Anchorage Daily News
By Sean Maguire, Michelle Theriault Boots
June 8, 2023
State officials are scrambling to open the fishery after it was effectively closed by a federal judge — but damage has already been done.
More than 100 salmon trollers packed a Sitka meeting Wednesday night with sharp questions about the future of an iconic Southeast Alaska fishery, facing what could be an unprecedented full shutdown of this year’s chinook trolling season.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 3, 2023
Juneau, AK - On May 2nd, U.S. District Court Judge Jones submitted his decision to adopt U.S. Magistrate Judge Michelle Peterson’s recommended order to suspend Southeast Alaska’s Chinook troll fishery. The closure is driven by the Wild Fish Conservancy’s misguided claim that Southeast’s troll fishery poses harm to Washington’s Southern Resident Killer Whale population.
“The court’s decision is disappointing, not only because it puts the future of Alaska’s small-boat fishing families in jeopardy, but it distracts from the larger, more urgent issues that are causing the continued decline of the Pacific Northwest’s Chinook and orca populations,” said Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association Director, Linda Behnken. “The science and data clearly shows that habitat loss, dams, climate change, water pollution, and urbanization are harming salmon and orcas in the Northwest - not our hook-and-line fishery that operates almost 1000 miles away and has done so sustainably for over 100 years.”
Southeast Alaska’s troll fishery directly employs 1,500 fishermen, with 85% of troll fishery permit holders living in Southeast Alaska, and is consistently one of Southeast Alaska’s top three most valuable fisheries, providing renewable income for fishing families living in the region’s rural, isolated communities. Prized around the world for its premium quality salmon, the troll fishery generates $148 million annually in economic outputs that include restaurant sales, consumer purchases, transportation jobs and other benefits accruing throughout the West Coast of the U.S. and beyond.
“The Wild Fish Conservancy continues to miss the mark when it comes to salmon conservation; instead of attacking local communities and families that rely on wild salmon, they could be supporting meaningful action that leads to real solutions,” said Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association Board Member and commercial fisherman, Jeff Farvour. “Our fleet and organization will continue to fight Wild Fish Conservancy’s spurious lawsuit and do everything we can to protect the salmon that our fishery and families depend on.”
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Media contacts:
Linda Behnken, Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association - 907-738-3615
By Heather Hardcastle and Linda Behnken
Updated: April 9, 2023Published: April 9, 2023
For more than 100 years, trollers — small-boat, hook-and-line salmon fishermen — have been integral to Southeast Alaska’s economy and way of life. Southeast’s trollers have the highest state residency rate and live in nearly every Southeast Alaska community. This year, however, instead of preparing for the coming fishing season, trollers are fighting to save their jobs, their communities and the future of wild salmon.
Washington-based Wild Fish Conservancy has filed a lawsuit against the National Marine Fisheries Service over salmon management. The Wild Fish Conservancy alleges Alaskans are catching too many of the chinook salmon that Washington’s southern resident killer whale population depends on. Should the Wild Fish Conservancy be successful in court, hundreds of Alaska fishing families will lose their livelihoods, as will the processors and marine businesses tied to the troll fleet.
Wild Fish Conservancy’s claim is misguided and completely ignores the salmon’s complex life cycle — which, for species like chinook, can cover thousands of miles. Instead of addressing the actual causes of wild salmon decline — dams, large-scale mines, urbanization, water pollution and vessel traffic in the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia — the lawsuit tries to place the conservation burden on Alaska. Thankfully, Alaska’s elected officials at the municipal, state and federal levels have taken a strong stand in support of Southeast trollers; they understand the fallacies and dangers of this lawsuit. The Alaska State Senate recently passed House Joint Resolution 5, formalizing the Legislature’s support for trollers with a call on state and federal agencies to do everything they can to fight the lawsuit and protect fishing families.
For decades, Alaska, British Columbia, and the Pacific Northwest have debated who’s catching whose fish, which is why the Pacific Salmon Treaty was formed in 1985. The treaty, which is renegotiated every 10 years, creates a system for allocating salmon harvest between the U.S. and Canada and for conserving regional salmon stocks. Wild Fish Conservancy’s lawsuit perpetuates the false narrative that salmon originating in the Northwest belong to the Northwest.
