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Monday, June 18, 2007 Bristol Bay Fishermen Stage Pebble Protests
BRISTOL BAY - Bristol Bay commercial fishermen concerned about a proposed massive copper, gold, silver and molybdenum mine in Southwest Alaska planned a rally in Naknek June 16 to protest the project.
Peter Pan Seafoods donated fresh king salmon from Dillingham for the event. Speakers were to include John Lowrance of Leader Creek Fisheries and David Harsila of the Alaska Independent Fishermen's Marketing Association. An earlier rally June 10 in Dillingham attracted more than 600 fishermen and their families. Organizers said they expected several hundred fishermen to turn out in support of wild Alaska salmon and against plans for large-scale mining activities. The fishermen are concerned that the proposed Pebble mine could devastate fishing families, subsistence communities and local businesses that depend on salmon, clean water and the region's abundant renewable resources. Many of the fishermen hail from families who have fished for generations in Bristol Bay, the world's most renowned wild salmon fishery. Last year a spontaneous rally in Naknek, with three days notice, attracted more than 100 commercial fishermen who were there for the start of the sockeye salmon fishery. The object of their concern is the proposed Pebble project, which Bristol Bay fishermen, environmentalists and others say could pollute the rivers that feed into Bristol Bay. Sean McGee, a spokesman for Northern Dynasty Mines, said the project will have to satisfy any and all relevant environmental standards and regulations that are in place at the time the company applies for permits. McGee said the time frame for applying for permits is still late 2008 and early 2009, and could be still later than that. Izetta Chambers, a Naknek resident whose family runs a fish processing plant, is one of the organizers for the Naknek event. Chambers said she felt the Pebble project “is just too great of a risk to even consider in our spawning habitat.” Chambers said her family relies heavily on the fisheries resources and that Bristol Bay wild salmon is starting to make huge strides in the marketplace. Mining, by comparison, “has a horrible legacy of toxic pollution. We're hoping to stop it before it starts,” she said. - Alaska Journal of Commerce News: Alaska Strip Mine Opposed to Protect Salmon Habitat CHUITNA - Alaska environmental groups and landowners who live and fish near the Chuitna coal project 45 miles west of Anchorage want state regulators to deem the vast coal deposits unsuitable to mining.The Chuitna Citizens NO-COALition, Alaskans for Responsible Mining and others filed a petition last week asking the state Department of Natural Resources to designate all land in the Chuitna River watershed unsuitable for coal strip mining. The petition is allowed under the Alaska Surface Coal Mining Control and Reclamation Act, which says DNR can deem the land unsuitable for mining if the land cannot be adequately reclaimed. Over the next 25 years, Delaware-based PacRim Coal hopes to remove 300 million metric tons of coal from leases it holds on more than 20,000 acres of state land. The company hasn't applied yet to develop the mine but hopes to do so this month, said Bruce Buzby, a DNR official who oversees coal mining. His office has talked with PacRim, however, and "There's been some discussion of reclamation," he said. Petitions to deem state land unsuitable for coal strip mining have succeeded in other states, said Becca Bernard, an attorney with Trustees for Alaska, which filed the inch-thick petition. The state has 30 days to figure out if the petition is complete, Buzby said, and once it is deemed complete, the state has three to seven months to schedule a hearing. The state must rule on the petition 60 days after the hearing. Bernard said her clients believe the Chuitna watershed is unsuitable for mining because it is packed with wetlands important to salmon. "You can't recover this area once you hammer on it for coal mining," she said. - Anchorage Daily News
ONTARIO - A landmark court decision ordering a commercial fisherman to install a GPS vessel-monitoring system on his boat could be the way of the future for all Great Lakes fleets, says a local conservation officer.
News: Judge Orders Commercial Fisherman to Get GPS Commercial fishermen, whose numbers have been dropping in recent years, can only fish in certain sectors of Georgian Bay, usually far away from where recreational anglers cast their lines. A Northern Ontario man who has fished Georgian Bay for more than 35 years was recently fined $4,000 for failing to accurately report his commercial catch five years ago. He docks at Thunder Beach in northern Tiny Township. In addition to financial penalties, the judge ordered the man to install and maintain GPS units on his boats for three years. He must also notify inspectors two hours before arriving at the dock so his catch can be checked. All seagoing fishing vessels on the east and west coast are mandated to have GPS units onboard. "You could see inland waters going that way, too," conservation officer Bruce Ward said recently from the Upper Great Lakes Management Unit office in Midland. In the local case, the GPS units are a benefit to both the fishermen and the MNR, Ward said. "If you're not doing anything wrong, then you have nothing to fear," he said. It's only the second time a court has imposed a tamperproof GPS unit for a commercial fishing vessel. Ward can now track the boat's whereabouts from his office in real time. "If you're an honest person, you're an honest person, and it doesn't matter how big your business is," Ward said. "But the bigger your business, the more of a threat you are (to the local fishery)." The convicted fisherman, a 52-year-old man from Nobel, northwest of Parry Sound, pleaded guilty to three counts of violating the conditions of his license, and was forced to forfeit his catch. The Court heard that on July 1, 2002, the man was seen near Hope Island lifting fishing nets, but failed to report the catch. On Oct. 30, 2002, the man reported harvesting only 30 pounds of walleye fillets, but a dockside inspection revealed that he had more than five times that amount. The man also admitted that on July 3, 2003, he reported he landed only 25 pounds of lake trout fillets, but had actually caught more than four times that amount. The MNR says accurate reporting of commercial fishing is crucial because this information is used to set quotas, track harvests, monitor populations and calculate royalties paid to the province. - The Barrie Examiner News: Fishermen Leery of New Survey SOLDOTNA -- The Alaska Department of Fish and Game and its economic consultants this year take on the task of surveying sport anglers and translating their answers into an estimate of dollars and jobs, a politically touchy set of numbers.A statewide survey as comprehensive as what's envisioned hasn't been attempted in Alaska since one that used 1993 data, and the mere mention of it reopens tensions over how it might be used in policies that split fish between commercial fishermen and sportsmen. "Always in the past it seems like (economic surveys) have come back and taken a bite out of commercial fisheries," said Steve Tvenstrup, board president with the commercial fishing group United Cook Inlet Drift Association. The question is especially sticky along the western shores of the Kenai Peninsula, where river anglers complain of commercial nets stopping salmon from getting upstream. Commercial fishermen counter that too many fish are allowed upstream. Kenai River Sportfishing Association executive director Ricky Gease said it's important for policymakers in the state and at the Kenai Peninsula Borough to have recent numbers. When the numbers get stale or are overshadowed by recent studies of other industries, anglers' contributions are downplayed, he said. Biologist Bill Romberg of the department's Sport Fish Division led a lightly attended open house here on Wednesday evening, and opened by saying the division's goal is not to justify changes in fish allocation. The Legislature requested the $400,000 study to check how well fisheries management is boosting the economy, he said. The last comprehensive study was conducted by the University of Alaska Anchorage's Institute of Social and Economic Research. The institute surveyed 1,355 Alaskans and 4,278 nonresidents, and estimated sport anglers spent $540 million in the state in 1993, directly creating 6,635 jobs. ISER also looked into the possibility of allowing more sockeye salmon up the Kenai River, and determined that the loss to commercial fisheries wouldn't be worth the sport industry's gain. Sporting interests disputed that finding. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service more frequently updates economic estimates, though it relies on smaller samples. The 2001 version estimated anglers over 16 spent $537 million in Alaska. Economic consultant Southwick Associates will conduct this year's survey of 7,500 anglers by mail in seasonal waves, economist Ron Southwick said. The survey will attempt to count only dollars spent in Alaska that would not have been spent here if not for the fishing, he said. For instance, the entire cost of an Alaska cruise vacation will not be included just because a cruise passenger also takes a day trip with a fishing guide. Part of the cost of an Alaskan's vehicle may be counted, though, if it was purchased in part to tow a boat or otherwise aid in fishing. "There's no survey that's perfect, but we're getting as close as we can," Southwick said. A final report on 2007 fishing is due in December 2008. It will break down the state into three regions and further detail expenditures in subregions covering the Cook Inlet watershed and Southeast Alaska's marine fisheries. – Anchorage Daily News News: Feds Move to Keep Gill Nets in Check Reversing course, federal regulators have decided not to let California's drift gill-net fleet back into West Coast waters frequented by endangered leatherback sea turtles.Based on new scientific reports, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service, the federal agency that overseas commercial fisheries, has denied a special permit to allow boats that deploy long nets floating beneath the surface to catch swordfish and thresher shark in a reserve set up in 2000 off Oregon and California for leatherbacks. Mark Helvey, NOAA Fisheries Service assistant southwest regional administrator for sustainable fisheries, said new reports indicate the area is a critical feeding ground for leatherbacks and there was no evidence that suspending the nets 36 feet below the surface to protect whales and seal lions also protects sea turtles. The decision is not likely to affect supplies of swordfish and thresher shark in the U.S., Helvey said. Most of the fish comes from overseas, and restrictions on the U.S. fishery remain the way they have been since 2000. The reserve bars gill nets from Point Conception in Southern California to Cape Falcon in northern Oregon from Aug. 15 through Nov. 15, when a group of leatherbacks born on a single beach in Indonesia are foraging for jellyfish in the area. It was created after NOAA Fisheries looked at the drift gill-net fishery and decided it jeopardized the survival of endangered leatherbacks. The decision was a victory for conservation groups that had been fighting the permit authorized by the Pacific Fishery Management Council, which sets West Coast ocean fishing seasons. "It's huge," said Ben Enticknap of Oceana. "Drift gill nets are banned on the high seas, but we continue to allow them in coastal waters off California and Oregon. Maintaining the leatherback conservation area is the least (NOAA Fisheries) can do." It was a blow for the gill-net fleet of about 50 boats based in Southern California, which has been working to regain access to the bulk of their traditional fishing grounds at the time of year when fishing for swordfish and shark is most productive, said Chuck Janisse, director of the Federation of Independent Seafood Harvesters. – The Oregonian <<<•>>> Tuesday, June 19, 2007 News: Fisheries Commission Says Trident Pollock Held in Morocco May Be Released UNALASKA - While the fate of a pirate tramper arrested in Morocco last month remains undecided, an international fisheries organization decided Thursday that the $9 million worth of Alaska pollock it was carrying may be released.The North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission, which regulates fisheries issues on behalf of Western European governments, held special meetings last week to discuss the case of the Polestar, a Seatrade-owned tramper that was blacklisted by the commission for involvement in illegal fishing last fall. The Polestar was caught in the Moroccan port of Agadir on May 24 carrying a legitimate shipment of pollock originating with Trident Seafoods in Dutch Harbor. The fate of that pollock has been a matter of concern for several weeks now. Officials from the U.S. State Department and National Marine Fisheries Service tried to broker an agreement by which it could be loaded onto another vessel and taken to Germany, which was its intended destination. In a statement yesterday, fisheries commission president Stefán Ásmundsson said that releasing the cargo "would not be in contradiction" with the commission's policies, as long as it was transferred to a legal vessel. Presumably this decision will allow local authorities to clear Trident's cargo for release. – KIAL Legislative Watch: Congressional Hearing on Bay-Delta Crisis Set for July 2 WASHINGTON -- A congressional panel will travel to California next month to investigate the causes of the Bay-Delta ecosystem collapse, Congressman George Miller (D-Martinez) announced Monday. Miller and several of his Bay Area colleagues requested the hearing.The hearing will focus on the disappearing native fish populations of the Bay-Delta and the responsibility of federal agencies to prevent species extinction and properly manage California's water for homes, businesses, and farms. The House Resources Subcommittee on Water and Power hearing on "Extinction is not a Sustainable Water Policy: The Bay-Delta crisis and the implications for California water management" will be held in Vallejo on July 2 at 9 a.m., led by Chairwoman Grace Napolitano (D-Norwalk). "We have an emergency on our hands," said Miller, a long-time champion of Bay-Delta fish and wildlife issues and Congress' leading expert on California water issues. "California's economy and its environment need a water policy that is not predicated on sacrificing the Delta. Right now state and federal agencies are lurching from crisis to crisis and failing to adapt to old problems and new challenges alike. This hearing will be an important step in establishing a more sustainable course before the whole system is taken over by the courts, to the detriment of both our economy and our environment." California's two main fresh water systems, one operated by state Department of Water Resources and the other the federal Bureau of Reclamation, supply water to homes, farms, and commercial and industrial entities throughout California. They were both temporarily shut down recently in response to the Delta fisheries' collapse and court rulings that federal and state agencies have violated endangered species law. The recent court actions, coupled with new scientific reports, have drawn increased attention to the decline of the native fish populations of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, especially the threatened delta smelt, which scientists say is in increasing peril. The pumps have since restarted at lower levels than usual and with no certainty as to how long they will remain on. On June 8, Miller led a congressional request for the hearing. Miller was joined by five other Bay-Delta area Members of Congress - Reps. Tauscher, Honda, Thompson, Woolsey, and Lantos - asking that the subcommittee examine the science of the failing estuary and determine how the federal and state agencies are responding to the crisis.
