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Monday, September 10. 2007 Scientists Explore Bering Sea Seascapes ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Ocean explorers diving in and near gaping Bering Sea canyons last month found oases of coral and sponge sheltering fish and crabs, cradles of life below and sometimes in vast commercial trawling grounds. It was scientists' first look into the Zhemchug Canyon, a crevice bigger than the Grand Canyon that some believe is a crucial rearing ground for species that spread throughout the continental shelf on Alaska's southwest. Dropping about 2,000 feet in one-person submarines, they got mankind's first view of brilliant seascapes amid the muddy plains that slope toward and then into the canyons. "It was absolutely startling to view some of these especially minute species at such proximity," said Juneau-based marine ecologist and consultant Michelle Ridgway. Greenpeace organized the trip out of a desire to add to 370,000 square miles of coral beds already closed to fishing around the Aleutian Islands, and its findings have stirred a call to shut down the canyons and their edges. Most of Alaska's billion-dollar bottom-fish haul comes from the continental shelf away from the canyons, though government scientists and fishermen say some trawlers and longliners ply the area. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council considered such protections last winter but decided no one knew enough about what lay in the canyon zones. Zhemchug Canyon is the world's largest by volume, dropping 8,500 feet from the continental shelf. It is 180 miles northwest of the Pribilof Islands. The exploration also visited and found corals around Pribilof Canyon, on the opposite side of the islands. Government scientists and commercial fishing groups say barring the trawl nets that sweep around and over the canyons won't occur without a thorough scientific vetting — including more surveys and mapping — if it is needed at all. Amazing corals Robert Stone, fisheries biologist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, operated one of the submersibles and said the coral gardens included magnificent specimens but were patchy, as opposed to the swaths of sea life that have already won protection from crushing nets and gear around the Aleutian Islands. "To me, there's no question that corals, wherever we find them in Alaska, seem to be important fish habitat," he said. But restricting fishing probably would require a more detailed survey and mapping, he believes. Is harm occurring? Cathy Coon, an Anchorage-based fisheries analyst with the fishery council, said most trawling for pollock in the canyon zones is done with midwater gear, not nets that touch the sea floor, though some bottom-dragging gear does skirt the canyons. The council has no data on whether fishing is damaging habitat in the area. Commercial fishery representatives said nothing has changed since the federal government's Alaska Fisheries Science Center issued a paper last year saying too little is known to warrant restrictions. The food chain A Seattle consultant for the fishing industry, John Gauvin, said he's not surprised to see corals in the area, but would be surprised if fishermen have much effect on them. Fishermen know where many of the rocky outcrops are, and they avoid them, he said. Gauvin has studied Bering Sea issues in his work as coordinator for the H&G Environmental Working Group, which represents boats that catch, head and gut sole and other fish. He was deeply involved in the negotiations over protection zones in the Aleutians, he said, and he believes the canyon zones are vastly different because of their mud expanses. "It's not surprising that somebody goes out there and finds something, but what does it really mean?" he said. "It's not a scientific survey of the area." – Anchorage Daily News Gray Whale Shot, Killed in Strait NEAH BAY, Wash. - A California gray whale that was shot Saturday in the Strait of Juan de Fuca in an unauthorized and likely illegal Makah whale hunt was declared dead about 7:15 p.m. Five Makah tribal members were questioned by federal fisheries enforcement officials and then turned over to tribal police later in the day, said Brian Gorman, a spokesman for the National Marine Fisheries Service in Seattle. Anti-whaling activists could hardly contain their anger and dismay Saturday evening as reports spread about the hunt. Will Anderson, the Seattle man who sued the federal government after the Makahs’ infamous 1999 hunt, said he was appalled by news that the gray whale was wounded and bleeding in the strait at the tip of Western Washington. The News Tribune could not reach leaders of the Makah Tribe for comment. Witnesses reported as many as 21 shots fired at the whale Saturday before 10 a.m. U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Shawn Eggert said the Coast Guard – alerted by callers – went to the scene around noon, took the five Makah tribal members into custody, and left one boat to keep watch on the whale. The animal was shot a mile or two east of Neah Bay. Coast Guard officials created a 1,000-yard safety zone around the whale but did not have training to deal with its injuries, Eggert said. By Saturday afternoon, the whale was headed west toward the Pacific Ocean, said Mark Oswell, a spokesman for the law enforcement arm of the Fisheries Service. The Makah Tribal Council was meeting behind closed doors at the tribal headquarters in Neah Bay, on the remote northwestern tip of Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, The Peninsula Daily News reported. Gorman, the Fisheries Services spokesman, said the tribe did not authorize the hunt. “It came as much of a surprise to the Makah Whaling Commission as it was to anyone else,” he said. Now it will be up to federal officials to decide whether and what charges to bring and whether they are civil or criminal, he said. The whale was shot with a .50-caliber rifle, he said. Early news reports describing it as a machine gun were incorrect, Gorman said. The Daily News also reported witnesses saying the whale was harpooned about 9:30 a.m. Saturday off the Seal and Sail rocks, two miles east of Neah Bay. In May 1999, members of the Makah Tribe provoked massive controversy when they killed their first whale in 70 years. They harpooned, then killed, the 30-foot female with a .50-caliber rifle. An 1855 treaty with the United States guarantees Makah whaling rights, but the tribe did not seek to resume hunting gray whales until after 1994, when the whales lost Endangered Species Act protection. The Makahs, who number more than 1,000, occupy a small reservation at Cape Flattery, the extreme northwest tip of the Olympic Peninsula. When the whale was killed in 1999, its meat was distributed to tribal members, and the carcass’ skeleton was eventually mounted in the tribal museum. - News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash)
First Tuna Fishery to Receive MSC Eco-Label For the first time in history a tuna fishery is to be awarded the Marine Stewardship Council’s coveted eco-label for sustainable fishing. The American Albacore Fishing Association (AAFA) tuna fishery, operating in the North and South Pacific Ocean, passed its full assessment last week when independent certifier Moody Marine awarded AAFA its certificate. It is the first tuna fishery in the world to receive the accolade. Products from the AAFA tuna fishery may now carry the Marine Stewardship Council eco-label (subject to a Chain of Custody audit), which will distinguish it as a certified sustainable and well-managed fishery. The AAFA tuna fishery is a small, family-run fishery operating out of San Diego. The fish are caught using the poll & line techniques (and the troll and line techniques in the south Pacific) and its members pride themselves on the care they take to protect the marine environment. Skipper Jack “Bandini” Webster explains: “Tuna fishermen seem to get a bad rap in a worldwide way. Most of the fishermen who are left love the ocean-- you’ve got to love it because it’s real hard work. Being certified sustainable is important to us. Fishermen who are doing the right thing should prove that they are and talk about it. That’s what this certificate is all about.” There are 21 boats in the association catching around 3,000 – 4,000 tons of albacore tuna per year. – FishUpdate Seven Accused of Illegally Taking Abalone SAN JOSE, Calif. - A monthlong undercover operation by the California Department of Fish and Game resulted in the arrests last week of seven South Bay residents who are accused of taking part in an abalone-poaching ring off the Sonoma County coast. The group included buyers and sellers, according to Fish and Game Lt. Kathy Ponting, who said divers illegally harvested hundreds of abalone and sold them on the black market. Harry Morse, a spokesman for Fish and Game, said the poachers took large abalone, which can fetch $80 to $100 each on the black market. Abalone is considered a delicacy and aphrodisiac, state officials said, and it is used for medicinal purposes. If you look at this case, how many years they've been diving, we're looking at thousands and thousands of abalone that this core group has harvested for monetary gain," said Ponting, who later added that "none of the divers appear to have any other sort of income." Ponting, who oversees the special operations unit that conducted the investigation called "Hat Trick," said some of the suspects arrested had been cited