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#02-14-2014 - ComFish News Roundup

FISH TALKS
Fishery management decisions approved this past week in Anchorage hit hard at commercial harvesters as the state fisheries board sought to protect depleted numbers of late run Kenai River king salmon and provide more fish for anglers. Fishery management decisions approved this past week in Anchorage hit hard at commercial harvesters, as the state fisheries board sought to protect depleted numbers of late run Kenai River king salmon and provide more fish for anglers. In a lengthy meeting in Anchorage attended by dozens of setnet and drift gillnet fishermen, sport anglers, professional guides and spokespersons for organizations representing them, the Alaska Board of Fisheries considered 236 proposals, and made decisions they said were aimed at sharing.... http://www.thecordovatimes.com/article/1407fish-talks
Republican Lawmakers Send a Support Letter to Northern Dynasty Minerals
11:35 AM THU FEBRUARY 13, 2014
By MIKE MASON
Several members of the Alaska Legislature sent a letter of support earlier this month to the head of the company looking at developing the controversial Pebble Mine in the Bristol Bay region. The letter was signed by 8 lawmakers including the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House.... http://kdlg.org/post/republican-lawmakers-send-support-letter-northern-dynasty-minerals
Downtown Wrangell, Alaska, looking north along...
Downtown Wrangell, Alaska - Wikipedia)
Officials, contractors debate future leases at Wrangell boatyard
By Brian O Connor
Don Sorric opens the door to a workshop at the larger of his two leased holdings at the Wrangell Marine Services Center. Sorric worries a proposed ordinance could adversely affect his plans to pass on his business, built over the last six years, to a business partner... http://www.wrangellsentinel.com/story/2014/02/13/news/officials-contractors-debate-future-leases-at-wrangell-boatyard/1867.html

Council acts on guide loophole, grenadiers; open seat debated 
BY MOLLY DISCHNER, ALASKA JOURNAL OF COMMERCE
Published: 2014.02.13 04:46 PM
SEATTLE – Halibut guides and grenadiers will see management changes in coming years under action taken at the North Pacific Fishery Management Council’s February meeting. The council took final action to define a sportfishing guide at its February meeting, but a new regulation likely won’t be implemented until the 2015 fishing season, at the earliest. Grenadiers were added to the fishery management plans as an ecosystem component in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands, and the Gulf of Alaska, which means catch reporting will be.... http://www.alaskajournal.com/Alaska-Journal-of-Commerce/February-Issue-3-2014/Council-acts-on-guide-loophole-grenadiers-open-seat-debated/

Subsistence lifestyle will be a memory
By Bobby Gregory
Bethel
Dear Editor.
An unhidden factor while the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers are in depletion of unsustainable salmon stock: Caveat: 1. Arby’s: “white fish from Alaska.” 2. Long John Silver’s: “pollock from Alaska’s Bering Sea.” While the brunt of conservation is not placed on the 5-mile long nets of the factory trawlers of Western and Great American Seafoods, bycatch, salmon headed up the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers is thrown over as..... http://www.thetundradrums.com/story/2014/02/13/opinion/subsistence-lifestyle-will-be-a-memory/1095.html

CVRF halibut quota cut in half
By Dawson Hoover
CVRF
This year the International Pacific Halibut Commission cut the total allowable catch limits of halibut for the United States and Canada by 11.2 percent overall. However, Coastal Villages Region Fund's halibut quota for 9,437 residents was cut by a stunning 48.9 percent from 210,248 pounds to 107,384 pounds.
The other group's quota for 2014 is as follows:
Before the IPHC's 90th Annual Meeting in Seattle on Jan. 13-17, CVRF proposed an increase in area 4E's quota to 450,000 pounds, citing high Catch Per Unit Effort in the area. Fishermen in the Nelson Island area reported that they were catching larger..... http://www.thetundradrums.com/story/2014/02/13/opinion/cvrf-halibut-quota-cut-in-half/1094.html

Obama Arctic Plan Falls Short Says Treadwell
February 12, 2014
Wednesday PM
(SitNews) Houston, TX – Alaska Lt. Governor Mead Treadwell today told a gathering of oil and gas experts at an Arctic technology conference that President Obama's recently released implementation plan for the nation’s Arctic strategy misses the mark.... http://www.sitnews.us/0214News/021214/021214_arctic.html

Murkowski Slams “Unambitious” White House Arctic Plan
Senate.gov FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  
February 13, 2014
Senator Tells President Alaska Must Be a Top Priority for U.S. Arctic Strategy

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Lisa Murkowski today reached out to the Obama administration and expressed her disappointment that its recently-released “Arctic Strategy Implementation Plan” falls far short of America’s needs as the nation slips further behind other nations investing in the region.

The United States is scheduled to become the Chair of the Arctic Council next year, and Senator Murkowski has been working with Cabinet officials, top military brass and international leaders to advocate for a better awareness of Alaska’s Arctic role and the need for action and investment now.   Murkowski also gave the key note address at last week’s Arctic Symposium in Seattle.

In her letter  to the White House, Senator Murkowski notes:

“The Plan did not offer a vision to make the United States a leader in the Arctic, particularly as we prepare for the Chairmanship of the Arctic Council in May 2015, nor does it suggest that the Arctic is a national priority.  Instead, the Plan provides a snap shot of existing Arctic-related programs and projects with numerous assessments to be undertaken, but no real path of action. ‘Implementation Plan’ is a misnomer for a document that simply pushes our involvement in the Arctic down the road and does nothing to advance our already lagging role in the region.”

Of the Implementation Plan, Murkowski also writes:

“This unambitious timeline for basic inputs, while consistent throughout the Plan, does nothing more than ensure that our nation will be sorely late in addressing our needs in the region.”













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