UA and National Lab Guide Two Alaska Communities Closer to Meeting Energy Goals

Alaska Center for Energy and Power

UA and National Lab Guide Two Alaska Communities Closer to Meeting Energy Goals

For the past few months, community members from Ouzinkie and the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association have each worked with national laboratories on projects to address their community’s remote energy needs. 

They are two of 11 islanded and remote community energy projects across the country receiving technical assistance from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project. Ouzinkie and ALFA projects are facilitated by local regional partners from the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Alaska Center for Energy and Power and the Institute of Social and Economic Research. 

The Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association is a collective of fishermen from throughout Alaska, centered in Sitka. The fishing fleet relies on diesel fuel for all of its energy, and its ETIPP project is seeking opportunities to reduce fishermen’s dependence on diesel. ALFA’s Chandler Kemp has been working with the labs, along with ALFA’s executive director, Linda Behnken. “NREL and Sandia National Labs are helping ALFA envision an energy transition for the fishing fleet. The labs are helping design a hybrid diesel-electric vessel and developing a long-term feasibility study of hydrogen fuel cell systems,” said Kemp. 

Meanwhile, the City of Ouzinkie sits off the northeastern coast of Kodiak Island. In efforts to keep electricity flowing for its 150 residents, the Ouzinkie is currently 100% reliant on diesel fuel for generators to power the town — a situation common around Alaska. Mayor Elijah Jackson described it as their “most problematic energy challenge.” Ouzinkie has a hydro turbine, but needed repairs have been postponed by Covid-19 delays, Jackson explained. 

“With the hydro running, our fuel bill is cut in half,” he said. “Right now, we are spending over $17,000 a month on fuel, and this has been a burden to our entire community. The ETIPP project is helping us find renewable energy sources to help offset the reliance on diesel fuel.”

The City of Ouzinkie continues to collaborate with the Native Village of Ouzinkie tribe and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and others to optimize its use of renewables and storage.

Three additional ETIPP projects in Alaska are facilitated by Renewable Energy Alaska Project as a regional partner. They include a variety of energy storage, hydro and resource assessment projects in Wainwright, Dillingham and Sitka. Communities interested in applying for the second round of projects can do so through spring 2022.

For more information, follow the Alaska Rural Energy Partnership Facebook page. Communities interested in applying for the upcoming cohort can visit the DOE website and contact Patty Eagan at pmeagan@alaska.edu.

A fishing boat in Southeast Alaska. Photo by Josh Roper Photography.

Tongass Roadless Rule Comment Period Now OPEN - Submit Your Comments!

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) published the Roadless Rule in 2001. The Roadless Rule prohibited road construction and timber harvest in inventoried roadless areas, including the Tongass National Forest, protecting over 9 million acres of large, relatively undisturbed landscapes.  This action created space for the region’s fish and wildlife for the benefit of the species themselves and human uses such as wildlife viewing, recreation and commercial, sport and subsistence fishing. 

 In 2018, the USDA accepted a petition from the State of Alaska requesting that the agency exempt the Tongass National Forest from the Roadless Rule.  The public response was overwhelmingly in favor of keeping the Roadless Rule in place to protect fish and wildlife values and the region’s socio-economic well-being.  The USDA instead deferred to the industrial logging companies and in October 2020 exempted the Tongass National Forest from the Roadless Rule.

 On November 23, 2021, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) published its proposal to reinstate the Roadless Rule and restore protections to more than nine million acres of inventoried roadless areas on the Tongass National Forest.  The agency determined that reinstating the Roadless Rule would help to conserve the world’s largest remaining, intact, old-growth temperate rainforest and support biodiversity and carbon sequestration.  The USDA also determined that reinstating the Roadless Rule would support Southeast Alaska communities that depend on the fisheries economy.  The public has sixty days – until January 24, 2022 – to comment on the proposed rule.

 ALFA requests that fishermen, fishing support businesses, community members and individuals concerned about climate, salmon habitat and biodiversity write in support of reinstating the Roadless Rule.  The Roadless Rule protects forests that are a global champion in sequestering carbon, benefitting the entire planet.  And the Roadless Rule protects numerous Southeast Alaska watersheds, providing habitat for forest fish harvested by our fishermen.  Comments will become part of the public record and affirm broad public support for Roadless Rule protections. 

Information on submitting comments can be found at:
Submit Your Roadless Rule Comments to the Forest Service Now! -Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov/document/FS-2021-0007-0006

Click Here to read ALFA’s Roadless Rule Fishing Communities Facts

ALFA and The Boat Company's comments to NMFS on Halibut abundance-based managment

Read ALFA’s and The Boat Company’s comments to NMFS on the proposed amendment to the BSAI Groundfish FMP on Halibut abundance-based management.