- San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center
JUNEAU - The United Fishermen of Alaska, the largest and most well known fisheries advocacy organization in Alaska, announced Joe Childers as new president and Deborah Lyons as vice president for the statewide commercial fishing trade association.
News: Joe Childers New President of United Fishermen of Alaska Joe Childers was elected by UFA's board of Directors at its January meeting to take over as UFA President effective June 15th, replacing outgoing President Bob Thorstenson Jr. Childers has participated in salmon, crab, herring, halibut, blackcod, groundfish, and shrimp fisheries and currently trolls for salmon from Juneau and Sitka. He represents UFA member group Western Gulf of Alaska Fishermen, and served as UFA Vice President since 2004. Childers also serves as vice chair of the Advisory Panel of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council. "UFA is the umbrella organization which includes 36 member fishing associations and four at-large representatives. Collectively, UFA represents virtually every section of the Alaska fishing industry. It is the best forum I know of for the fishing industry to work together and meet the challenges facing us. I am proud to serve as President of UFA and look forward to the work ahead of us," said Childers. Bob Thorstenson Jr., a Southeast Alaska salmon seiner, is stepping down after serving as UFA President for seven years as the statewide commercial fisheries umbrella group nearly doubled in size to an all time high of 36 member organizations. UFA milestones during Thorstenson's tenure as president included the Petersburg Fall 2001 salmon summit, 2002-2004 Joint Legislative Salmon Industry Task Force, the passage of over 50 legislative measures, inclusion of salmon fishermen in USDA Trade Adjustment Assistance, and the inclusion of Wild & Farmed differentiation in USDA Country of Origin seafood labeling. The UFA board elected Deborah Lyons to replace Childers as Vice President. Lyons represents UFA member group Northern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association, and served on the Alaska Board of Fisheries from 1991 - 1994, and the Pacific Salmon Treaty from 1995 - 2000. "UFA is recognized as the voice of the Alaska fishing industry and has done a lot to help our fishing families. I look forward to giving back to help the organization," said Lyons. Bristol Bay salmon driftnetter Lindsey Bloom and Southeast Alaska salmon seiner Bruce Wallace were elected as at large members for their first terms. Bruce Schactler and Chip Treinen were reelected to at-large seats. At large representatives are elected by UFA's individual fishermen members and serve for two year terms. – United Fishermen of Alaska News: Pirate Ship in Chains The notorious Russian pirate fish cargo ship, the Mumrinskiy, has been chained to the docks in the Dutch port of Eemshaven by activists to stop it from engaging in illegal activities with pirate fisheries and facilitating the plunder of the dwindling Barents Sea fish stocks.The chaining of the Mumrinskiy's propeller to the dock by Greenpeace activists occurred after the failure of authorities to blacklist the ship and punish it for ongoing illegal activities. On June 12th the Mumrinskiy was documented by the Norwegian Coastguard transhipping illegally to the reefer Sinbad, another vessel with a scandalous track record of involvement in the Barents illegal cod fishery. The Sindbad was operating without a flag and under the unregistered name Marlin. The Sindbad/Marlin was immediately blacklisted but the Murminskiy escaped unpunished. "The Mumrinskiy continues to break laws that have been put in place to manage the world's last remaining relatively healthy cod stock. It is obvious that it will continue to engage in illegal activities if allowed to return to sea," said Farah Obaidullah, Greenpeace Netherlands oceans campaigner. "In a time of rampant over fishing governments can not continue to turn a blind eye to documented pirates like the Mumrinskiy. This ship must be scrapped, and her owners charged with stealing fish from the Barents Sea." Greenpeace will hand over the keys of the lock chaining the Mumrinskiy to the dockside to the Dutch Minister of Fisheries later today, and is calling on the Dutch government and the international community to demand the immediate scrapping of the Mumrinskiy. The Mumrinskiy has a long history of involvement in illegal operations, including transhipment of Barents cod from illegal boats, ignoring commands from Norwegian authorities and misreporting its cargo to hide illegally caught fish. The Mumrinskiy arrived from the Barents Sea lasat week to offload its cargo at Sealane Cold Storage BV, a Dutch freezing company. According to the United Nations 74 percent of the worlds commercial fish stocks are either fully exploited or depleted. Pirate fishing, also known as illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) is a $9 billion rogue industry that has a devastating effect on fish stocks and biodiversity in some of the most ecologically important areas of the world's oceans such as the Barents Sea. - Greenpeace News in Depth: Swiss Firm Sees Gold in the Sands of Cook Inlet SOLDOTNA - An international prospecting company is reviving the chase for gold in Cook Inlet sands a century after the first attempts didn't pan out and two decades after most everyone gave up looking.Hemis Corp., a two-year-old company with offices in Switzerland and Nevada, has paid an exploration company for the right to pick up where it left off in 1986 with state prospecting applications that are still pending for an offshore zone north and west of Anchor Point. There are flakes enough along the Kenai Peninsula's sandy southwest clam beaches to keep recreational panners curious, but Hemis aims to drill into coastal sediments this summer and prove there's also a lucrative concentration there. "The area looks very promising," Hemis president Norman Meier said from his home in Zurich, Switzerland. Aspen Exploration, the company that applied for prospecting rights in the 1980s, found gold on the beach and did aerial magnetic monitoring that indicated metals underwater, he said. "They found large proof for magnetite on the ground, and usually gold occurs with magnetite. The (beach) samples are high-grade." Others have heard that before, though, and say they're not ready