AlaskaOutdoor.com

2012 ALEUTIAN ISLANDS DISTRICT
STATE-WATERS PACIFIC COD OPENING ANNOUNCED #4-GF-03-12

National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has announced closure of the federal catcher-vessel
trawl sector Pacific cod fishery in the Bering Sea-Aleutian Islands area effective at noon on
(Wednesday) February 29. Therefore, the parallel Pacific cod season will close and the statewaters Pacific cod season will open to commercial fishing at noon on (Monday) March 5 in all
state waters of the Aleutian Islands District west of 170° W long.

The 2012 Aleutian Islands District state-waters Pacific cod season initially opened January 1,
2012 between 175° W long. and 178° W long. to vessels 60 feet overall length (OAL) or less
using pot, jig, and non-pelagic trawl gear and vessels 58 feet OAL or less using longline gear,
and will remain open to those vessel sizes until 11:59 a.m. March 5. Beginning noon March 5,
the state-waters season will expand to include all state waters west of 170° W long. and will
open to vessels 125 feet or less OAL using pot gear, vessels 100 feet OAL or less using nonpelagic trawl gear, and vessels 58 feet or less OAL using longline and jig gear.
Harvest to date in the state-waters Pacific cod fishery is confidential; however, over 12 million
pounds will be available beginning noon March 5.

All fishermen, including tender operators and processors, must register with the Alaska
Department of Fish & Game (ADF&G) prior to participating in the state-waters season.
Fishermen previously registered for the parallel groundfish fishery must complete a nonexclusive
registration for the Aleutian Islands District state-waters season.

Each registered fisherman will be required to report harvest information to the department on a
daily basis. Reports for the prior 24 hours (midnight to midnight) of fishing must be received by
ADF&G in Dutch Harbor by 10:00 a.m. daily. Reports will be taken by telephone, fax (see
contact information above), or sent via email to trent.hartill@alaska.gov.
-continued2012

Aleutian Islands District state-waters February 28, 2012
Pacific cod season
The daily harvest limit for each vessel is 150,000 pounds round weight, with a maximum of
150,000 pounds of unprocessed Pacific cod on board a vessel at any time. All Pacific cod taken
must be retained. A fisherman incurring an overage of these limits must immediately report the
overage to ADF&G and forfeit proceeds from the overage to the state. A fisherman may not
have more processed Pacific cod onboard than the round weight equivalent of the fish reported
on ADF&G fish tickets during the Aleutian Islands state-waters Pacific cod season. Bycatch
limits applicable in the parallel Pacific cod season will apply in the state-waters Pacific cod
season. Enforcement action will be pursued against vessel operators who incur overages of the
daily or trip limit.

Steller sea lion closures in place prior to 2011 will be in effect during the state-waters Pacific cod
season. Steller sea lion closures are located in Table 5 to 50 CFR part 679 (69 FR 75865,
December 20, 2004), posted on the NMFS website
(http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/index/frules/frules.asp?Yr=2004) and Table 12 to 50 CFR part 679
(73 FR 76136, December 15, 2008), also posted on the NMFS website at
http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/index/frules/frules.asp?Yr=2008. In addition to the Steller sea lion
protection measures referenced above, fishing is prohibited within three nautical miles of Kanaga
Island/Ship Rock (51° 46.70 N, 177° 20.72 W) during the state-waters Pacific cod fishery.
The Aleutian Islands Habitat Conservation Area and coral garden closures, in effect during the
parallel Pacific cod season, will also apply during the state-waters season.
For further information, contact the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Dutch Harbor at
(907) 581-1239.
-end

SOUTHEAST ALASKA WINTER FOOD AND BAIT HERRING FISHERIES
Sitka. . .

 The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced today the following information
concerning the Southeast Alaska winter food and bait herring fishery:
Section 3-B and District 4 (Craig/Klawock): will close at 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, February 28, 2012.
The fishery has been open to the commercial harvest of herring since 12:00 noon, Friday, November 25, 2011. The fishery is ongoing and it is estimated the final harvest will be approximately 400 tons of the 4,108 ton GHL at the time of the closure.

News releases web site: http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=cfnews.main.
Office Ketchikan Petersburg Wrangell Sitka Juneau Haines Hoonah Yakutat
ADFG 225-5195 772-3801 874-3822 747-6688 465-4250 766-2830 784-3255
AWT 225-5111 772-3983 874-3215 747-3254 465-4000 766-2533 945-3620 784-3220
Herring Hotline 225-6870 772-3700 747-1009 465-8905

Antlerless Moose Hunts for GMU 14A for Fall 2012 Cancelled

The Alaska Department of Fish & Game has cancelled all antlerless moose hunts in GMU 14A for the 2012 moose hunting season due to high numbers of moose deaths caused by deep snow.