previously for abalone violations. During the abalone season, divers are limited to three abalone per day, and no more than 24 during the season that runs from April-June and August-November. Ponting said her unit, which began surveillance Oct. 1, has proof that divers each took more than 40 abalone in the past month. Among those arrested were four men and two women from San Jose: Chien Van Tran, 47; Bot Van Ho, 50; To Tran, 56; Andy Van Le, 54; Oanh Thi Tran, 47; Cuu Thi Nguyen, 51. Van Le and Su-Jan Lin Chuang, 49, of Cupertino, are allegedly the buyers, Ponting said. They were booked into San Jose Main Jail and will face charges in Sonoma County ranging from conspiracy to commit a crime, a felony; unlawful commercialization of wildlife; harvest of abalone for commercial purpose, which carries a $15,000 to $40,000 fine;, unlawful possession of abalone; over-limit of seasonal harvest; and failure to fill out an abalone card. The divers face the most severe sentences, Ponting said, and could go to prison for three years. The investigation began when the Department of Fish and Game received a call on its tip line. When officials realized it was the same group that had been cited previously, they decided to dedicate their efforts to dismantling the operation. -San Jose Mercury News Oyster Growers Plan Plant on Homer Spit HOMER, Alaska - More than a dozen small oyster-growing enterprises in the Homer area plan to have their own processing facility up and running on the Homer Split by summer 2008. The Kachemak Shellfish Growers Co-op went out to bid in late August on a two-story, 8,800-square-foot shellfish processing facility that 14 area oyster farmers will use to market cooperatively. We decided that we needed our own building,” said Marie Bader, a spokeswoman for the co-op. “Up to now, we've had leased space in other fish processing plants.” Competition for land on the Homer Spit is stiff, but the co-op managed to find a half-acre site with a steel piling platform and two salt-water wells on it, and negotiated a sale with the owner, Bader said. The co-op plans to rent much of the building for office space. The building will also feature an oyster bar and restaurant, plus retail space. A portion of first-floor facilities will be used for sorting and grading, as well as the final cleaning and counting of the oysters, work done by shared employees. The post-harvest jobs now take 70 percent of the growers' time, with each grower doing it on an individual basis, she said. “With a processing plant in place, we can plant more oysters and have a larger crop,” she said. “At this point, all the farms in Kachemak Bay are at 10 percent of their capacity. The footprint won't change, but many of them are only harvesting one or two lines because it is so labor intensive.” According to studies by the federal Economic Development Administration, growth of the oyster farms could potentially add 83 new jobs to the area, she said. Since the shellfish growers began their commercial enterprises about a dozen years ago, they've sold every oyster them could harvest, Bader said. “Homer eats more oysters than Anchorage,” she said. “During the summer, we don't send a single oyster to Anchorage.” Alaska oysters can feed continually and avoid exposure to hot summer suns, cold winter winds, mud and sand. After about three years of this coddled life in the nets or trays, the Alaska oysters are uniformly shaped with deep cups and plump meats, perfect for serving on the half shell, according to co-op members. The co-op also boasts that Alaska oysters are among the safest oysters in the marketplace, because of the pristine waters where they are grown. Statewide revenues from some 50 shellfish farms in Alaska are less than $600,000, but given the vast coastlines of Alaska, the potential for increased revenues from shellfish farming is excellent, Bader said. - Alaska Journal of Commerce <<<•>>> Tuesday, September 11. 2007 Asia's Fishermen at Risk for Unwanted Catch: HIV BALI, Indonesia - Bali is a famed tourist playground, but there's a side to the island most foreign visitors never see. Indonesian fishermen who often haven't seen land for months put in at Benoa Harbour and make straight for the closest bar with two things in mind: getting drunk and finding women. These habits have put fishermen at high risk of getting HIV or AIDS - especially in Asia, because it's home to 2.5 million fishermen, or about 85 per cent of the world's total. Yet fishermen have been largely overlooked since the virus began raging 21 years ago, with only a handful of surveys focusing on them. One report found that out of 10 poor countries, all but one had fishermen with HIV rates four to 14 times higher than the general population. Two studies of fishermen on big commercial vessels found over 15 per cent were HIV-positive in Thai and Cambodian ports. That's more than five times the rate of other migrants at high risk for infection, such as truck drivers. A few programs in Papua New Guinea, Thailand and elsewhere in the region are now working to reach fishermen, and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization earlier this year urged that they be recognized as high risk. But fishermen weren't even mentioned in UNAIDS' 630-page 2006 global report. "I don't think there's been much targeting of treatment and health service availability," says Edward Allison, of The WorldFish Center in Malaysia, who has researched HIV in fishermen. The bulk of Asia's fishermen are small-scale operators who return to home port frequently or stop at coastal fishing camps where women and booze are readily available. Others work aboard bigger vessels for months at a time. In Bali, most of the fishermen are bachelors in their 20s and 30s from Indonesia's main island of Java. Many come from conservative Muslim farm families but have traded their traditions for a culture of danger and machismo. Some return to home port in Bali at voyage's end. Others fish well beyond native waters, docking as far away as South Africa, Sri Lanka, Spain and Panama. Either way, their pockets are filled with money and the only women waiting ashore are those looking to get paid. There are no condom machines or AIDS outreach workers on the crowded wharf in Bali. Some fishermen say they've had a disease "down there" or know someone who has, but many are convinced that certain women, mostly Indonesians, are free of HIV. Most sailors infected with STDs treat themselves with cheap antibiotics. They may take the wrong dose or stop treatment when symptoms disappear, allowing STDs to linger, which makes it easier to contract HIV. They also are misled by greedy peddlers. In Thailand, most commercial fishermen are Cambodian and Burmese migrants. They change boats regularly and go to different docks, making it difficult to visit clinics or get test results. At some Thai ports, outreach workers from the nonprofit Raks Thai Foundation distribute condoms and talk to the men about AIDS. Some fishermen also are being trained to provide HIV education and help treat STDs. – Associated Press Gray Whale Recovery Called Incorrect The success story of the Pacific gray whales' full recovery from near-extinction is wrong, according to a new genetic analysis that pegs the current population at only one-third to one-fifth of historical levels. By examining subtle variations in DNA taken from 42 modern whales, scientists have concluded that between 78,500 and 117,700 gray whales lived before the heyday of commercial whaling in the 19th and 20th centuries. That finding, published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that the about 22,000 gray whales now swimming along the California coast remain a depleted population. "It's startling for us to consider the California gray whale, which we considered recovered for more than a decade, has not recovered after all," said Scott Baker, a researcher at Oregon State University's Marine Mammal Institute in Newport, Ore., who was not involved in the study. The results counter what had been a predominant scientific view that the iconic creatures of the West Coast were so bountiful that they were overgrazing their traditional feeding grounds. Instead, the findings provide further evidence that this year's abnormally high number of skinny whales is a sign of deterioration of the vast ocean ecosystem that stretches from Baja California to the Bering Sea. "If the oceans a few hundred years ago could support 100,000 gray whales, why can't the oceans sustain 20,000 whales today?" said Stephen Palumbi, a Stanford University marine sciences professor and senior author of the study. Palumbi caused a scientific commotion four years ago when he and a Harvard University colleague estimated that humpback, fin and minke whales in the North Atlantic were once two to 10 times more abundant than their current population levels. Besides challenging conventional estimates, their study presented a political problem for the International Whaling Commission, which oversees a global ban on commercial hunting. The commission has long promised to allow whaling nations such as Japan and Norway to resume operations once certain species have recovered to 54% of historic levels. In the case of humpback whales, Palumbi estimated that it would take another 70 to 100 years before the population reached such a threshold. Gray whales are now hunted by native peoples, who are allowed to kill up to 140 animals each year. Nearly all are harpooned by traditional Russian hunters off the coast of Siberia, although Washington state's Makah Tribe has been trying to reassert its right to hunt gray whales. The DNA-based estimates of historical populations are unlikely to change those limits, which most experts agree is not high enough to affect the stability of the whale population. But the new DNA-based estimates undermine the scientific foundation of the whaling commission's estimates of the health of whale populations in general. – latimes.com