to get worked up over a would-be dredging rush in the migratory path of the Peninsula's golden egg, the salmon. Agents for Hemis met with community groups this spring, but many commercial fishermen have been busy readying their boats for the season. "I don't think the commercial fishing fleet has really understood the implications of what they're proposing," said Gary Fandrei, executive director of the Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association, who met with Hemis representatives last month. "They haven't really digested what the proposal is." The nonprofit fishery association's board likely will discuss the project at its September meeting -- after this summer's exploration but long before state and federal regulators could approve actual mining operations. Gillnetter Steve Tvenstrup of Kenai said Thursday that he had not heard of the proposal. Anchor Point, just northwest of Homer, is south of where gillnetters work the Inlet, he said. Still, he would want to know whether the dredging might disrupt salmon movements. "I would have concerns about it," he said. Then again, "If there's a lot of gold out there, I might be out there with my boat." How much gold? Whether there's a lot of gold is an old question, but one that state geologists think they can answer. "I think it's far-fetched, myself," said Kerwin Krause, a geologist with the Department of Natural Resources. "A lot of geologists think it's far-fetched." The reason is that placer gold, the kind found laced in sand and gravel, usually is associated with erosion from a solid source such as has not been found along Kenai streams. "The Kenai Peninsula -- certainly there's been a little bit of gold development, and on the west side there's some gold (still)," Krause said. "But you don't see major gold districts." Seeking gold along that shore was a fool's errand in the late 19th century, when Homer's namesake, Homer Pennock, bragged to a Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporter that the strike would shame the world-famous Comstock Lode. Prospectors came to Anchor Point and dug sluice ditches to wash the sands and concentrate the gold, said Janet Klein, author of The Homer Spit: Coal, Gold and Con Men. "They did find some gold flakes," Klein said Friday. And even today when one pans the area, "occasionally some color does show." But they didn't find enough density to make mining pay off. Told the state's opinion that there's likely no economically worthwhile deposit off Anchor Point, Klein said, "I would probably agree -- 'worthwhile' being the operative word." R.V. Bailey begs to differ. He's the Colorado-based Aspen Exploration chairman whose company long ago turned its attention to oil and gas. It never let go of the Anchor Point prospecting application it filed with the state in the 1980s, even though a dip in gold's price then led him to back away from pushing for the mineral rights at the time. "You can still pan gold there," Bailey said. "Anyone can go there and pan gold. If we didn't believe it and Hemis didn't believe it, they wouldn't be exploring out there." Dredging the Muck The state never processed Aspen's application, technically leaving it in limbo all these years while other applications that once lined Cook Inlet were either dropped or ruled against the state's interests, not worthy of a mineral rights transfer. Sampling of sediments, which Hemis plans to do in 50 drill cores this summer, is allowed in state waters without formal permits, according to the Department of Natural Resources. The company is getting tacit approval from several state and federal agencies, including a letter from the National Marine Fisheries Service, after prospectors agreed to bring a whale watcher aboard and avoid disturbing belugas. The samples will come from a drill rig mounted on a landing craft-style boat that will be anchored to the seafloor with four lines to secure it against the Inlet's tidal currents, according to a work plan provided by an environmental consultant for Hemis. Hemis announced last month that it paid Aspen $50,000 to take up its application for mineral rights in an 8-mile-long swath of oceanfront covering about 100,000 acres. Hemis will stake Aspen a 5 percent share of any eventual revenue. Krause, the state mining geologist, said Hemis does not have any development rights simply because it bought into Aspen's pending application. After exploration, the state still would have to determine if mining makes sense economically and environmentally, and that decision typically takes two to three years and considers public comments. Mining the sands would not create the sort of environmental hazards that come with lode mining, such as metal tailings and chemical washing, Bailey said. Miners would simply dredge up the sediment, separate the gold by gravity and put back the sand or mud. "Storms devastate beaches, yet the clams come back," Bailey said. "This is no different." Awaiting Proof Meier said his company would avoid mining during the heaviest salmon migration toward spawning streams. Anchor Point, a roadside village that feeds on fishing, tourism and charter boats, is waiting to see what comes from all of this, Chamber of Commerce executive Joanne Collins said. She has met with the company and said she was pleased that it will delay drilling until fishing slows in mid-August. State regulators also are waiting, with some skepticism about the claim and some worries about the fisheries, said Rick Fredericksen, acting director of DNR's Mining Resources Section. "We know there are competing interests: commercial fishing, recreational fishing and clamming," Fredericksen said. His personal opinion is that the gold won't be dense enough to tear open those political divides, but the only way to know is to dig in the muck. "Geologists have all kinds of theories," he said. "The only way to prove them or disprove them is with a drill rig." – Anchorage Daily News <<<•>>> Wednesday, June 20, 2007 News: Blacklisted Seed Leaf in Dutch Harbor to Pick Up Cargo DUTCH HARBOR, Alaska - The vessel Seed Leaf arrived over the weekend, according to Dutch Harbor port officials, and is now anchored in Captains Bay off Unalaska Island.The Panama-flagged tramper was blacklisted by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources after it was caught shipping undocumented fish in February of 2006. It apparently is owned by Sandnes Dampskibs, a Norwegian