“We are seeing an unusually high death rate for moose in the Matsu Valley this winter. There’s been an increase in moose-vehicle collisions because moose are spending more time on roads to avoid the deep snow, and we’re receiving a lot of reports of moose dying from starvation” said Tim Peltier, Acting Area Biologist for Wildlife Conservation in the Palmer office. “We have cancelled the hunts because we don’t know how bad this winter will be for the moose population, and we don’t want to exacerbate the situation.” Peltier said.

The moose population was well above population objectives at the beginning of this winter when permit applications were accepted for the Unit 14A antlerless moose hunts, but the population is now expected to be within or below the objectives by the end of this winter.

The cancellation only applies to the drawing permit hunts for antlerless moose in GMU 14A hunts DM400, DM401, DM402, DM403, DM406, DM407, DM408, DM410, DM412, and DM413.

These hunts were pulled before the drawing was conducted, so applicants were not disadvantaged. Application fees for the cancelled hunts will be refunded by mail. Application fees paid by credit card will be refunded to the card; those made by paid by check will be mailed a refund check. Refunds will not be available from state Fish and Game offices.

The department plans to reassess the moose population in GMU 14A next autumn to determine the impacts of the deep snow and work with the local Fish and Game Advisory Committees to explore options for managing this moose population in the future.

The results of the Draw, Tier I and Tier II application period will be released at 5 pm today and will be available on the ADF&G website. The results can be searched by individual name, hunt number and species.

Note: Tim Peltier is the contact for information regarding the antlerless hunt cancellation only, not the draw results, the draw process or the website.

ALASKA DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND GAME
DIVISION OF COMMERCIAL FISHERIES
NEWS RELEASE

Cora Campbell, Commissioner
Jeff Regnart, Director
Contact: Westward Region
Nicholas Sagalkin 211 Mission Road
Shellfish Management Biologist Kodiak Alaska, 99615
Phone: (907) 486-1840
Fax: (907) 486-1824 Date Issued: 02/14/2012

EXTENSION OF THE DAILY FISHING PERIOD FOR TANNER CRAB
IN THE SEMIDI ISLAND OVERLAP SECTION OF THE
KODIAK DISTRICT

EMERGENCY ORDER NO. 4-S-15-12
Effective Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 12:01 a.m., the daily fishing period for commercial
Tanner crab in the Semidi Island Overlap Section of the Kodiak District will be extended to 24-
hours per day. Based on the department’s assessment of effort and manageability of the fishery,
restricting harvest to the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 5:59 p.m. is no longer warranted.
For further details, contact the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Kodiak at (907) 486-
1840.

[/b]
EMERGENCY ORDER # 2-GF-E-04-12
The directed walleye pollock pelagic trawl fishery in the Prince William Sound (PWS) Management Area Inside District opened January 20 with a fishery guideline harvest level (GHL) of 6.1 million pounds. The Inside District is divided into three sections: Hinchinbrook, Knight Island, and Bainbridge and the total harvest from a section restricted to 60% of the GHL. The Hinchinbrook Section closed at 12:00 midnight February 2 based upon the predicted achievement of the maximum
60% section harvest level.
Current preliminary harvest reports and harvest projections indicate the balance of the GHL will
be taken by 12:00 midnight February 13, 2012. Therefore, the directed walleye pollock pelagic
trawl season in the Knight Island and Bainbridge Sections of the PWS Management Area will
close at 12:00 midnight February 13, 2012 for the remainder of the calendar year.
This action effectively closes the PWS directed pollock trawl fishery for 2012. The department is
soliciting interest from buyers or vessel captains to conduct a pollock test fishery in PWS. For
additional information reference the department news release or contact Maria Wessel at 907-
424-3212.

State & Federal Boundaries for Fisheries Management in 2012

(Juneau) – Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) Commissioner Cora Campbell announced today that significant progress has been made toward addressing the State of Alaska’s concerns regarding the 2006 revisions to Alaska’s baseline, from which state-federal boundary lines in waters surrounding the State of Alaska are determined. State and federal agencies also have reached agreement about appropriate enforcement of the state and federal fisheries boundary line.

The U.S. Baseline Committee determines closing lines across entrances to bays and rivers. These closing lines serve to separate U.S. internal waters from the U.S. territorial sea. The State of Alaska had concern about the impact of the 2006 committee action on the state/federal (Submerged Lands Act) boundary, submerged land ownership, and implications for management and enforcement of Alaska fisheries.