Louisiana Oyster Industry Rebounds NEW ORLEANS - Bryan Barthelemy paused to take a drag on his cigarette, the sweat and grime of three hours of oyster dredging clearly visible on his brow. He and his uncle, Gary Barthelemy, quickly got back to the task at hand aboard the Miss Britain: sorting and shoveling the dozens of oysters freshly raked from the fertile reefs of Black Bay. The rumble and screech of the mechanical oyster dredges, metal baskets that collect oysters from the bottoms, filled the late morning air. The Barthelemys' sturdy, box-shaped oyster boat was part of an armada scouring the beds for the mollusks last week, the official opening of the state's oyster season. It's the first opening the two men have worked since Hurricane Katrina tore through the heart of Louisiana's oyster grounds in Plaquemines and St. Bernard over two years ago, smothering reefs and killing nearly 70 percent of the crop on public grounds east of Barataria Bay. For the state that produces more oysters than any other — 30 percent of the nation's supply — the numbers were staggering. The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries pegged total losses for the state's industry at $205 million; the amount of oysters brought to shore, in dollars, dropped by 30 percent in the year after Katrina. Despite the devastation to boats and docks after the storm, the oyster industry has emerged as one of the more resilient sectors of the state's commercial fishing industry. Business leaders are predicting a comeback season for oyster harvesters, with landings expected to rebound to pre-Katrina levels. The number of boats in Black Bay at last Wednesday's season opening was the highest on record — 159 — and many dealers are dropping prices due to excess supply. Biology is one reason, as the first brood of post-Katrina oysters is coming of age. Grit and financial wherewithal is the other, as many oyster leaseholders put in long hours to replenish their beds with young oysters and clear debris to allow their growth, many of them tapping into their savings with the hope of state reimbursement in the future. Oysters occupy a special niche in Louisiana's seafood industry. Unlike shrimp and crab fishing, where fishers rely on the whims of lunar cycles and weather patterns for luck in their catch, the slow-moving oysters can be more easily managed. Though oyster production has traditionally been split between public grounds and private leases, in recent years private leaseholders have been responsible for nearly 70 percent of what comes on the market, according to numbers from the department of Wildlife and Fisheries. They're the more well-heeled participants in the industry, having fine-tuned the ways of oyster production. Many of the leases date back generations, and remain within tight-knit family circles. Labor crunch At the other end of the spectrum are individual fishers such as the Barthelemys. Both grew up dredging oysters in the old fishing community of Pointe a la Hache, on the east bank of Plaquemines Parish, as did their fathers and grandfathers. The two were scattered across the South by Katrina, and only returned to their native community earlier this year. Although many oyster fishers and deckhands are returning to the area, many leaseholders still cite a labor crunch in the post-Katrina market. In neighboring Texas, oyster boats have been populated by Mexican laborers on work visas for years. But since Katrina, more and more leaseholders in Louisiana are relying on foreign labor to get work done. Although production is expected to return to pre-Katrina levels this year, the wealth may be spread across fewer fishers and leaseholders. Sales of commercial oyster licenses in the year after Katrina were down 13 percent from the previous five-year average — not as sharp a drop as in other commercial fishing sectors, such as shrimp licenses. Katrina's effects on the industry are still being felt. Although the public grounds in much of the state opened last Wednesday, they will close Sept. 21 through Nov. 12, as has been done every year since the storm. After reopening in November, oyster season runs through April 1. The department of Wildlife and Fisheries, which manages the public grounds, says the goal is to ensure oysters have the chance to spawn in the fall. The abbreviated opening already has prices in a tailspin. hundred-pound sacks of oysters were typically selling for $20 to $25 before the season opened, but an abundance on the market already has prices down to around $18. As supply tightens again during the temporary closure, prices are expected to rise. - Times Picayune Pollock Disappearing? DUTCH HARBOR, Alaska - JACKI LYDEN, host: And now a story from NPR's Climate Connection Series, in association with National Geographic. If you've eaten a fish stick or imitation crab meat recently, odds are, it was actually a pollock. Yes, a pollock. A cheap, anonymous, white fish caught in the Bering Sea off Alaska. There, every year, the biggest fishery in the world nets one and a half million tons of the fish and billions of dollars. But in recent years, the pollock had disappeared from many of the usual fishing grounds, and some fishermen wonder if climate change is at work. Charles Homans of member station KIAL reports from Dutch Harbor, Alaska. CHARLES HOMANS: From the deck of the fishing vessel, Starlight, you can see the net rising up out of the deep. It's like a giant tail dragging a quarter of a mile behind the boat - 120 feet of rusty metal, slippery wood, and noisy machinery. (Soundbite of fishing machinery) HOMANS: The Starlight's winches strain under the weight of fish in the net. It's filled with more than a hundred tons of pollock. Each silvery- speckled fish is about as long as the forearm of one of the deck hands who haul in the net. Among them is 41-year-old Scott Bingen who still remembers the first time he saw this happen as a greenhorn fisherman 20 years ago. Mr. SCOTT BINGEN (Deck Hand, Starlight Fishing Vessel, Alaska): It's pretty exciting the first you see, like, 60 tons of, well, anything come up out of the water, you know. So I was hooked. HOMANS: Two more hauls like this and the Starlight will be ready to return to Dutch Harbor, the main fishing port in the Aleutian Islands, off the southwestern coast of Alaska. But one thing is wrong here: the crew of the Starlight is dragging their net in a totally different area of the Bering Sea from where they fished just a few years ago. HOMANS: On the ship's radio, you can hear other skippers trading information about where the fish are and where they aren't. Unidentified Male: I was out here last year looking for them. HOMANS: The hunt for pollock is getting trickier. The fish used to hang out within a day's travel from Dutch Harbor, and they still do during the winter. But three years ago, pollock population started moving north during the summer fishing season. Now the only place fishermen can find that is almost 500 miles northwest of Dutch Harbor. Getting to the fish takes two days. Unidentified Male: Five hundred freaking miles. This is crazy. HOMANS: The new fishing grounds are just shy of where the Bering Sea becomes Russian territory. Mr. DAVID JENSEN (Engineer, Starlight Fishing Vessel, Alaska): Last year, the first part of October, end of September, somewhere around there, we made a trip that was real far to the northwest. HOMANS: David Jensen is the engineer onboard the Starlight. Mr. JENSEN: We could hear the Russians talking on the VHFs so they were only about 30 miles away. That's kind of when you go, okay, this is too far. HOMANS: These long trips cost the fishermen a lot of money. While the price of pollock hasn't changed much in recent years - it goes for about 10 cents a pound - diesel fuel has become more expensive, and the Starlight now has to use about twice as much of it as it used to to get to and from the fish. For Bingen and the other members of the ship's crew, that means smaller paychecks. Mr. BINGEN: You could talk to any fisherman who's - had been participating in this fishery for a number of years, and they're going to voice some concern over what's happening. HOMANS: No one is quite sure what is happening or why. The natural ebb and flow of the pollock population may be part of the explanation. The complex dynamics of the ocean's temperature could be playing a role as well. A large pool of especially cold water in the Bering Sea, which changes size from year to year, may be temporarily pushing pollock out of areas they've inhabited in the past. Some environmental groups have suggested that the sheer volume of fish taken out the Bering Sea could play a role in pollock movements as well. But all this is happening against the backdrop of warming temperatures in the Bering Sea, where sea ice is steadily retreating. Scientists have documented more than 50 species moving northward in Alaskan waters. Mr. CAMUA MATO (Deck Hand, Starling Fishing Vessel, Alaska): You know, everybody's got the different opinions, you know. It's either a cycle, it's either global warming, you know. Or water... HOMANS: Camua Mato is a deck hand on the Starling. He's fished in the Bering Sea since he was a teenager, and he says what's going on now is something new. Mr. MATO: Yeah, I believe all those things, you know. Because the fish are way further north. HOMANS: Some fishermen worry that the pollock may eventually follow warmer temperatures into Russian waters, where Americans can't fish. That hasn't happened yet, at least, according to Paul Whalin(ph), a fisheries biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He's in Dutch Harbor onboard the Oscar Dyson, a research vessel that just completed a survey of pollock on both sides of the international boundary line, also known as the convention line. Mr. PAUL WHALIN (Marine Biologist, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration): Well, the Russian boats that we saw - fishing boats - were lined up actually on the convention line in a row, going back and forth, getting the stragglers that went over the border. And so we could have mainly guess just by seeing that, that the rest of the survey wasn't going to find commercial quantities of pollock. HOMANS: Some fishermen chalk up the changes to a couple of lean seasons, but deck hand Scott Bingen thinks it's more than that. He worries that this last biggest fishery may be too good to last. Mr. BINGEN: Basically, all I've ever done is catch fish. I'd like to see another generation of fishermen be able to do the same thing, but I think a lot of people are under the impression that we're probably the - potentially, the last group of people that are going to be harvesting pollock up here. - NPR News, "All Things Considered" 40-Foot Dead Whale Washes Up in Unalaska UNALASKA, Alaska - A forty foot long dead humpback whale currently can be seen — and smelled — just off the back side of Little South America on Amaknak Island, where it was towed from the other side of Unalaska Bay Sunday evening. "It's a full-sized female, so it's about as big as they get," said marine biologist Reid Brewer, with the local University of Alaska Fairbanks extension office. "From the waterline it doesn't look very large, but it's kind of like an iceberg — if you see one of these things floating, only about a third of it is above water and the other two-thirds is below." Brian Rankin spotted the dead whale Sunday afternoon in Broad Bay, and Brewer and Don Graves towed the animal tail-first behind Graves's boat across Unalaska Bay to Little South America, where it's now anchored to the beach and floating just offshore. Brewer said he hoped to get some sort of educational value out of the dead animal, rather than to just let sleeping whales lie. "The idea was to bring it back to town so people could appreciate the grandeur of an amazing sea animal like this, but also so that we can let the whale live on by examining why it may have died," he said. Brewer said that hopefully a specialist from the Alaska Sea Life Center in Seward will come out here in the next few days to perform a necropsy on the whale, which weighs somewhere between 35 and 40 tons. Brewer said it was probably dead for a couple of days before Rankin found it, and there aren't any signs of human involvement in its death. This is the first time a whale of this size has washed up off of Unalaska in more than a decade, although there have been seven smaller marine mammal strandings here in the last several years. Humpback whales tend to follow the krill that they eat into Unalaska Bay during the summer months, when as many as a hundred of them have been spotted in the area between Hog Island and Broad Bay. – KIAL News <<<•>>> Wednesday, September 12. 2007 Woman Dies After Eating Raw Oysters ATLANTA, Georgia - Fulton County health officials are warning against eating raw shellfish because it could be contaminated with vibrio vulnificus, a bacteria linked to the death of a woman who ate raw oysters at Spondivits Seafood & Steaks in early August. The 52-year-old woman died Aug. 10, soon after arriving at a hospital. She ate uncooked oysters several days before her death, Fulton health officials said. The Health Department did not identify the woman or the restaurant. But a corporate chef with Spondivits confirmed that Fulton health officials were investigating the popular south Atlanta restaurant. Oysters and other shellfish harvested from the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico in summer months may be contaminated with the bacteria by the time they arrive at restaurants. Fulton County health officials say they still are investigating the case. James Howgate, director of Fulton's division of population health, said the Health Department has prohibited Spondivits from serving any type of shellfish, raw or cooked. The county closed the restaurant for 24 hours after inspectors found critical violations of safe food handling practices there while investigating the woman's death, Howgate said. The vibrio vulnificus bacteria can cause death or serious illness in people with a variety of medical conditions, including diabetes and liver disease. Gagne said Spondivits sold 125 orders of oysters on the day the woman ate there, with no other reports of illness. Later, Gagne said that the high heat of August had caused problems with restaurant coolers keeping food properly chilled. The woman's death and a possible link to oysters have been under investigation for several weeks. Fulton health officials confirmed the link Monday after repeated requests from a reporter over a 10-day period. Epidemiologists were trying to confirm that the woman only ate raw oysters at one place before finalizing their report, said April Majors, a spokeswoman for the Health Department. Georgia permits the sale of raw oysters in restaurants, and requires restaurants to advise patrons that eating raw or undercooked shellfish can cause illness or death. When the state's new foodservice code takes effect Dec. 1, that menu advisory will drop the mention of death, instead listing only serious illness as a potential risk. Infections from the vibrio vulnificus bacteria increased 78 percent in the past decade, according to the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About half of those infections are fatal, according to the Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Commission. The infection can be treated with antibiotics, but also may cause death in just one to two days. Symptoms include fever, chills, nausea, diarrhea, low blood pressure and blistering skin lesions. - Atlanta Journal-Constitution Coast Guard Nabs High Seas Driftnetter NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN- The United States Coast Guard, the People's Republic of China Fisheries Law Enforcement Command (FLEC), and Japanese Coast Guard are investigating a fishing vessel suspected of illegal high-seas drift net fishing five hundred miles east of Hokkaido, Japan. The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Boutwell with a Chinese fisheries enforcement officer on board intercepted the 120-foot fishing vessel Lu Rong Yu 6007 last week, after a Japanese maritime patrol aircraft identified it as a possible high-seas drift net vessel. The Lu Rong Yu 6007 had attempted to disguise its name and flew no flag, but the Chinese agent aboard Boutwell noted it bore characteristics of a Chinese fishing boat including the listing of a Chinese homeport on its stern. A joint China/U.S. boarding team was dispatched from Cutter Boutwell to the fishing vessel to investigate further. Lu Rong Yu 6007 refused to answer hails from the Boutwell and attempted evasive maneuvers to frustrate the boarding, going so far as to drag nets in front of the boarding team's boat to attempt to foul their propeller. Boutwell launched a second small boat and the joint China/U.S. team boarded the vessel safely. After intercepting and boarding the Lu Rong Yu 6007 and questioning its crew of 29, the Chinese officer confirmed from the vessel's documentation that it was registered in the People's Republic of China. With the assistance of U.S. Coast Guard personnel from the Boutwell, the Chinese officer verified that the vessel was rigged for large-scale high-seas drift net fishing and the cargo hold was full of various species of fish including shark and swordfish. The crew of Boutwell also spotted an additional 3,000 yards of nearby drift nets in the water that the Lu Rong Yu 6007 master said was not his. "This case clearly highlights the international cooperation necessary to be effective in enforcing the United Nations recommended global moratorium on large scale high seas drift net fishing and combating the plaque of Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing on the High Seas. Aerial surveillance coupled with surface interdiction assets and cooperative agreements with our international law enforcement partners made this case possible. The abandoned 3,000 yards of drift net represents a long-term threat to living marine resources as it indiscriminately continues to kill as it drifts like a ghost in the ocean. I'm proud to be working with our Chinese and other North Pacific fisheries enforcement counterparts to remove this hazard from the sea," said Capt. Michael A. Neussl, acting 17th Coast Guard District Commander. China Fisheries Law Enforcement Command Division Director Cui Haiyan added that the case is a successful example of Sino-U.S. cooperation. – Coast Guard press release