shipping company. The National Marine Fisheries Service posted a notice on its Web site on Saturday warning that the Seed Leaf was approaching Dutch Harbor. Agency spokeswoman Monica Allen says that NMFS doesn't plan to contact directly any companies that may be doing business with the Seed Leaf. NMFS's authority over blacklisted ships in American waters is still unclear. The agency is in the process of writing the rules outlining what it can do in these cases, and began taking public comment on them earlier this month. Representatives of Alaska Vessel Agents, the company that handles booking for the Seed Leaf in Dutch Harbor, wouldn't say which seafood company was working with the ship. – KIAL News: Cook Inlet Pollution Permit Sparks Lawsuit COOK INLET, Alaska - A Cook Inlet environmental group and regional fishing interests are suing to block federal renewal of an oil and gas pollution permit that they say will escalate pollutants discharged from the inlet’s drill rigs.The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved a new general discharge permit for up to 19 oil and gas platforms, effective July 2. The permit continues to exempt Inlet drillers with existing platforms - including Chevron, Conoco Phillips and XTO - from zero-discharge rules for oil and toxic metals that are in effect in other coastal drill zones. Environmental group Cook Inletkeeper filed suit in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals along with commercial fishing groups and two Alaska Native villages, said Justin Massey, the attorney handling the case for the nonprofit law firm Trustees for Alaska. The groups allege that renewing the exemption while oil companies pump more wastewater to recover less oil will dramatically increase pollution. “There’s never an excuse for allowing oil and gas producers to discharge into water,” Massey said. “We think that’s especially true with the increasing profits of oil and gas companies.” He said he won’t seek an injunction but expects to begin court proceedings this fall. As the Cook Inlet field ages and wells are slower to produce oil and gas, Massey said, they pump more contaminated water for a smaller volume of usable resources. Cook Inletkeeper’s analysis indicates that producers will discharge about three times as much pollution as with previous permits, up to 100,000 gallons of oil and grease and 835,000 pounds of toxic metals, including mercury. An EPA official in Anchorage said that she was unsure of those numbers, but that the agency does not base permits on total pollution volumes. Rather, EPA allows discharges containing a maximum concentration of pollutants, said Dianne Soderlund, communications coordinator for the agency’s Alaska oil and gas sector. The new permit remains within federal guidelines, she said. “Obviously, we issued a permit that we think fully complies with federal law,” she said. Debate over pollution Soderlund agreed that wastewater volumes are rising in the Inlet. An industry advocate said there is no scientific evidence that drilling pollution is harming Cook Inlet wildlife, including whales. “Tissue samples have shown the belugas of Cook Inlet are cleaner than belugas elsewhere,” said Jason Brune, executive director of the Anchorage-based Resource Development Council. “There’s no indication that what’s currently being done is harming the waters of Cook Inlet.” The Native villages of Port Graham and Nanwalek joined the lawsuit out of concern for the health effects of tainted subsistence fish and shellfish. “Litigation is a last resort, but this dumping is damaging our culture and our subsistence lifestyle and resources,” Port Graham Chief Patrick Norman said. “We commend EPA for the new monitoring requirements of the permit. But EPA’s own tests on our subsistence foods found the same types of pollutants discharged by the industry, and EPA continues to disregard tribal calls for a halt to toxic dumping.” EPA’s studies have not determined that the pollutants found in Inlet fish threaten human health, but Massey said the plaintiffs question the agency’s methodology. Other plaintiffs include the Cook Inlet Fishermen’s Fund and the United Cook Inlet Drift Association. Cook Inletkeeper lost a challenge to the last permit’s issuance in the 1990s, but executive director Bob Shavelson said that permit did not authorize increased pollution. “In the past, EPA wasn’t trying to increase almost threefold the amount of pollution,” he said. “We’ve always felt EPA had the authority to cut down on discharge, but now we think they’re wholly outside the law.” – Anchorage Daily News
REEDSPORT, Ore. - The waters calmed somewhat for fishermen and wave energy proponents when both sides met for a second time.
News: Questions Mark Wave Energy Meeting The wave energy industry, led in Oregon by primarily two companies, seeks to put energy-generating buoys in the ocean in locations that fishermen also favor - sandy bottoms, at depths of between about 25 and 40 fathoms. Last week, several fishermen voiced concern that, try as they might, they could find no positives in the proposition. Others - both sport and commercial - simply had questions, questions, questions. Ocean Power Technologies' representative, Steve Kopf, who wasn't at the May meeting with fishermen, patiently answered the questions, many of the same ones he's answered at other community meetings in the last two years. Currently, he said, OPT is applying to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a permit for 14 buoys that would take up about a 1/2-mile by 1/2-mile square of ocean in state waters near Gardiner. Eventually, OPT could place 200 buoys in the water, but that still is years away. There would be no buffer zone around the park, Kopf said. “You could fish right up next to it,” he said. At full build-out, with 200 buoys, the park could easily employ more than 25 people, Kopf said, in operations and maintenance of the buoys. The question of "why Oregon?" generated more in-depth comments and questions than had been made at earlier meetings. “The first thing you've got to look for is wave climate,” Kopf said. “The East Coast has miserably small waves,” comparing it to putting wind turbines where there is no wind. The Pacific Coast, from Point Conception in California north to Washington, has the most consistent wave period. “The wave period and height are pretty tight year-round,” Kopf said. “It helps our efficiency