The Truth About Bycatch in Alaska Fisheries Committee of the Alaska State Legislature

November 2021  

On November 15, 2021, the Fisheries Committee held a hearing on bycatch and its significant adverse  effects on Alaskans and Alaska’s fishery resources. Unfortunately, the presentations were very general  and did not present both sides of the issue, and certainly did not reflect the concerns of ordinary  Alaskans who suffer as a result of excessive bycatch.  

Click here to see images and article

Alaska lawmakers in both parties demand action on excessive fisheries bycatch

Anchorage Daily News

By Laine Welch | Fish Factor

November 23, 2021

A grilling on fish that is taken as bycatch didn’t satisfy the appetites of a bipartisan group of Alaska legislators at a special hearing on Nov. 15 by the House Fisheries Committee.

Read the article at Anchorage Daily News

ACTION ALERT: Comment Now on Abundance-Based Management of Bering Sea halibut bycatch caps

After five years of work and delay, final action to reduce Bering Sea halibut bycatch is scheduled for December 2021.

The Council’s comment period on Abundance-Based Management of Bering Sea halibut bycatch caps is now open and will be open through November 30th. You have three options for commenting: 1) sign onto this letter 2) submit your own comments; 3) sign up to testify to the Council via their virtual platform (likely December 9th or 10th); 4) sign onto this letter, submit your own comments, AND sign up to testify!

If you are submitting your own comments or preparing to testify, please read the letter that is linked above for background information, then include in your comments:

1) The heading : AGENDA ITEM C-2
2) your name, where you live, and your connection to the halibut fishery
3) your request that the Council correct the analysis (or Environmental Impact Statement) for this action to include the impacts of bycatch on the Gulf of Alaska halibut fisheries and communities
4) your strong support for Alternative 4—the only alternative that comes close to restoring equity in the halibut fishery.
5) anything else you want to add from the letter or your own experience/knowledge/concern about bycatch and the need to reduce it.

You can submit your comments here
To listen/testify to the Advisory Panel and the Council, join the adobe connect link starting December 2nd (AP) and December 9th (Council) and sign up to testify under Agenda Item C-2.

NOTE: The list for public testimony closes once testimony begins; be sure to sign up BEFORE public testimony starts!

REMEMBER- what happens in the Bering Sea has an immediate and a long term effect on halibut stocks in the Gulf of Alaska! Please do not expect someone else to take care of the halibut resource and your fishery! Sign the letter and write your own comments TODAY.

SEE BELOW FOR TEXT OF SIGN ON LETTER:

November 30, 2021

Simon Kinneen, Chairman

North Pacific Fishery Management Council

Anchorage, Alaska

Submitted electronically

Regarding: C2 – Halibut Abundance-Based Management 

Dear Mr. Kinneen and members of the Council:

We, the undersigned Alaskans, strongly support meaningful reduction in halibut bycatch, and for the upcoming Council meeting, that means we strongly support Alternative 4 – the only of the four abundance-based management (ABM) of halibut bycatch alternatives before the Council that would provide any meaningful reduction to halibut bycatch and therefore any meaningful benefit for Alaska’s halibut fisheries.

Never before have Alaskans from all regions and sectors come together in this way to support Council action to protect our fisheries and communities.

BACKGROUND

Alaska is famous for its bountiful fisheries resources, including salmon, halibut, crab, sablefish, and herring. It is also well-known for its sustainable stewardship of fisheries resources. For more than half a century, with inevitable fluctuations, the resources off our shores have been successfully managed, and have provided food and livelihoods for our people and communities.

However, one of the most iconic and valuable of our resources – Pacific halibut – is facing a crisis that threatens the way of life for commercial and sport halibut fishermen, and the economic driver for halibut-dependent communities throughout coastal Alaska.

The Bering Sea (BS) halibut fishery has been crippled by the devastating direct effects of bycatch by large factory trawlers that come north from Seattle to fish for various groundfish species, which are processed at sea and primarily exported to Asia. Bycatch and discard of halibut during those BS groundfish fisheries also affects the availability of halibut to all users throughout the species’ range.

Halibut stocks have declined substantially over the past 30 years. As halibut stocks declined, bycatch mortality consumed a larger and larger share of the available halibut. Bycatch mortality – dead halibut – is “taken off the top” by the managers at the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC), and the commercial and sport (“directed”) halibut fisheries get whatever is left.