The reality is Pacific salmon don’t belong to anyone; we are all tied to their life cycle and they depend on us all doing our part to protect the basics they need to survive: cold, clean waters for spawning and rearing and enough food in the ocean. That’s why Alaska fishermen have long been on the frontlines of efforts to protect and restore critical salmon habitat in Alaska, along Alaska-British Columbia transboundary rivers, and along the Pacific Northwest’s Columbia River. That’s also why Southeast’s trollers have cut their chinook harvest in recent decades to help protect chinook stocks originating from the Northwest.
Alaska is in a unique position to lead our southern neighbors in more productive dialogues around the current and future health of Pacific salmon, and not allow groups like Wild Fish Conservancy to continue framing Alaska fisheries as the problem. History and science have shown that ignoring salmon habitat loss will only lead to the continued decline of chinook and all that depend on them. Instead of provoking fights over salmon declines, all of us closely linked to wild salmon have a responsibility to work together to maintain or restore the habitat they depend on.
The Wild Fish Conservancy’s lawsuit highlights that it’s time for the U.S. and Canada to reimagine the Pacific Salmon Treaty to account for the salmon’s entire life cycle and address the root causes driving salmon declines. If we continue to only focus on cutting harvest and passing the blame onto Alaska fishermen, Pacific salmon will soon disappear completely. With them will disappear the Alaska and Pacific Northwest salmon way of life.
Heather Hardcastle was born and raised in Juneau and is a former co-owner of the direct-to-consumer seafood business Taku River Reds. Heather is the advisor for the Salmon Beyond Borders campaign at SalmonState.
Based in Sitka, Linda Behnken is the Executive Director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, the 2020 recipient of the Heinz Foundation environmental award, and has been commercial fishing since 1982.
Seafood Source
March 20, 2023
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.-based Acme Smoked Fish awarded a total of USD 120,000 (EUR 111,912) to three separate organizations for their contribution to lowering climate footprints and increasing diversity in the seafood sector.
The Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, Luke’s Seafood’s Lift All Boats program, and Aroostook Band of the Mi’kmaq Nation each received USD 40,000 (EUR 37,297) via Acme’s Seafood Industry Climate Award (SICA). The award, launched in 2022 in collaboration with TD Bank, is part of the company’s Eric Caslow Innovation Fund.
The awardees were celebrated at an event during Seafood Expo North America (SENA) – which ran from 12 to 14 March in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
JUNEAU – Today, on a unanimous vote, the Senate passed House Joint Resolution 5, by Representative Himschoot, calling on the Federal Government and State of Alaska to continue to defend Alaska’s fisheries, including the Southeast Alaska troll fishery and do everything within their power to keep the fishery open.
The Southeast Alaska troll salmon fishery is being threatened by a lawsuit filed by the Washington State-based environmental group Wild Fish Conservancy.
The suit seeks to stop the Southeast troll fishery over what Wild Fish Conservancy sees as impacting southern resident killer whales in Puget Sound. A recent report from a Magistrate Judge in Washington recommended not allowing the retention of king salmon during the winter and summer troll seasons of the Southeast Alaska troll fishery. This closure would be devastating for the troll fleet and have a significant economic impact on the region.
“Fishing in Southeast Alaska not only provides thousands of jobs, but it’s also a way of life throughout the region. Having the largest fleet of trollers in Southeast brings in business opportunities and extensive economic activity for these small communities,” said Senator Bert Stedman (R-Sitka), who carried HJR5 in the Senate. “If our resources begin to be managed through lawsuits, we will lose the lifeblood of our communities. Alaskans know best how to manage our resources, and we’re fighting to ensure it stays that way.”
“I am pleased we were able to act quickly to pass this resolution,” said Minority Leader Calvin Schrage (NP-Anchorage). “I hope this serves as an important reminder that the Legislature has no interest in allowing outside groups to stand in the way of hard-working Alaskans.”
Trolling is a low barrier, sustainable fishery where fishermen from nearly all 33 communities in Southeast Alaska catch each fish with hook and line. State residents hold 85% of the permits. There are approximately 1450 trollers contributing over $85 million to the economies of coastal Alaska.
“This would be devastating for the troll fleet and have a significant economic impact on the region,” said Tim O’Connor, Mayor of Craig and Commercial Troller.