to extract power.” The business climate also is advantageous, he said, noting that Oregon is open to renewable technologies and economic development. Easy transmission access - the outflow pipe at the former International Paper mill - also made the case for placing a wave energy park offshore near Reedsport. Kopf said he looked at about a dozen sites on the West Coast and Reedsport came out on top. Oregon Solutions, the state group put together to “develop sustainable solutions to community-based problems that support economic, environmental and community objectives,” according to its Web site, has been working with stakeholders for several months. Mayor Keith Tymchuk is one of the co-conveners of the group and attended the meeting on Wednesday, along with Oregon Solutions project manager Therese Hampton. Hampton said her role Wednesday was to act as a facilitator and guide the discussion. She, along with Kopf, started with a simple overview of the process OPT has to follow to conform to FERC licensing guidelines. A key piece of that is the settlement process. After a declaration of cooperation is signed with Oregon Solutions members, OPT must prepare a preliminary application document with a description of the 14-buoy array. OPT already is in the process of doing that and it is expected in the next couple weeks. Once the preliminary application is filed, a full application is filed. A full application goes into further details of the buoy array structure, its effects on surrounding environments and other analyses. But the application procedure also includes a settlement negotiations process, through which OPT and fishermen openly discuss options and mitigation plans. Hampton emphasized the settlement process between the two groups is modeled after other, successful negotiations. By excluding the press, it affords both sides a safe environment to discuss things, she said. “It's not that the public won't know what's going on, but just not minute to minute,” Hampton said. That didn't sit well with Winchester Bay fisherman Jeff Mulkey, who spoke to the fact that the wave energy project is such a new and different industry, with potentially huge impacts. “Everybody in this town, this state, has a right to be here,” Mulkey said, turning to face the audience of about 20 fishermen and speaking loudly enough for everyone to hear. “I just want to go on record with that.” But amid the give-and-take, some options did rise to the surface, such as the possibility of getting increased funding for river channel and entrance dredging in exchange for displacing some fishermen from traditional fishing grounds or removing the buoys during the winter time, during crab season. Those points could be topics to discuss at future meetings which, both fishermen and wave proponents agreed, should be held in order to continue discussions. - The World Link (South Coast of Oregon) News: Reseeding of Olympia Oysters Underway in Puget Sound LIBERTY BAY, Kitsap County - With a barge and a fire hose, friends of the Olympia oyster are helping the tiny shellfish make a comeback.By sluicing more than 1,000 cubic yards of oyster shells into two acres of Liberty Bay, near Poulsbo, the volunteers and staff of the Nature Conservancy of Washington and the Puget Sound Restoration Fund are creating a fresh bed in the tidelands to encourage larvae of Puget Sound's only native oyster to set up housekeeping. This effort here this month is just one of many going on around Puget Sound. Once abundant, especially near its namesake of Olympia, the oyster was all but wiped out in the early 20th century by overharvesting and pollution. Today, Puget Sound is cleaner in many places than it used to be. But the Olympia oysters struggle against new foes. With development on the land, excess nitrogen -- largely from septic systems -- creates algae blooms that die and settle on the bottom, creating a choking layer of mud that entombs the oyster reefs. And it also creates a slick, smooth surface that deprives oyster larvae of the habitat they need. Young oysters, called spat, affix themselves to the craggy shells of their ancestors and begin the slow process of growing to maturity, which can take up to three years. The much larger Pacific oyster, introduced from Japan for commercial harvesting, dominates in Puget Sound now. Olympia oysters are still farmed commercially and survive in the wild in some protected coves and bays. But their small size -- not even as long as a pinky finger -- and their delicate pearlescent interior belie their powerful role in the ecosystem. "It's a small oyster, but it has a big impact," said Betsy Peabody of the Puget Sound Restoration Fund. Restoring ecosystem In fact, the Olympia oyster is seen as key to restoring the natural functions of the Puget Sound ecosystem. Oyster reefs provide tiny hidey-holes for crustaceans and microorganisms that are food for salmon, herring, candlefish and even gray whales. And as filter feeders, they can cycle up to 12 gallons of water a day, cleansing the Sound of sediment and excess nutrients. As the water becomes more clear, it also allows more light to penetrate to the bottom, helping pastures of eelgrass to thrive. The Puget Sound Restoration Fund chose Liberty Bay in part because Olympias have been found growing wild nearby. Now it's hoped that spat from those wild beds will seed the beds of oyster shells that are being laid for them. This summer, three other areas will be prepared in a similar manner: Dogfish Bay, just around the bend from Liberty Bay, along with Woodard Bay and Frye Cove near Olympia. Allowing wild Olympias to seed the areas themselves, instead of planting hatchery-raising spawn, will help preserve genetic integrity of native oyster populations, Peabody said. Splitting the bill It costs between $38 to $50 per cubic yard to spread the shells. The Nature Conservancy and other partners, including federal agencies and the Russell Foundation, a private nonprofit organization, are footing the bill. Rebuilding the Olympia oyster is important for people, too. "I've eaten Pacifics for probably 40 years; they are just kind of hamburger," said Brady Blake, a shellfish biologist. But Olympias? "I'll take them as No. 1, that's for sure," he said. "They are an uncommon treat." Though not at risk of extinction, most Olympias are currently protected from harvest on public tidelands because they are so small. Olympia oysters ...