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries), for the 2012 fishing year and until further notice, has agreed to manage and enforce federal fisheries and recognize state-waters fisheries based upon the most recent (September 2011) decisions of the U.S. Baseline Committee. The Baseline Committee’s decisions are in response to nine proposals submitted by Alaska’s Department of Natural Resources, the state’s lead agency on boundary issues. The Baseline Committee’s decision affects changes to the three-nautical-mile boundary off Uyak Bay, Akun Bay, Portage Bay, Kalekta Bay, Kachemak Bay, Aniakchak-Amber Bays, Chignik-Castle Bays, Imuya Bay, and Port Dick. The Committee agreed with eight of the state’s nine proposals, and decisions were finalized for all areas except Chignik-Castle Bays and Kalekta Bay. For areas where baseline changes have occurred, but have not yet been reviewed or finalized by the Baseline Committee, NOAA Fisheries intends to recognize the historical three-mile state-waters boundary line and not the 2006 changes to the Alaska baseline.

New NOAA charts were produced in October and November of 2011 for the Kachemak Bay area (NOAA charts 16640, 16645, and 16647). These charts, which reflect the Baseline Committee’s decision, are located at: http://www.charts.noaa.gov/OnLineViewer/AlaskaViewerTable.shtml . Charts for the remaining areas for which final decisions were made are not expected to be produced by NOAA Fisheries until 2013. In the interim, NOAA Fisheries will produce chartlets (small, area-specific charts) to assist with management and enforcement of the boundary line. These chartlets are expected to be posted soon and will be located at: http://alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/sustainablefisheries/3nm/ .

Vessel operators with questions should contact their local ADF&G Area Managers.

Local authority on Interior Alaska antlerless moose hunts questioned
by Tim Mowry/tmowry@newsminer.com

FAIRBANKS — As it turns out, all the ruckus local hunters have been raising about antlerless moose hunts on the Tanana Flats south of Fairbanks may be for naught.

Or maybe not.

During a statewide Alaska Board of Game meeting in Anchorage last month, it was brought to the attention of board members that the Fairbanks Fish and Game Advisory Committee may not have the authority to prevent an antlerless moose hunt in Game Management Unit 20A south of Fairbanks, even if it wants to.

A state regulation adopted by the Board of Game almost 30 years ago states advisory committees must either be located in or the majority of its members must live in the affected unit or subunit to have veto power in that unit or subunit. In the case of the Fairbanks advisory committee, it is neither in unit 20A, nor do the majority of members live in unit 20A. It is in unit 20B and that’s where all the committee members live.

In past years, the game board has allowed four different local advisory committees — Fairbanks, Delta, Minto-Nenana and Middle Nenana — to vote on the matter of antlerless hunts in units 20A and 20B.

But now, less than a month before the Board of Game is scheduled to meet in Fairbanks to consider, among a multitude of other things, antlerless moose hunts in units 20A and 20B, and just days before the Fairbanks advisory committee is scheduled to vote on whether to reauthorize those hunts, the Board of Game is waffling about whether the Fairbanks advisory committee’s vote, as well as that of the Delta advisory committee, will count.

New interpretation

According to a memo from senior assistant attorney general Kevin Saxby, who provides legal counsel to the Board of Game, neither the Fairbanks or Delta advisory committees have authority to vote on the reauthorization of antlerless moose hunts in unit 20A, because they are outside the area and the majority of its members don’t reside in the area.

“That’s the last interpretation I got,” game board chairman Cliff Judkins said in a phone interview with the News-Miner. “We can only interpret it the way law is written.”

The new interpretation came as a surprise to Judkins, who has sat on the board for several years.

“We had all interpreted it the other way,” he said of the

regulation. “I’d never looked at the regulation before. We haven’t had that issue come up anywhere else.”

It came up after Fairbanks advisory committee member Al Barrette brought it to the attention of the board. Barrette said he did so because “the integrity of the advisory committee was being questioned” and he wanted to make sure the committee was acting appropriately.

“There was nothing malicious about this,” Barrette said. “I was just asking the Board of Game to give us direction. All this was was getting clarification.”

Jim Sampson, the former borough mayor and a critic of the antlerless hunts, called the situation “a political back-door deal” to send the message to the Fairbanks advisory committee “to either get in line (with the antlerless hunts) or you’re out of here.”

“This is something they’ve been working on in case it looks like the Fairbanks advisory committee wasn’t going to go along with the cow hunts,” Sampson said.