“The Southeast troll fishery has been sustainably managed for over a hundred years, and it continues to be today, and I am thankful the legislature recognizes the importance of this resolution.” said Amy Daugherty, Executive Director of the Alaska Trollers Association. “I am shocked an outside group thinks it makes sense to manage a fishery, with over a hundred-year history, by lawsuit rather than sound science.”
“The resolution’s overwhelming bipartisan support shows the Wild Fish Conservancy that the State of Alaska is committed to continue defending the fishery. I hope the Wild Fish Conservancy reconsiders pursuing this misguided lawsuit and instead starts addressing the factors impacting the Southern Resident Killer Whales in their own back yard.” said Representative Rebecca Himschoot.
BY KATE NELSON
MARCH 13, 2023
“Fishing is more than simply having means to fill the pantry with my favorite food,” says U.S. Representative Mary Peltola (D-AK), the first Alaska Native (Yup’ik) in Congress.
Like so many Alaska Natives, Peltola grew up fishing for salmon with her family for subsistence.
“On the Kuskokwim, babies teethe on dried salmon strips,” she said. “People eat salmon just about any way you can think of—dried, smoked, jarred, frozen. It’s heartbreaking to witness the crash of salmon populations in river systems we’ve been able to rely on as long as I can remember.”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 6, 2023
Contact: Natalie Sattler, ALFA and ASFT, 907-738-1286, program.director@alfafish.org
New Seafood Donation Inquiry Form Available
The Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association (ALFA) andAlaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust (ASFT) are inviting community and tribal leaders, organizations, fishermen, and others to share via a new Seafood Donation Network Inquiry online form, whether they are struggling with access to local seafood or have seafood that they would be willing to contribute to families in need. Their invitation is part of ALFA and ASFT’s Seafood Donation Network, which was created in March 2020 as a program of ALFA but has since evolved into a statewide network of communities, organizations, businesses, and fishermen concerned about seafood insecurity in Alaska.
Thousands of Alaskans around the state are struggling to fill their freezers, smokehouses, and pantries with wild Alaska seafood. ALFA and ASFT created the Seafood Donation Network in 2020 to help address this growing need and ensure that Alaskans are able to access healthy, high quality seafood harvested sustainably by small-boat fishermen. To date, the Seafood Donation Network Program has deployed more than $2.5 million to purchase and deliver more than 645,000 donated seafood meals to individuals and families facing food insecurity in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest.
The Seafood Donation Program continues to receive requests for donated seafood around the state. As a result ALFA and ASFT has created a Seafood Donation inquiry form for communities and organizations to complete if they are seeking seafood donations to feed individuals in their networks. In addition, another form exists for fishermen or others in the seafood industry sector to fill out if able to donate seafood to communities in need. At this time, ALFA and ASFT are only assessing community needs and are unable to commit to providing seafood donation requests due to limited funding, which is currently dependent solely on grants and individual donations. However, ALFA/ASFT will support communities/organizations that reach out if possible by helping to connect them with other potential donated seafood/funding sources.
“While every community’s need and preferred product form varies, the form hopes to identify seafood insecurity throughout Alaska and the means to store and distribute donations. Healthy, thriving communities require equitable access to healthy, sustainable food sources. This is
especially true for Indigenous communities, whose diets and traditions have relied on local wild seafood for generations,” notes Linda Behnken, Executive Director of ALFA.
In November 2021, the USDA awarded ALFA a Regional Food System Partnership grant to help it develop a long-term Seafood Donation Program that is both sustainable and scalable. ALFA is working with a network of advisors from around the state on this planning process, including representatives from the Food Bank of Alaska, Alaska SeaGrant, University of Alaska Southeast, Chignik Intertribal Coalition, and local seafood suppliers, and plans to release its final planning report at the end of 2023.
For more information on the Seafood Donation Network Inquiry online form or the program, please contact Natalie Sattler at program.director@alfafish.org.
Links to both forms:
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Media Contact:
Natalie Sattler - Program Director, Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust
program.director@alfafish.org, 907-738-1286
By ADAM FEDERMAN
03/03/2023 04:30 AM EST
This article was produced in partnership with Type Investigations, where Adam Federman is a reporting fellow.
HOMER, Alaska — The late 1990s and early 2000s were boomtimes for halibut fishermen in Alaska. Over 80 million pounds of the flatfish were being harvested annually. Deckhands could earn $250,000 a season. The small boat harbor in the southcentral city of Homer, known as the “halibut capital of the world,” was bustling.
