skates and rays. Now he's one of the society's directors. Three common species of shark prowl Alaska waters: salmon shark, spiny dogfish and Pacific sleeper sharks. Goldman's work focuses mostly on salmon sharks, the mid-sized of this group and cousins to great whites of Jaws fame. Salmon sharks, which live only in the North Pacific, typically measure 6-8 feet long and weigh 300 pounds at adulthood. They have a muscular streamlined body, a cone-shaped snout that defies cuteness and rows of intimidating teeth. Clocked at 50 knots by the U.S. Navy, they are one of the sea's fastest swimmers and prey on salmon and other fish. Over the past seven years, Fish and Game has documented significantly higher rates of incidental shark catches in Cook Inlet by sport fishers. These statistics have fueled theories among scientists and the public about the shark population exploding in Alaska's Cook Inlet and Prince William Sound, a notion Goldman wants to dispel. Goldman is fascinated by how salmon sharks, like humans and unlike nearly all other fish, maintain a body temperature far warmer than the waters through which they swim. His research has quantified this unusual trait, finding salmon sharks able to maintain an internal temperature up to 70 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the surrounding water. Goldman believes the shark's internal temperature trait may have helped salmon sharks expand into northern waters on an evolutionary time scale. It's a mystery how, on a cellular level, these fish are able to stay warm in frigid waters when they don't have the complex circulatory systems that benefit whales and other marine mammals. Or why researchers are finding almost no male salmon sharks in Alaska waters, while scientists off the coast of Japan see almost no females. But Goldman says what we do know about salmon sharks makes it clear that these animals are not likely to experience a dramatic population increase: they grow slowly, taking about half a dozen years until they're ready to mate, and likely have only a few pups every two years. Probably, he says, these sharks are just grouping up in places where they didn't before, such as late summer in narrow bays in Prince William Sound where they've been observed to throng by the hundreds. Even Goldman doesn't debate that sharks can be a nuisance and dense schools of them can exacerbate the problem. Salmon sharks are notorious for ruining nets and snapping line. Seiners sometimes pull up a net with a huge salmon shark thrashing about in the middle of the payload. But the state has no plans to relax regulations that limit shark harvests. Currently, the bag limit for sharks is one per day and two per year. Commercial fishing for sharks is illegal in Alaska waters, with the exception of a special permit for spiny dogfish in Cook Inlet but only one fisherman has every applied. Goldman remains stalwart in his efforts to protect sharks from hyperbole and myth. And to rely on data to accurately assess the populations of these animals so they can be managed effectively. With research showing ocean temperatures on the rise, no one knows how salmon sharks will respond. "I want to be a voice for something that doesn't have one," Goldman says. – Homer Tribune News: Alaska Oil Magnate Promises Ethics ANCHORAGE — The new chief executive of VECO Corp. says high ethical standards are his first concern.Dan Armel on Wednesday distanced himself from Bill Allen, the man who built the Anchorage-based company into an international firm and has pleaded guilty to federal charges of bribing Alaska legislators. "Bill Allen, an admitted felon, no longer has anything to do with the ongoing operations of VECO," Armel said. Allen's family still owns a majority of the Anchorage oil field services and construction company. Three of Allen's children are on the board and his daughter is chairwoman, he said. Armel's hiring was announced this week. Allen and company vice president Rick Smith pleaded guilty May 7 to bribery, extortion and conspiracy. Both have resigned from the company and are cooperating with investigators. The case is linked to the indictment of three current or former state lawmakers. VECO signed Armel for three months as chief executive. He may stay longer, he said. Armel is a former banker. According to his resume, he frequently helps businesses through refinancings or sales. Colorado-based CH2M Hill is negotiating to buy VECO. Armel said he has no idea how likely the sale is but both sides are eager to close a sale. He described himself as someone who knows right from wrong. He said he likes helping corporations through troubled times. "It's a very well run company at the operating level," he said of VECO. In his plea agreement, Allen says he gave bonuses to VECO executives with the understanding those executives would contribute to political campaigns. Armel said he talked with those executives. "They don't think that they did what Bill says they did, and the Department of Justice doesn't have any evidence to support what Bill says," Armel said. – Associated Press |