Divisive issue

The antlerless hunts have been a wedge that has split the Fairbanks hunting community in recent years. Some hunters are morally opposed to shooting cow moose while others view it as an opportunity to put more moose on the tables of Alaskans.

Since 2004, almost 3,000 antlerless moose have been killed in unit 20A but the hunts have created social issues such as overcrowding, hunter conflict, trespassing and overharvesting of moose in some accessible areas.

Last month, more than 200 people showed up at the Fairbanks advisory committee meeting to discuss the antlerless hunts and provide public testimony in favor of or against the hunts. The Fairbanks advisory committee is scheduled to vote whether to approve the hunts on Wednesday.

Barrette, who sat on the Board of Game briefly two years ago but was replaced after his appointment wasn’t confirmed by the legislature, admits he doesn’t think advisory committees should have the authority to veto cow hunts if the Department of Fish and Game says they are needed to stabilize a moose population, which is the case in unit 20A.

Barrette called the 1976 statute giving advisory committees that authority “a piece of knee jerk legislation.” Advisory committee members aren’t trained, professional biologists and shouldn’t be allowed to make biological decisions based on personal or political beliefs, he said.

“It’s not right when you start playing politics with management,” he said.

Shocking development

New Fairbanks advisory committee chairman Terry Marquette said he’s as confused as anyone about where the committee stands.

“Who’s our boss? Is it the Board of Game? Is it (Kevin) Saxby?” Marquette said. “They took that legal advisory and made everyone aware of it, but they didn’t issue any directive.”

The reaction of advisory committee members when they read the memo from Saxby was “absolute shock,” Marquette said.

As it stands now, the Fairbanks advisory committee will vote on the reauthorization of unit 20A antlerless hunts just as it has in past years.

“Until it’s officially resolved we’re going to continue to work with the reaffirmation process we’ve got set up,” Marquette said. “We may be told later we’ve wasted our time and we don’t have jurisdiction out there.

“I think what everybody is hoping is the precedent has been set and we’ll be allowed to continue to participate in reauthorization process,” Marquette said. “If the (Board of Game) turns around and slam dunks the (advisory committees), they’re in essence saying the (advisory committees) don’t mean anything.”

Compromise solution

All four advisory committees met with staff from the Department of Fish and Game in Fairbanks on Saturday in hopes of hammering out a compromise regarding the antlerless hunt similar to the one agreed on four years ago when hunters grew restless about the antlerless hunts.

The advisory committees and department negotiated a toned-down version of the hunt by reducing the number of permits issued, reducing the harvest quota and eliminated the take of calves and cows with calves. That was enough to make the antlerless hunt palatable to three of the four advisory committees.

The consensus is that some kind of compromise will be reached to continue the antlerless hunts in some way, shape or form.

While Marquette isn’t sure which way the Fairbanks advisory committee will vote, he said several members would rather see the department make some concessions to the antlerless hunts than kill them outright. An earlier close to the season, for example, would eliminate two major concerns — shooting pregnant cows and shooting bulls that were illegal during the general hunting season but are legal during the winter because they have dropped their antlers.

“I do know a lot of people who are of the opinion that some things can be changed and we could still continue the cow hunt,” he said.

Judkins said he would prefer to have all four advisory committees vote on the antlerless hunt reauthorization but that goes against the regulation.

Saxby told the board it could change the regulation because it dates back to the time when there was only one joint board of fish and game and decisions regarding antlerless moose hunts were the responsibility of the game board.

Saxby also told board members they could require the approval of additional advisory committees even if those advisory committees are not located in or the majority of their members don’t reside in a unit or subunit.

“You can decide we want to have more committees voting in favor because this is such a controversial thing in this area,” Saxby said.

But it was clear listening to discussion at the Board of Game meeting that some board members don’t like the power advisory committees wield when it comes to antlerless moose hunts.

Board member Ted Spraker of Kenai went so far as to say the department and game board has been “blackmailed” by the Fairbanks advisory committee on the matter of antlerless hunts.

“I believe in the public process, but I don’t believe in being strong-armed by eight or 10 people who vote themselves in by bringing 50 or 100 like-minded people,” Spraker said.

Saxby told him only the Legislature can change the statute that gives advisory committees veto power over cow hunts.

To which Spraker replied, “There’s not a legislator in the country that will take on that issue.”

Contact staff writer Tim Mowry at 459-7587.