"Deadliest Catch" Producer Reflects on Success MALAYSIA - Watching how the crab fishers of Bering Sea put their lives on the line against nature - subzero arctic weather, 60-mph winds and turbulent seas with waves the size of four story buildings - one can't help asking 'Why?' It may be one of the deadliest occupations, but it's also among the most lucrative jobs in the world. We spoke with Thom Beers, the executive producer of "Deadliest Catch." What makes you so interested in the topic of men catching crabs? You know what, it's not catching crabs. The topic to me is men against the elements. It's men against the odds. A lot of the shows I do focus on what we call blue collar workers, guys who are not CEOs of major corporations. They're guys who get out there and work for a living. I'm just fascinated by what we call subcultures. I love to find places where there are good guys and bad guys, where there are rules, where there are rewards, where there are penalties if you're not doing the right thing. What were some of the most dangerous or frightening encounters you've personally experienced while filming other than that incident? To me the toughest thing I've had to experience was the loss of a whole boat, the Big Valley that sunk last season in the series. And Gary Edwards and his crew, they were all very good friends of mine. I spent weeks on that boat making another special about four years before for Discovery called The Mystery of the Alaskan Mummies. That was a tough thing for me when that boat went down and they all drowned except for the one crewmember, Cash. That to me, it's not the most dangerous, but it's the most heart rending. I can't think. I can't look at this series without kind of remembering my good friends who've just died to try and win the pot of gold. What do you think grabs the audiences most about your show? If you ask me, there are two answers to that. The first one is way down in the lower brainstem when you turn the channel on the TV and you come to this show, it just looks different. It's those bright sodium lights and it's that dark, dark black sea and the guys in the orange slickers. And it's wet and it's cold and it's the environment. And immediately your brain just goes, 'What's that?' That's the first thing. And the second thing is, and I'm not to blow my horn here, I think the show has darn good storytelling. I think that when you really look at it, you get caught up in these guy's lives and they're very accessible guys. And they're out there just trying to make a living and maybe strike it rich. Doing some research, I found that the crabbing job is 30 times more dangerous than a normal job and mortality rates are really high. For you as the producer of the show, how does it make you feel that people go all the way out there and risk their lives to make this kind of living? Number one, I honor them. I look at them with awe. I went out there and I got to tell you, man, that is the coldest, most miserable, wettest, darkest, bleakest place I've ever been on the planet. And these guys go out there and they just do it. Every season, they're out there in October and again in January and I give them a lot of credit. But I do believe that one of the things, the reason they do it, is because you meet a crabber, a crab fisherman, you're meeting a special guy, a person. Because there's a glint, there's a twinkle in their eye. You have two different species of crab, actually three different species. You've got Alaskan king crab and that season is October and November. So the first six hours of the season is Alaskan king crab. Those are fished in October and November. Then, in January you're fishing the opilio crab. And the opies are also known as snow crab. Now there's a red crab called a tanner, but we won't get into that one. It's just opilio or snow crab and king crab. They're not endangered. As a matter of fact, the Fish and Game and Wildlife, every year, they put out a quota. Now when I started to fish back in 1999, we started to tape this for Discovery, the quota was 90 million pounds. Now over the years to maintain, to make sure that that fishery maintains as a fishery, they've taken it down from 90 million to last year, it was 19 million. Now that wasn't because that's all they could catch. It's because the government came in and said, 'No, we want to maintain, we want this to be a renewable resource, a renewable fishery'. Now there are a lot of other countries though that have come out, that fish those same grounds and aren't under our same laws. But the American fishermen, they basically stick to the quotas and they're fined heavily if they catch over their quota. Does the scenery change your perspective on eating crabs or anything related to crabs? You know what, the fun thing about this show is that the crab industry itself, they're selling out a lot quicker these days. Crab has become actually a favorite item in restaurants and in stores. It's really one of those weird animals where there's very little sympathy for the crab. And you know what, when you're out there sorting and one of those suckers grabs you by the thumb with their pincher claws and they whack you with that 70 to 80 pounds of pressure on your thumb, and they could basically break it if they hit it right, you don't have any sympathy for them at all. -Malay Mail Smoked Salmon Spread Recalled for Listeria SEATTLE - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced the recall of smoked salmon spread due to possible contamination. Jensen's Old Fashioned Smokehouse Inc. of Seattle, Wash., initiated the recall of 480 tubs of Jensen's Seattle Style Wild Smoked Salmon Spread Lemon Dill and Onion and 132 tubs of PCC-brand Smoked Salmon Spread All-Natural, because they might contain Listeria monocytogenes, an organism that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections. The recalled products were distributed in retail stores across western Washington. Jensen's Seattle Style Wild Smoked Salmon Spread Lemon Dill and Onion is coded Sell By 10/14/07 and 10/15/07, and PCC brand Smoked Salmon Spread is coded Sell By 9/29/07. Both products were sold in 7 oz. plastic tubs. Consumers with questions can contact the company at 206-364-5569. -United Press International Lobster Crisis Averted ST. JOHN'S, Newfoundland - With the early landing numbers showing a relatively stable lobster fishing season in most areas of the province, it looks as though the resource crisis forecast by some has been averted. At least for the time being. "Some areas are up, some areas are down, but generally we're on par with where we were last year," said Tony Blanchard, staff officer with resource management for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO). "Our overall numbers have been increasing over the last number of years," he said, pointing out that, "lobster landings are, for the last three years, somewhere on par with 2,500 tons. "That's up from even early 2000." While the landings numbers collected so far are preliminary and could go up or down depending on the final confirmed results, Blanchard said the Fortune Bay area remains one of the brighter spots in the lobster fishery. The landings in that bay continue to hover around 1,000 tons, which are up by about 40 per cent from where the landings for Fortune Bay were in 2000. Things haven't been quite so rosy in neighboring Placentia Bay, however, where the lobster fishery - seemingly down another 50 per cent this year - has fallen on rather hard times. "Placentia Bay is down to about 31 tons this year versus 69 tons last year," Blanchard said. "They've been showing sort of a gradual decline in Placentia Bay even though it's right next door to Fortune Bay." If the numbers do start to drop dramatically in the near future, don't expect lobster aquaculture to cushion the fall. So far, growing lobster hasn't exactly proven to be cheap or easy, but DFO's regional aquaculture coordinator Geoff Perry said the science is getting there. Perry said there are three angles to lobster aquaculture: catching lower value lobster and growing them out to more valuable sizes; doing lobster enhancement to improve the commercial fishery or re-establish lobster in areas that have weakened; or growing them full cycle from egg to plate. Neither of the three, Perry said, have managed to prove viable as yet. As for why that is, it's the same aquaculture story that gets told with most finfish projects: fresh feed is expensive and not available in consistent supply, making the current process problematic from an economics viewpoint. "It's been tried in a lot of, places on both sides of the pond - it's very tough to do," Perry said of lobster aquaculture, particularly the egg to plate option. "All the studies on (full cycle growing) have demonstrated it's not economically feasible," he said. "It is estimated to produce a million one-pound lobsters a year would take about 8,500 tons of food. Just for starters, where would you put 8,500 tons of fresh or frozen seafood?" The three-year management plan for lobster expired in 2005, but it was extended for two years to allow the completion of a comprehensive review by the Fisheries Resource Conservation Council (FRCC). That report has been completed and delivered to the federal minister, but a full review of the report and how its recommendations might be implemented into a new management plan has yet to clew up. Blanchard said provincial consultations are also again in the works leading into the 2008 lobster fishery. – St. John's Telegram (Canada) <<<•>>> Thursday, September 13. 