This is unfair to Alaska and Alaskans.

Bycatch limits must be reduced for Alaska-based commercial and sport fisheries to survive. The future of halibut IFQ holders, sport charter operations, and communities hangs in the balance.

HERE ARE THE FACTS:

• Every Alaskan pays the price for bycatch.

• Since 2015, trawlers have killed and discarded more than 3.1 million halibut in the Pribilof Island area of the Bering Sea (Area 4CDE). This is eight times more halibut than the Pribilof Island halibut fishery landed, based on mean weight. At an average price of $5.10 per pound, this amounts to $56 million in ex-vessel revenue lost by local halibut fishermen and fishing communities in the Pribilof Island area alone.

• For 2021, the IPHC projects that bycatch will account for 63% of all halibut removals in Area 4CDE, based on the 3-year average of bycatch mortality. The directed fishery landings will receive only 35%. 

• If bycatch users take their current full limit,  bycatch would account for 97.5% of halibut removals in Area 4CDE. The directed fishery would receive just 1.7%. This means bycatch users would receive more than 5 million pounds of halibut, leaving only 90,000 pounds for the halibut fishermen. 

• There is a net migration of halibut from the Bering Sea to the Gulf of Alaska, hence halibut bycatch directly affects all who depend on halibut in the Gulf as well as the Bering Sea.

• The recent average annual catch limit for the entire Southeast Alaska commercial halibut fishery is LESS than the annual Bering Sea halibut bycatch.

• In Southcentral ports like Homer and Kodiak, commercial and sport harvest of halibut has declined by more than 50% since 2010 to conserve the halibut resource, while halibut bycatch limits have stayed the same.

• Sport charter operations in all areas of Alaska have reduced allowable halibut size, or lost one or more charter days per week, with each lost day representing thousands in lost revenue to that small business alone, along with associated tax income to the community, and related local expenditures by the businesses and their clients.

• Each time an Alaska business or community loses income as a response to halibut stock changes, those businesses and communities financially subsidize the trawl fleets, whose halibut bycatch is guaranteed. This subsidy is inequitable, unsustainable and is not supported by Alaska’s fishermen, fishing businesses and communities.

• Bycatch savings through implementation of an ABM program may provide meaningful differences in annual allocation to the sport sector.

ACTION NEEDED

NPFMC is currently considering an ABM system for the Amendment 80 sector (bottom trawlers) that would tie bycatch limits to halibut abundance, with final action on Halibut ABM at its December meeting. ABM means that as the halibut resource rises or falls, the limits on bycatch by the bottom trawl sector would rise or fall, as the catch limits do for the directed halibut fisheries.

We strongly support Alternative 4 – the only alternative being considered that would provide any meaningful benefit to the directed fishery.

Alternatives 2 and 3 do relatively little to reduce the bottom trawlers’ bycatch limits at low levels of halibut abundance, and offer insignificant improvement from the status quo.

Meaningful ABM creates badly needed conservation incentives. These incentives are lost entirely under the current non-constraining PSC limits because groundfish trawlers feel no effects from low abundance — and have no incentive to reduce halibut bycatch or take steps to conserve the halibut resource — because the impacts of low abundance are borne entirely by halibut commercial and sport fishermen.

We ask — and expect — the State of Alaska to use its leadership position at the NPFMC to select Alternative 4.

Alaskans believe in wise resource management and protecting the fisheries that Alaskans rely on. We ask that the State of Alaska take a leadership position in advancing these principles and selecting Alternative 4.

Sincerely,

[Alaska Stakeholders]

NATURAL RESOURCES SUBCOMMITTEE HOLDS HEARING ON HUFFMAN FISHERIES MANAGEMENT BILL, LEGISLATION SLATED TO MOVE FORWARD

NOVEMBER 16, 2021

Washington, D.C. – Today, the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife, chaired by Representative Jared Huffman (CA-02), examined the Sustaining America’s Fisheries for the Future Act, authored by Reps. Huffman and Ed Case (HI-01). The legislation aims to update and reauthorize the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA), the primary law governing federal fisheries management and conservation that has made the U.S. a global leader in sustainable fisheries.

Click here to watch a recording of Rep. Huffman’s remarks. A full recording of the hearing can be found here. 

“America is truly a leader in sustainable fisheries management, but the MSA hasn’t been reauthorized in over a decade. And while it’s an important law that has stood the test of time, it needs some updates, particularly concerning the impacts of climate change,” said Rep. Huffman. “Through our uniquely inclusive, transparent process, Rep. Case and I were able to create an MSA reauthorization bill that meets the challenges of the climate crisis and puts the focus back on the needs of fishing communities. From the listening sessions to taking comments, we have genuinely heard from stakeholders all over the board, I’m excited that we were able to take the bill one step further today with this hearing.”