This article was originally published in Northern Journal, a newsletter from journalist Nathaniel Herz. Subscribe at this link.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 15, 2023
Juneau, AK - On Tuesday, the Alaska State Legislature’s House Special Committee on Fisheries received testimony and passed a resolution (HJR 5) that calls for state and federal agencies to defend Southeast Alaska’s troll fishery from a potential closure this year due to a lawsuit that a Washington-based organization, the Wild Fish Conservancy (WFC), has filed against the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). The lawsuit alleges that Alaska’s Chinook troll fishery imperils the Southern Resident Killer Whales and aims to shut the fishery down, leaving nearly 1,500 fishermen without a job. Alaska’s trollers have intervened in the case, calling attention to the WFC’s misguided claims and the well-documented impacts that habitat loss, water pollution, urbanization, and vessel traffic are having on the Puget Sound’s salmon and orca populations.
The resolution was introduced by freshman legislator Rep Himschoot of Sitka, a sitting member of the House Special Committee on Fisheries. During the hearing, the committee heard from local fishermen, community leaders, and fishery experts on the economic impacts of Southeast Alaska’s troll fishery as well as the devastating impacts of a fishery closure to the region’s economy and fishing families.
“In our community, trolling is a huge portion of our income, and in particular in the winter months when all the summer activities - all the lodges are shut down, all the sports fishermen are gone - there’s nothing else,” said Casey Mapes, Yakutat resident and lifelong commercial fisherman. “Out of my troll income, king salmon is probably two thirds of what I make in a year’s time.”
“Fishing is now the mainstay of Craig’s economy since logging is all but gone on Prince of Wales Island. Commercial salmon trolling is a significant portion of our fishing fleet. Our fleet on Prince of Wales is over 100 boats with 120 charter boats also operating out of Craig each year… We stand to lose all of this if this Wild Fish Conservancy lawsuit is successful,” shared Tim O’Connor, Mayor of Craig and commercial fisherman.
After hearing all of the oral testimony, the House Fisheries Committee unanimously voted to move the resolution forward out of the committee; it will next be voted on by the House then the Senate before becoming final. The Alaska Trollers Association and Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association celebrated the committee’s vote.
“We thank Representative Himschoot and the rest of the Fisheries Committee for standing with the thousands of fishing families in Alaska who depend on Southeast Alaska’s troll fishery, which provides more jobs for Alaska residents than any other fishery and is especially important to those who live in Alaska’s smaller, remote communities. Trollers are doing everything we can to fight this misguided lawsuit and defend our state’s economy, but we can’t do it alone and hope that the State Legislature will move to pass this resolution swiftly,” said Amy Daugherty, Alaska Trollers Association Executive Director.
“The Southeast fleet is grateful to our State’s lawmakers for their leadership and for stepping up to help protect our way of life. As was discussed at length during the committee’s hearing, this lawsuit could have major implications for not just Alaska’s troll fleet, but Alaska’s seafood industry as a whole. The lawsuit discounts Alaska’s decades of sustainable fishery management and our fleet’s proven commitment to salmon conservation. We hope that the rest of the legislature will rally behind this resolution and do all that it can to ensure Alaska trollers can head out on the water this summer and continue to deliver the premium, sustainable seafood product valued by markets around the world,” said Jeff Farvour, Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association Board Member and commercial fisherman.
The House Fisheries Committee’s resolution follows a string of supportive letters, resolutions, and donations from Southeast Alaska communities, businesses, and fishing associations, including Southeast Conference, United Fishermen of Alaska, United Southeast Alaska Gillnetters Association, Southeast Alaska Seiners Association, City of Pelican, City of Craig, Port Alexander, Ketchikan, Yakutat, Wrangell, Seafood Producers Cooperative, Sitka Sound Seafoods, OBI, SSRAA, and AKI with more in the works from other communities and organizations. On January 24th, the City of Sitka passed a resolution of support then on February 14th finalized a commitment to donate $25,000 for the Alaska Trollers Association’s legal fund.
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Media contacts:
Amy Daugherty, Alaska Trollers Association - 907-586-9400
Jeff Farvour, Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association - 907-738-0898
Linda Behnken, Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association - 907-738-3615