– Seattle Times News Brief: Robber Foiled by Fish Slice ACOMB, York (U.K.) - A chip shop worker today revealed how he faced down an armed robber - with a fish slice dripping in hot fat.Malcolm Butters, 63, was closing up on Friday evening at the Green Lane Fish Bar in Acomb, York, when he was confronted by a man carrying a gun. "Straight away I thought it was a BB gun, not a real gun," Butters said. "It was just gut instinct and the way he walked in, but I could have been wrong. "He said 'Give us the money, mate.'" "I said 'You what?' and he said 'Give us the money, mate, I'm not joking' and he pretended to cock the gun." Butters said the girl working with him was terrified and encouraged him to hand over the money, but he said he had thought about what to do in such a situation. "I got my fish slice, dipped it in the hot fat and waved it at him, hoping the fat would come off and get him," he said. "I told him a few choice words and off he went - he just ran out. "Unfortunately the pan wasn't very hot because we were getting ready for closing." The man was described as white, aged 18-24, and 5ft 6in. Butters, whose partner's family owns the chip shop, said he was wearing a hood and had a scarf covering his face. - The Northern Echo (U.K.) <<<•>>> Thursday, June 21, 2007 Editorial: Judge On the Money in Salmon Ruling SEATTLE - A federal district judge blew the whistle on the Bush administration's attempts to inflate the count of West Coast salmon runs with hatchery fish. Fiddling with the numbers does nothing to nurture and protect healthy wild salmon.District Judge John Coughenour rules that the National Marine Fisheries Service was in error when it downplayed the listing of Columbia River steelhead as threatened instead of endangered. They fudged the listing with hatchery-padded numbers. Coughenour was puzzled: "To be sure, the inclusion of hatchery fish alongside natural fish ... strikes the Court as odd." For good reason. Heavy-handed reliance on hatcheries has failed throughout history. Easy assumptions about the production of raw numbers overlooked issues of the carrying capacity of the ocean or competition with wild salmon. More young fish did not produce more adults. David R. Montgomery, a University of Washington professor and author of King of Fish: The Thousand-Year Run of Salmon, wrote in The Times in 2004: "Perhaps the most dangerous aspect of the historic reliance on hatchery production ... is that the system created the illusion that hatcheries can make up for the environmental degradation and overfishing that led to declining salmon runs in the first place." Also in 2004, a four-year Hatchery Reform Project found a subtle role for hatcheries in recovering wild salmon and steelhead populations, but the limitations and pitfalls had to be acknowledged. Without the protection and restoration of salmon habitat, none of the fish would have a home to return to. The judge's incredulity was right on the mark. – Seattle Times Editorial News Brief: Another Blacklisted Tramper Arrives in Unalaska UNALASKA, Alaska - With the fate of the illegal tramper Polestar and its cargo still up in the air in Morocco, a second pirate vessel has been spotted near Dutch Harbor.The vessel Seed Leaf arrived over the weekend, according to Dutch Harbor port officials, and is now anchored in Captains Bay off Unalaska Island. The Panama-flagged tramper was blacklisted by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources after it was caught shipping undocumented fish in February of last year. It apparently is owned by Sandnes Dampskibs, a Norwegian shipping company. The National Marine Fisheries Service posted a notice on its website on Saturday warning that the Seed Leaf was approaching Dutch Harbor. Agency spokeswoman Monica Allen says that NMFS doesn't plan to contact directly any companies that may be doing business with the Seed Leaf. NMFS's authority over blacklisted ships in American waters is still unclear. The agency is in the process of writing the rules outlining what it can do in these cases, and began taking public comment on them earlier this month. Alaska Vessel Agents, the company that handles booking for the Seed Leaf in Dutch Harbor, wouldn't say which seafood company was working with the ship. – KIAL
SAN FRANCISCO - The city and county of San Francisco are protesting Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s application to build a wave power project off the Humboldt County coast.
News: Big City Strives to Dunk Wave Project Attorneys for the big city to the south wrote to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Friday saying the agency should not approve the preliminary permit until it sets policy for emerging new wave and tidal power technology. ”While specifically not referring to this application,” the filing reads, “San Francisco believes the risk of sparking a 'gold rush' by ill-prepared applicants with ill-conceived projects is too high and the drain on commission resources in reviewing such applications would be too great.” A preliminary permit would give PG&E the exclusive right to study an area off Humboldt Bay for three years. The company is considering building a project that could produce up to 40 megawatts of power using special buoys to tap the persistent waves off the Humboldt coast and deliver the energy to an onshore station. In its own filing Tuesday, PG&E claims San Francisco's approach would stifle promising new technology. Rejecting a preliminary permit could also give the advantage to another company which files later on, PG&E writes. ”San Francisco has articulated no justification for this unnecessary and wasteful drill,” the company writes. PG&E filed to exclusively use a 136-square-mile area off Humboldt Bay for its study, just one day ahead of Fairhaven OPT Ocean Power and DG Energy Solutions, which had announced its intention to develop a wave power project in March 2006. However, the pair did not file their application for a preliminary permit until the day after PG&E did, which keeps them out of the running for the time being. FERC fielded 40 applications for similar preliminary permits in 2006. In testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on June 7, FERC Director J. Mark Robinson said the commission is processing the permits with a view toward limiting the boundaries of the permits. At the same time, it is trying to come to a decision on whether wave and tidal power applications should just go through the regular hydropower permitting process, or whether to deny any preliminary permits. PG&E Project Development Manager Greg Lamberg said in an interview Tuesday that a preliminary permit is critical for protecting the company from risk. It's considering sinking $3 million or more into studies necessary to develop the project. ”We're talking about significant funds,” Lamberg said. PG&E expects to begin holding public meetings on the project this fall, Lamberg said. Strangely, while butting heads on this particular matter, PG&E and the city of San Francisco and Golden Gate Energy announced Tuesday that they are teaming up to explore opportunities for tidal power in San Francisco Bay. The trio will study the possibilities for a tidal power system. They have a preliminary permit from FERC to do that. - The Times-Standard News: Thompson Drafts Bill to Ban Offshore Drilling NORTHERN CALIFORNIA - Rep. Mike Thompson has introduced a bill that would permanently prohibit oil and gas drilling off the coasts of Mendocino, Humboldt and Del Norte counties.The Northern California Ocean and Coastal Protection Act -- H.R. 2758 -- would protect the marine environment along Northern California's outer continental shelf, the St. Helena Democrat said in a news release. ”Northern California's coast brings biological and economic benefits to the entire country,” Thompson said. “It's critical that we permanently protect this unique area from the environmental hazards of offshore drilling.” The West Coast is a particularly productive area for fish, being one of few regions where cold, nutrient-rich waters are pushed to the surface each summer by steady winds. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, while upwelling regions make up only one percent of the world's oceans, they contribute to approximately half of the world's fish catch. Drilling for gas and oil off the northern coast of California could cause serious harm to marine life and the fish many local North Coast economies depend on, Thompson said. ”For years, I've been working with local environmentalists, businesses, fishing communities and public officials to provide our coast with the protection it needs,” added Thompson. “Like me, they believe that permanent federal protection is the only way to ensure the North Coast's marine life is just as bountiful decades from now as it is today.” – The Times-Standard Brief: Walleye Pike Plentiful, but Fishermen Are Not FORT CHIPEWYAN, Alberta (Canada) - The walleye are so plentiful on Lake Athabasca this year they're being hauled onto boats like bunches of bananas, but those who fish the Northern Alberta lake say there are few willing to take on the job.Even Ernest Thacker, who's been harvesting the lake for as long as he can remember, is only doing it in his spare time. Like most commercial fishermen in Fort Chipewyan, he's got another job with the booming oil sands municipality of Wood Buffalo. As a result, the six fishermen heading out this year will take in about 45,000 kilograms of fish - about half the quota allotted by the province. "It's not that the fish aren't there. It's that we have no fishermen," said Thacker, who noted Lake Athabasca walleye are especially popular in restaurants in New York. In 1997, there were nearly 30 boats on the water, he said. He blames provincial policy for cutting that to half a dozen. - The Globe and Mail <<<•>>> Friday, June 22, 2007 Klamath Fish Kill Alert Level Raised to Yellow ORLEANS, Calif. - As Klamath River temperatures rise and the region’s below average snow pack continues to recede, the Klamath River’s salmon are again in trouble. These conditions, coupled with increased observation of disease, mortality, and average run size predictions have prompted the Klamath Fish Health Assessment Team (KFHAT) to increase its fish kill readiness alert level to yellow.The KFHAT is a collaboration of agencies, tribes, and restoration organizations which formed during the summer of 2003 with the purpose of providing early warning and a coordinated response plan to avoid, or at least address, a fish kill event such as occurred in the fall of 2002. The 2002 fish kill was referred to as the largest in U.S. history, an estimated 68,000 Chinook died of diseases after entering the Klamath River to spawn. In recent years juvenile salmon have been taking the brunt of the Klamath’s woes as several fish diseases plague the Klamath’s juvenile salmon. “These diseases are particularly lethal in combination with increased temperature and static flow conditions caused by the Klamath Dams. Citizens monitoring the river have already reported seeing dead fish,” according to Regina Chichizola, the Klamath Riverkeeper. Nat Pennington, fisheries coordinator with the Salmon River Restoration Council said, “In recent years juvenile die offs have become annual events. We really need to get a handle on exactly how many juvenile salmon are dying in the Klamath River each year. Disease monitoring and outmigrant trapping are the only tools we have. When we go check fish traps and find a lot of sick fish we are left wondering how salmon ever actually make it through the Klamath gauntlet to the ocean.” Local Tribal leaders are concerned as well. Leaf Hillman, Vice chairman of the Karuk Tribe stated, “These juvenile fish kills show that our salmon are on the road to extinction. If we don’t take bold steps like removing Warren Buffett’s Klamath dams we’ll soon be past the point of no return.” Oregon based PacifiCorp owns the Klamath Dams and is a wholly owned subsidiary of one of Warren Buffett’s energy holdings companies. In recent years a diverse coalition of stakeholders has been urging PacifiCorp to remove their lower four dams to fix this problem. Tribes, fishermen, conservationists and business owners see dam removal as a critical step in restoring the Klamath’s ecological and economic health. The yellow alert worries coastal fisherman who saw their commercial salmon season almost completely curtailed last year. “Signs of poor fish health are very discouraging and more man-made fish-die-offs on the Klamath can simply not be allowed to happen. Our industry is still reeling from last year's fisheries closures, and our customers are very disappointed when we can't bring fresh wild salmon to the markets.” said Mike Hudson of the Small Boat Commercial Salmon Fishermen’s Association. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service monitors disease infection rates in Klamath River juvenile Chinook salmon. Although it is impossible to predict the fate of a diseased fish, preliminary findings for May and early June show that up to seventy percent of sampled Chinook juveniles near Iron Gate Dam are infected with disease. These studies have occasionally identified even higher infection rates since they began four years ago. “We’re forgetting how to catch and cook salmon while we are getting very good at counting sick and dead salmon. These diseases have become a chronic problem. Dam removal and river restoration is clearly the cure,” said Pennington. – California Chronicle News: Kodiak May Soon Have Crab Processing Quota to Lease Ocean Beauty Seafoods recently approached the Kodiak Fisheries Development Association (KFDA) to submit an agreement for the group to consider. If approved, it would potentially provide the KFDA with crab processor quota to lease.The KFDA is Kodiak's eligible crab community entity (ECCE) for the Bering Sea Aleutian Islands crab rationalization program. It was jointly created about two years ago by the Kodiak Island Borough and the City of Kodiak. "The rationalization program provided for eligible crab communities to have this ECCE," City Manager Linda Freed said. "Under the crab rationalization program, the eligible crab community entity has the authority to exercise the rights of first refusal with respect to processor quota shares allocated under the crab rationalization program." Processors who have individual processor quota cannot take it out of the community under certain restrictions within so many years after the program goes into place. Right of first refusal is a contractual right granted by the owner of something, in this case processor quota, that gives the holder of the right an option to enter a business transaction with the owner according to specified terms, and before the owner is entitled to enter that transaction with a third party. Freed said in order for the city or borough to exercise the right of first refusal, the KFDA or a similar entity had to be created. It was created to meet a federal deadline. The development association is a nonprofit corporation. They have been meeting on and off, but have not been active because there haven't been any processor share offers or opportunities to buy. Freed said Ocean Beauty has not offered the agreement to any other entity. A draft agreement was provided last week and the committee reviewed it. "There were some points of difference and those points are being worked on. A revised draft agreement based on the discussion will come before the board of the KFDA at their meeting on (Friday)," Freed said. "They could potentially approve it at that point." Freed said the board consists of seven members. Two appointments to the board are made by the City Council, two by the Borough Assembly, and three are joint appointments, with crab harvesters and processors having guaranteed representation. - Kodiak Daily Mirror
SEATTLE - Despite the passage of almost five years since the first court ruling, the National Marine Fisheries Service has yet to identify a single measure needed to protect salmon and steelhead from toxic pesticides. This week, fishing and environmental groups asked NMFS to fulfill its responsibility to protect endangered Pacific salmon.
Pacific Salmon at Risk from Pesticides Glen Spain of the Pacific Coast Fed |