“After a series of stakeholder listening sessions since the fall of 2019, including one in my home state of Hawai‘i, I am pleased that our Subcommittee took this important step forward to improve the management of our oceans and fisheries, which are under accelerating stress.” said Rep Case. “It is more critical now than ever that any extractive practices focus on sustaining and conserving our entire marine ecosystem. The Magnuson-Stevens Act has been and will continue to be our main tool for establishing and administering sound fishing practices and we have to be sure it works now and into the next generations.” 

In an effort to include as many opinions and viewpoints as possible, Reps. Huffman and Case held eight listening sessions and covered seven management regions on their nationwide fisheries listening tour. They heard from 80 different experts and stakeholders, in addition to public comments from dozens of members of the public in person and online.

During the hearing, committee members heard testimony from industry experts and stakeholders.

“HR4690 makes several important changes to improve equity in the fishery management process overall, and for Tribes in particular […] In addition, HR4690 makes important changes to provide more balance in the Council system by requiring broader representation and more balanced appointments. These are essential changes to a broken system, and we support them wholeheartedly,” Ms. Mary Peltola, Executive Director, Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission stated in her written testimony. “We are heartened by the forward-thinking solutions presented in the Sustaining America’s Fisheries for the Future Act which will give us the tools we need to restore abundant oceans and continue practicing our way of life.”

“The Fisheries for the Future Act continues this progress by offering comprehensive updates to address current challenges, strengthen sustainable management approaches, and prepare our fisheries for the impacts of climate change,” Ms. Meredith Moore, Director - Fish Conservation Program, Ocean Conservancy stated in her written testimony. “The proposed changes to the MSA contained in the Sustaining America’s Fisheries for the Future Act would provide a path to address the impacts of climate change on our fisheries and prepare for the changes ahead in the near and long term. These changes to the law are needed because every part of the conservation and management of fisheries—the research and survey process, stock assessments, management decisions and fishing practices—will be affected by climate change”

What Supporters are Saying

“With the Sustaining America’s Fisheries for the Future Act, Chairman Jared Huffman and Rep. Ed Case have given Congress a good starting point for ensuring that our fisheries management system continues to support American livelihoods and coastal economies and is ready to meet the challenges of the future – including for the first time addressing the effects of climate change on U.S. ocean fisheries by incorporating climate science and adaptation strategies into management decisions. The Marine Fish Conservation Network thanks the House Subcommittee for taking action today to move the Sustaining America’s Fisheries for the Future Act forward, and we thank Chairman Huffman in particular for his leadership in listening to stakeholders around the country and addressing many of their needs, hopes, and concerns in this bill,” said Robert Vandermark, Executive Director of Marine Fish Conservation Network.

“By investing in science that supports ecosystem-based fishery management and giving managers the tools they need to act with precaution in the face of climate change, the Huffman-Case bill would help preserve the integrity of our ocean ecosystems and sustain fishing opportunities for future generations,” said Wild Oceans President Rob Kramer. “Sustaining America’s Fisheries for the Future Act of 2021 recognizes that oceans are warming, fish are moving, and managers do not have the adequate tools to address the consequences. Provisions in the Act maintain the conservation gains of past reauthorizations while building more resilient fisheries that support healthy ecosystems and fishing communities in the face of climate change.”

“Climate change is challenging fisheries management as it has never before been challenged. Rep. Huffman’s Magnuson-Stevens reauthorization bill is an important step toward evolving our fisheries management system to respond quickly to change, buffer stocks against sudden shifts in abundance or distribution, and build resilience into ecosystems by expanding habitat protection.  We look forward to working with Rep. Huffman and the Alaska delegation to address climate change in ways that keep our fisheries and our fishing communities healthy in the years ahead,” said Linda Behnken, Executive Director of Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association.

“Congressman Huffman's bill is a good first step toward addressing climate change, creating more resilient fisheries, and ensuring long-term sustainability of fish populations and our national fishing traditions,” said Kevin Scribner, Founder of Forever Wild Seafood.

“Our ocean and its vast resources are put in the hands of our government for all people and need to be well managed to conserve fish populations, protect other wildlife, sustain fishing communities, and protect our children’s inheritance. Public opinion is clear that Americans from across our country – both coastal and in the heartland – care deeply about the ocean and its life. The Ocean Project looks forward to working closely with Chairman Huffman and other leaders on both sides of the aisle to ensure that our nation leads the world with strong, science-based fisheries conservation policies,” said The Ocean Project Director Bill Mott.