2007 Makah Delegation Heads to D.C. for "Damage Control" NEAH BAY, Wash. - Leaders of the Makah Tribe headed to Washington, D.C., for what they described as "damage control" after an illegal whale hunt that might jeopardize the tribe's long pursuit of legal whaling. Micah McCarty is one of five Makah tribal council members headed to Washington, D.C., to talk with lawmakers about the illegal whale hunt. "Our intent is to assure them we are a law-abiding government," he said. Tuesday's trip was arranged in haste two days after a rogue group of five Makahs hunted and killed a gray whale. There's no set agenda, other than to meet with various agency managers and congressional leaders to assure them the tribe remains committed to the legal process toward a whaling permit. The actions of a handful should not damage the credibility of the whole, tribal leaders said Monday. Micah McCarty, a tribal council member, admitted it would be steep climb. The Makahs' 2,300 members, McCarty said, realize that political leaders and the federal government will watch how the tribe deals with five of its own who could face federal and tribal charges for Saturday's illegal kill. One of the five men, Makah Whaling Commissioner Andy Noel, gained access to a whale gun and boat used in Saturday's hunt by allowing people to believe he and the other four were just going out for practice. Noel declined to comment Monday. McCarty said the tribe will complete its investigation in the coming days and then the men will stand trial before a tribal judge. He said he also expects some form of federal charges against the men. The National Marine Fisheries Service is investigating the incident and no decision has been made on whether to charge the men with a misdemeanor violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, Emily Langlie of the U.S. Attorney's Office said. The fallout from the unauthorized hunt, tribal leaders said, isn't only hard on the illegal whalers, but also on the Makahs as a whole. Many in the tribe are angry that the five men might have destroyed a delicate political alliance toward limited legal whaling. The Humane Society of the United States called on the fisheries service Monday to join with them in seeking contempt-of-court sanctions against those involved in the hunt. Another national group, the Animal Welfare Institute, pronounced itself "outraged" over the hunt. Political fallout from the hunt remains unclear. The Makah delegation headed to Washington, D.C., to meet with Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray and with Rep. Norm Dicks, all Washington Democrats. McCarty said he's not confident anymore in the immediate success of the group's effort to get a Marine Mammal Protection Act waiver to allow limited whaling. The legislation had been earmarked for next year. Whaling is central to the 4,000-year-old Makah history and culture. In 1999, members of the tribe legally hunted and killed their first whale in seven decades, touching off a storm of protests and a legal challenge by animal welfare activists. The 1999 hunt, McCarty said, brought the tribe together and gave members a chance to return to their identity and their roots before European and Spanish invaders arrived. "It's who we are as a people," he said. "It's the way of life our people are hungering for. It's our pre-contact identity." But that identity bucks modern thinking and ethics, activists say. – Seattle Post Intelligencer City, State, Feds Look to Expand Harbor HOMER, Alaska - Local, state and federal entities are currently embarking on a study of what kind of expansion project the maxed-out Homer Harbor could implement to alleviate some of what comes along with the growing waves of boat traffic around Kachemak Bay. During the project’s scoping meeting last week at the Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitor Center, Harbor Master Steve Dean said the traffic breaks down in thirds. One-third is made up of recreational boats, one-third is commercial and the final third is “other.” Dean said the commercial vessels, however, take up two-thirds of the space, and adding more of it would help the local economy. Pat Fitzgerald with the Army Corps of Engineers agreed, stressing that Homer ought to get going with the project, as the need is already showing itself. Fitzgerald said the east side location, so far, best meets the needs, and has the least environmental impacts. East Harbor would expand some 1,500 to 2,000 feet into Kachemak Bay. No specific footprint has been chosen at this early stage in the game. While boat traffic appears to be on a steady incline, Dean said an expansion could even bring more vessels — especially more commercial fishing boats, which would finally have room to tie up here year-round. The expansion would add space for 40 to 60 moorings for large commercial vessels. Adding to the harbor is one of the City of Homer’s top capital improvement plans through 2013. The current port and harbor has 920 stalls, 6,000 feet of transient mooring, five-lane boat-launch ramps on a wood and steel grid, two fuel floats and a commercial fish dock, as well as Pioneer and deep-water docks around the outside. The city, Alaska Department of Transportation and Army Corps of Engineers have initiated a jointly funded feasibility study at the cost of $1.5 million. The Corps is funding half of the study, while the city and state will share the other half. The new harbor would range from 11 to 15 acres, and the intended outline would put the design and permitting phase completion by next year at a cost of $1 million. The breakwater construction and dredging should be finished by 2011 at a cost of around $7 million, and the real deal construction during 2012 and 2013 is scheduled to come in around $12 million. –Homer Tribune
Gigantic Mine Proposal Tests Values of Alaskans NONDALTON, Alaska — Fly overhead in a bush plane — there are no roads between native villages — and see eight giant rivers braiding across hundreds of miles of wetlands, carving ribbons through snow-coned mountains before emptying into Bristol Bay. For more than 100 years, the wealth of this southwest Alaska watershed has sprung from the salmon nurtured by those wild rivers. Bank-to-bank, gill-to-gill, tens of millions of the silvery fish thrash upstream to spawn each year, unrestrained by dams, untainted by pollution. It is the largest sockeye run in the world, accounting for more than one-quarter of wild salmon harvested in the United States, feeding millions at a time fisheries are dwindling around the world. But if fish have made the region's past and present fortune, the future sparkles with the promise of precious metal. Beneath the rolling tundra, straddling the headwaters of two of the watershed's most productive rivers, a Canadian company has discovered North America's biggest deposits of gold and copper, worth about $300 billion in today's soaring commodities markets. The question is whether Alaskans will have to choose between the two — and whether the watershed, its fish and a variety of other wildlife will be casualties of what could be one of the world's biggest mines. The project would entail five earthen dams, of which two would be bigger than China's Three Gorges Dam. Fueled by daily pro and con advertising on Alaska television, the debate is engaging state and federal politicians, commercial fishermen, Eskimo and Indian villages, the international sportfishing community, environmental groups, major foundations and multinational conglomerates in a state that rarely turns down a major mine permit. Northern Dynasty Minerals, of Vancouver, B.C., and partly owned by London-based Rio Tinto, already has drilled hundreds of exploratory holes, some more than a mile deep, on state-owned land in what's known as the Pebble claim. London-based Anglo-American, one of the world's largest mining companies, said this summer that it would spend $1.4 billion for a 50 percent partnership to mine the metal. Opponents say a proposed Pebble mine would destroy one of the planet's last sustainable fisheries, dry up spawning streams and poison lakes and groundwater with acid runoff. Biologists have found that microscopic particles of copper dust can ruin salmon's genetic radar, which enables the fish to return from the bay to the streams where they were spawned. Bristol Bay's other wildlife — including one of the world's largest brown bear populations, a 45,000-head Mulchatna caribou herd, moose, wolverines, beavers and eagles — also depends on clean water. Northern Dynasty officials scoff at what they call an alarmist campaign. What is clear is that the mine — wedged between Lake Clark and Katmai national parks — would entail a staggering scale of industrialization. If the full resource were developed, up to 12 billion tons of earth would be excavated and milled to extract the tiny flecks of metal: about 82 million ounces of gold, 67 billion pounds of copper and 4 billion pounds of molybdenum. Ten square miles of impoundments would fill two valleys, to store in perpetuity more than 2.5 billion tons of waste rock and toxic residue. To transport equipment and ore, a 104-mile road would be cut through undeveloped forest and wetlands, skirting Lake Iliamna, Alaska's largest body of fresh water. The lake is host to rare freshwater seals and is a primary spawning bed for sockeye, the red-fleshed salmon that are among the world's most prized edible fish. Mining would mean high-paying, steady jobs at a time fish prices remain volatile and the North Slope oil that buoyed the economy is dwindling. Pebble would be run for 50 to 80 years, said Bruce Jenkins, Northern Dynasty's chief operating officer, and "go a long way toward eradicating poverty in southwest Alaska forever." More to come? And Pebble may be only the beginning. Northern Dynasty's exploration has sparked a surge of claim-staking, with eight other companies asserting rights over more than 700 square miles nearby. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management this month will decide whether to allow hard-rock drilling on 3,300 square miles of federal land in the area. "A massive mining district would carve the heart out of the watershed," said Richard Jameson, president of the Renewable Resources Coalition, a statewide anti-Pebble group that backs legislation and ballot measures to halt the mine. Opponents are waging an uphill struggle. Because Pebble is on state land, the key decisions will come from the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, whose commissioner, Tom Irwin, is a former mining executive and whose mission is to promote development. Fighting for approval In the past two years, Northern Dynasty has mounted a public-relations campaign, helicoptering in nearly 1,000 politicians, business leaders, teachers and other influential Alaskans to the site. The company has made 800 presentations, in remote villages and in Anchorage, offering residents expense-paid trips. Tribal leaders have been hired as "community-outreach people," and more than 120 local residents are on Northern Dynasty's payroll as $17-an-hour drill assistants, bear guards and in other mine-related jobs. Opponents also have deep-pocket patrons, including Anchorage investor Robert Gillam, head of McKinley Capital Management, who has a private lodge 24 miles from the Pebble claim. The foundation of another wealthy angler, Intel pioneer Gordon Moore, has awarded $5 million to local conservationists, including Earthworks, a Washington, D.C.-based group organizing jewelers to boycott Pebble gold. –Seattle Times Exxon Brings $2.5B Valdez Case to Supreme Court WASHINGTON - Almost 20 years after the Alaskan oil spill, the case isn't over yet. The Exxon Valdez ran aground on a reef in the Prince William Sound nearly 20 years ago. But the complex legal fallout from the ensuing environmental disaster and a record punitive damages award has just reached the shores of the U.S. Supreme Court. Exxon Mobil Corp. recently filed a petition asking the high court to review and overturn a $2.5 billion punitive award -- the largest punitive damages award ever affirmed by a federal appellate court, and larger than the total of all punitive damages awards affirmed by all federal appellate courts in history, according to Exxon's counsel, Walter Dellinger, partner in the Washington, D.C., office of O'Melveny & Myers. Close on the heels of that petition, the punitive damages class of roughly 33,000 Alaskan commercial fishermen, cannery workers, landowners, natives and others, filed a "conditional" cross-petition for review. If the justices agree to hear Exxon's challenge to the punitive award, then they also should grant the class's petition arguing that the $2.5 billion award is not excessive and that due process allows reinstatement of the jury's original award of $5 billion, urges class counsel, David W. Oesting, partner in the Anchorage, Alaska, office of Seattle-based Davis Wright Tremaine. In the past 17 years, the Supreme Court has decided eight cases on punitive damages, reviewing awards made under state law. Exxon, however, is asking the high court to examine the $2.5 billion award -- reduced from $5 billion by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals -- through the lens of general maritime law. Three questions At the Supreme Court, Exxon's lawyer Dellinger asks three questions: whether maritime law permits a shipowner to be punished vicariously for the conduct of the ship's master when the owner did not countenance or participate in that conduct; whether maritime law can expand the remedies that Congress provided in the controlling statute -- here the Clean Water Act -- by adding a punitive damages remedy, and whether this $2.5 billion award is within the limits allowed by maritime law or, if it is, does it comport with constitutional due process. Baker v. Exxon Shipping Co., No. 07-219. His answer to all three, not surprisingly, is no. Dellinger said he expects about a dozen amicus briefs to be filed supporting his petition, most from organizations in the maritime world. The International Chamber of Shipping, which represents most of the world's ocean-going commercial ships, and the American Institute of Marine Underwriters have already requested consent to file amicus briefs. Oesting, appointed one of two lead class counsel in 1989, said he was not surprised that Exxon filed in the Supreme Court. But he said he was surprised by the maritime law focus of the appeal, which received little emphasis in the lower appellate court briefing. "It's recognition they had ridden the constitutional due process-limitation horse into the ground and it wasn't going to get them anywhere for purposes of review," said Oesting, whose co-counsel died in 1995, as have 20 percent of his clients during the litigation. While that approach may pique the interest of four justices necessary to grant review, Oesting said the argument is "quite a reach." Murky waters The Exxon petition raises important questions of federal maritime law, said John Paul Jones, a maritime law scholar at the University of Richmond School of Law who is drafting an amicus brief supporting high court review on behalf of a group of law professors. "The fundamental questions are: Does a federal court sitting as a court of admiralty have the power to award punitive damages in any case, and in a case that has certain characteristics such as this one?" he said. Jones and others said the Supreme Court has issued two decisions in which it appears to take for granted that admiralty courts can award punitive damages. But, Jones added, "That is far short of a holding and far short of certainty in the law." Various courts have said on many occasions that punitive damages are available under general maritime law, but there are very few cases in which they actually have been awarded, particularly in the corporate context, said maritime law scholar Robert Force of Tulane University School of Law. The Exxon case also could provide an opportunity for revealing the positions of high court's newest justices on limits on punitive awards, some experts noted. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. have yet to rule on the question of an excessive award. Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas have said repeatedly that they do not believe the Constitution limits punitive awards, and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg also has been skeptical recently. But the lens of general maritime law as well as the potential role of the Clean Water Act in this case could make a difference in some justices' views, particularly those of Scalia and Thomas, they added. –law.com Fish Farm Still Accounting For Atlantic Salmon Clayoquot Sound, British Columbia - A Clayoquot Sound salmon farm still doesn’t know how many fish may have escaped after workers accidentally tore a one-meter hole in a net pen last week. Alistair Haughton, deputy managing director of Mainstream Canada, said his company is trying to confirm whether a local native man recovered two Atlantic salmon. He said workers are still catching 600 to 1,000 Atlantic salmon a day – salmon trapped between the damaged containment net, also known as a grower net, and an outer predator net – and workers have not seen any Atlantic salmon swimming around the farm. Haughton also said the company won’t drop seine nets around the site – as originally planned – because the nets would wreak havoc on wild salmon species like Coho. “The collateral damage would be high,” said Haughton. Located in the traditional territory of the Ahousaht First Nation, the Saranac farm holds 10, 30-by-30 meter pens. Each pen is about 15 meters deep, and is protected by an inner net, known as a containment, or grower, net, and an outer net, known as a predator net. The company grows Atlantic salmon. During a harvesting accident last week, workers who were using a shackle tore a one-meter hole in a containment net. Haughton said the net pen held about 20,000 Atlantic salmon. Haughton said Mainstream Canada has ordered bigger gillnets, which the company will drop between the damaged containment, or grower net, and an outer predator net to catch even more Atlantic salmon. Members of the Ahousaht First Nation declined comment this weekend. – westcoaster.ca <<<•>>> Friday, September 13. 