Additional Resources

Text of the bill can be found here.

A one-pager of the bill can be found here.

A section by section of the bill can be found here.

Operation Fish Drop Delivers Salmon to Yukon River Villagers

FISHERMEN'S NEWS ONLINE, NEWS

Residents of upper Yukon River villages in Alaska who were banned from fishing in the summer of 2021 due to weak runs of keta and Chinook salmon are getting another gift of wild Alaska salmon, thanks to the efforts of a Stanford University senior of Alaska Native heritage

Political science major Sam Schimmel, who is of Kenaitze Indian and St. Lawrence Island Siberian Yupik Eskimo descent, worked with the Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust in Sitka, Alaska, to get 2,000 pounds of filleted Bristol Bay sockeyes to the Tanana Chiefs Conference in Fairbanks this past week for distribution to villages in need.

Fishing communities from the mouth of the Yukon to the Canadian border were banned from commercial and subsistence fishing this past summer because of weak salmon runs. Schimmel had helped coordinate efforts earlier in the year, with the Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust, to distribute 3,300 pounds of Bristol Bay sockeye fillets to needy families in the Anchorage area.

Schimmel was also a speaker at the start of United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, urging attendees to get more involved in helping others. After his talk, he said he was soon approached by the CEO of the World Wildlife Fund, who asked how he could help.

His own concern, Schimmel said, came as the COVID-19 pandemic spread to Alaska in early 2020, when he realized that core needs of rural residents were not being met, including traditional foods like salmon.

“To address food insecurity, cultural insecurity and to combat poor mental outcome, higher rates of alcoholism and depression, that’s what brought this program together,” he explained.

The Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust, an affiliate of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association in Sitka, has a similar concern about providing wild Alaska seafood for those in need.

The trust donates fish in Sitka each week for those in need. “We could see there was a real need, especially with the pandemic. Since their effort began in the summer of 2020, the trust has donated some 630,000 meals, program manager Natalie Sattler said.

More information about Operation Fish Drop is online at https://indigenousstrengths.com/operation-fish-drop and about the Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust at https://thealaskatrust.org.

Achieving 30x30 for Our Coasts, Oceans, and Communities

Register for a free 2-day virtual conference on “Achieving 30x30 for Our Coasts, Oceans, and Communities”, November 9th and 10th, 2021, 9:00 am – 1:30 pm PST. This conference will explore the 30×30 movement to protect 30% of coasts and oceans by 2030, reversing the negative impacts of biodiversity decline and climate change.

To register for the conference and to see the full agenda, please visit the conference WEBSITE.

The conference will be translated live in Spanish.

ALFA comments on Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for a proposed amendment to the BSAI Groundfish FMP

 Glenn Merrill, Assistant Regional Administrator 

Sustainable Fisheries Division, Alaska Region NMFS 

P.O. Box 21668 

Juneau, AK 99802-1668 

Submitted via http://www.regulations.gov 

NOAA-NMFS-2021-0074 

Dear Mr. Merrill: 

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for a proposed amendment to the BSAI Groundfish FMP that would implement abundance-based management for halibut prohibited species catch (PSC) limits.1 I submit the following comments on behalf of The Boat Company and Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association (ALFA). The Boat Company and ALFA both promote conservation while operating in and advocating for Southeast Alaska’s coastal fishing communities that significantly depend on access to the halibut resource for commercial fishing, sport fishing and subsistence. 

ALFA is a commercial fishing organization that represents and advocates for community-based, small commercial fishing businesses. ALFA represents commercial fishing vessel owners, deckhands, and business members from nearly every community in southeast Alaska who participate in, or otherwise support and benefit from the commercial fishing economy.2 ALFA’s members have also historically participated in Bering Sea fisheries, including residents of Bering Sea communities. ALFA has received national and statewide recognition for its work to rebuild fish stocks, address food security in Alaska and beyond, improve fishery monitoring and to protect fish habitat and ensure the socio-economic viability of coastal communities. 

The Boat Company operates multi-day conservation and wilderness tours in Southeast Alaska aboard its two larger vessels, the 145’ M/V Liseron and the 157’ M/V Mist Cove. Visitors on these vessels participate in a variety of activities as part of their visit that include environmental education, kayaking, hiking, beachcombing as well as sport fishing from smaller vessels. For many clients, the opportunity to fish for halibut is a highlight of their Alaska experience.

Click here to read the full comments.