2007 Boat Burns in Prince William Sound ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The Coast Guard is investigating the cause of a boat fire aboard the 50-foot fishing vessel Kepala that occurred Tuesday near Black Point at the northern entrance to the Tititlek Narrows in Prince William Sound. No injuries have been reported and no pollution has been observed. The nearby Good Samaritan vessel Sound Pacer notified the Coast Guard that the Kepala was on fire and Coast Guard crews were dispatched to respond around 1 p.m. Tuesday. The three personnel on board deployed their life raft and abandoned ship. They were recovered by the Good Samaritan fishing vessel Tri-K that was in the area and taken to Cordova. The vessel burned to the waterline and drifted to shore near where it caught fire. The Coast Guard is currently discussing salvage options with the owner. An overflight by a Coast Guard helicopter personnel and observations by Marine Safety Unit Valdez personnel aboard a Station Valdez small boat today revealed that the vessel's hull is still intact and aground on the beach. Again no pollution was observed. The Kepala's homeport is listed with the State of Alaska as Kodiak. The Sound Pacer is an 82-foot fishing vessel out of Cordova. The Tri-K is a 51-foot vessel also out of Cordova. – U.S. Coast Guard Shell Packs Up Its Tent ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Shell will start releasing contract workers and soon could disband its offshore drilling fleet due to a federal court order blocking the oil company's plans to drill exploratory wells this fall in the Beaufort Sea. The retrenchment does not mean Shell is abandoning its drilling goals, company spokesman Curtis Smith said Wednesday. The Dutch energy giant is moving ahead with offshore seismic testing in the Beaufort as well as in the Chukchi Sea, he said. "This is just the first year in a multiyear exploratory program," he said. "Shell is committed to Alaska." Several organizations including the North Slope Borough, the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission and environmental groups on Aug. 15 won an indefinite ban on drilling from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. The groups are arguing that industrial noise and potential spills could hurt migratory whales and the Beaufort Sea ecosystem. The court order idled Shell's two drilling ships, one anchored at Dutch Harbor and another in western Canada, and now the company will begin a "staged release of contract personnel," as no drilling appears likely this year. For its $200 million exploration program, Shell had recruited and trained more than 700 people, including 350 Alaskans, Smith said. The people are generally employed by contractors hired by Shell. Smith said he couldn't specify how many would be let go. Many of the jobs affected are associated with the drill ship Frontier Discoverer, now anchored at Dutch Harbor along with five support vessels including icebreakers, Smith said. The Discoverer, under long-term contract to Shell, likely will sail away soon to a drilling job elsewhere in the world, he said. Shell has asked the San Francisco court to lift its no-drilling order, and if that happens quickly, the company could reactivate the Frontier Discoverer or use its other drill ship, the Kulluk, to probe its Sivulliq prospect, thought to hold hundreds of millions of barrels of oil. The prospect is west of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge about 16 miles offshore. The seismic testing involves a different set of ships, including the Gilivar, a seismic vessel operated by Shell contractor WesternGeco. Several support boats will carry people and equipment to observe and listen for whales and other marine mammals, Smith said. Aircraft also will be used. "Shell regrets it must take this action," the company said of the job cuts. The company said talks are "ongoing" with North Slope residents who question the effects of drilling on subsistence whale hunts. – Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy writing as The Highliner in the Anchorage Daily News
Watch Out for the Receding Tide PORT McNEILL, British Columbia – Thanks to help from local residents, an Alert Bay man’s boat is once again afloat. The Anu, a former commercial fishing boat, was tied up at the dock next to the boat ramp Sunday afternoon. “I was unloading some stuff and the tide went out faster than I expected,” said the Alert Bay boat owner who refused to give his name to the Gazette. “The bow was already dry and I tried to go full-bore reverse but it wouldn’t budge.” Low tide was at 6:45 p.m. and as it receded the vessel slowly tipped over, resting on the dock. “It was the worst possible place to put his boat,” said Harbor Manager Hiltje Binner. “Locals know it is shallow there, but he is a new boat owner.” Binner says that dock is not intended for off loading, but only temporary tie up while a boat is being launched or taken out of the water. Local residents came to the rescue as the tide came in, using ropes and block and tackle to upright the vessel. Binner says the town contributed some ropes, equipment, pump and a generator. A spill boom was also put in place around the boat as a precautionary measure against fuel leaks. “We were really, really lucky,” said Binner. “There was no damage to the dock, just one bolt was loose. And no fuel spilled.” While there isn’t a fine for tying up at the dock, Binner says the owner would have been billed if there had been any damage to town facilities. – North Island Gazette, Port Hardy Seaport Security Boosted on 9/11 Anniversary TERMINAL ISLAND, Calif. - Security operations in the nation's busiest seaport are being increased this week on the sixth anniversary of 9/11. The effort is not in response to any specific threat, officials said, but an opportunity for law enforcement agencies to gain additional joint training in boat inspection techniques and water security. "You can expect to see divers checking around piers and cruise ship terminals, canine teams boarding boats and people on the water looking for anything out of the ordinary," said Coast Guard Lt. Andrew Munoz. Pleasure boaters, commercial fishermen and cargo ships visiting the Long Beach-Los Angeles port complex this week can expect to be visited by officers from one of several agencies participating. In addition to anti-terrorism checks, officers will be looking for drugs, weapons, counterfeit merchandise and other contraband. Divers will also be checking underwater pilings and piers for anything unusual, and officers will employ robots equipped with underwater cameras to make additional below-surface checks. Security at the port complex has increased dramatically in recent years as the ports' stature and significance to the national economy have grown. Last year, dockworkers here handled more than $300 billion worth of cargo - most of it consumer goods imported from Japan and China. The ports are also a key gateway for oil and chemical imports into Southern California. Since 9/11, grants totaling more than $100 million have been provided to port authorities for enhanced security features that include video cameras, radiation detectors and more personnel, said Port of Long Beach Spokesman Art Wong. The Port of Los Angeles Police Department is in the process of doubling its numbers, from about 100 to more than 200 sworn officers, and the Port of Long Beach recently broke ground on a new $21-million security center on Pier J. The U.S. Coast Guard, which oversees water safety, has also beefed up its presence in San Pedro Bay by bringing in additional boats and officers here in recent years. This week, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department deployed members of its elite Bomb Squad, HazMat and SWAT teams to the harbor as well. Other agencies participating include Customs and Border Protection, Orange County Sheriff's Department, Long Beach and Los Angeles Police and Los Angeles Port Police. Local fire departments are also chipping in. "An operation like this allows us to practice working together and practice strategies to ensure public safety," Munoz noted. – Long Beach Press-Telegram, California Makah Tribe Apologizes for Whale Death WASHINGTON, D.C. - Leaders of the Makah Tribe apologized to federal officials and members of Congress on Wednesday for the unauthorized killing of a gray whale off the coast of Washington state. At separate meetings with the state's senators and officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, tribal leaders condemned the illegal whale hunt. It has drawn international attention to the tribe's efforts to revive its traditional right to whale hunting. Five Makah men are under investigation by tribal authorities and the National Marine Fisheries Service in the killing of the California gray whale. The whale was harpooned and shot several times Saturday near Neah Bay, Wash. icah McCarty, a tribal council member who attended the meetings, said the hunt "inflamed an already controversial issue." But he said he was optimistic it would not affect the request before NOAA for a waiver to allow ceremonial and subsistence whaling of as many as five whales a year. "It's a public relations setback," McCarty said at a news conference. NOAA's chief, Conrad Lautenbacher, and the agency's fisheries director, William Hogarth, met with tribal leaders. A spokeswoman, Monica Allen, said Hogarth is convinced that "the tribe is taking this very seriously, and they are on top of it." Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said the illegal hunt was "a very serious situation," but commended the Makah leaders "for immediately condemning this rogue act and taking steps to prosecute the offenders." Brian Gorman, also a spokesman for the fisheries service, said the five men arrested last weekend could face civil penalties of up to $20,000 each and up to a year in jail. Criminal prosecution under the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act is rare, he said. Gorman confirmed that the fisheries service was nearing a decision on the tribe's waiver request. "The episode over the weekend has certainly slowed things down. We're going to have to reconsider the whole process. It doesn't mean we're withdrawing from it," he said. "We need just to have a little breathing room." – Associated Press |