Read more: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - Local authority on Interior Alaska antlerless moose hunts questioned

http://newsminer.com/view/full_story/17413413/article-Local-authority-on-Interior-Alaska-antlerless-moose-hunts-questioned?instance=home_news_window_left_top_2

COMMENTARY: Halibut cut again; Bering Sea ice slowing down crab, pollock
By Laine Welch, For the Journal

As expected there will be less halibut available for fishermen to catch this year – an 18 percent drop to 33 million pounds, to be split among fisheries along the west coast, British Columbia and Alaska. That follows a 19 percent cut to the catch last year.

The announcement was made Jan. 27 at the International Pacific Halibut Commission’s annual meeting in Anchorage. Alaska always gets the lion’s share of the catch, which this year will be 25.5 million pounds.   

Driving the fishing decreases: Pacific halibut stocks continue a decade long decline, there appears to be little recruitment of fish entering the fishery, the fish are smaller than they should be at age — and, most troubling, scientists believe they have overestimated the halibut biomass for years. 

Most stakeholders were accepting of the catch limits, but the overall mood was concern over the status of the halibut stocks, said Kathy Hansen, executive director of the Southeast Alaska Fishermen’s Alliance.   

The 800-pound gorilla in the meeting room was the millions of pounds of halibut that is taken as bycatch in other Alaska fisheries and, by law, discarded. While the IPHC sets catch limits for the halibut fisheries, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council oversees the limits for halibut allowed to be taken as bycatch in federally managed fisheries.

“It’s a bit uncomfortable to be from Alaska where we supposedly have sustainable fisheries and the best management in the world,” Hansen said. “And we have the Pacific Council and Canada saying, ‘Hey, we’ve dealt with getting a better observer program, we’ve reduced bycatch significantly with new programs and what are you guys in Alaska doing?’ All we can say is the (North Pacific) Council is looking at things again.

“It’s time for them to get serious and make some accommodations so we can say, yes we are moving toward trying to identify how much bycatch is being taken in fisheries and reduce that amount.”

Five bycatch related motions were adopted by the IPHC Conference Board, a panel that includes 30 commercial and sport users from the US, and 21 from Canada “to give the fishers’ perspective,” according to the IPHC website.

“The board believes that accurate accounting of all removals is critical for development of accurate stock assessment, and for understanding the health of the halibut resource and the exploitable biomass available to the directed fisheries,” it stated in the 2012 meeting minutes.

The conference board said it wants a report next January that identifies areas that might be designated as nursery grounds, and assesses the future impacts on the stocks if those areas were closed to all taking of halibut. The board also strongly recommended that federal managers implement the Restructured Observer Program for the Gulf of Alaska in 2013.

The 2012 halibut fishery will open March 17. Here are the Alaska catch limits, in millions of pounds:

2C (Southeast): 2.6, up 12 percent

3A (Central Gulf): 11.9, down 17 percent

3B (Western Gulf): 5.0, down 32 percent

4A (Aleutians): 1.5, down 35 percent

4B (Aleutians): 1.8, down 17 percent

4CDE (Bering Sea): 2.4, down 34 percent

Fish on ice

High winds, frigid temperatures and sea ice have put the brakes on Alaska’s winter fisheries, and hundreds of boats are tied to the docks awaiting a break in the weather.

“It is the coldest I’ve seen in 10 years of fishing,” said Nick Mangini, skipper of the Kodiak-based F/V Enterprise, which has been targeting pot cod since the start of the year. “I’m glad I’m in the wheelhouse, but I really feel for the guys on deck.”

What forecasters call “big ice” has blocked the Bering Sea snow crab fishery with floes 18 inches thick and 15 miles wide. The pack also is moving more quickly, according to National Weather Service ice watchers — 20 miles per day instead of the usual 2 miles to 3 miles per day.

The ice can drag crab pots for miles and pop the marker buoys, making it tough for crabbers to even find them. More than 8,000 crab pots are on the Bering Sea grounds, and at $1,000 per pot, the loss can be costly.

Fortunately, the lost pots will not continue “ghost fishing.” All pot gear in Alaska fisheries is required to use biodegradable twine and escape panels to allow crabs and smaller species to go free.

Along with the crabbers, pollock boats also are being frozen out of their fishery. The trawl season opened Jan. 20 but the weather had kept most of the Bering Seas boats tied up to the Dutch Harbor docks.

A fleet of 80 catcher boats and 16 at-sea processors are expected on the fishing grounds for a catch of nearly 3 billion pounds, split between winter and summer seasons. 

Another quarter of a million pounds will come from the Gulf of Alaska, a 21 percent increase from last year. That 50-boat fleet also was on delay due to weather, and they are waiting for the valuable pollock roe to ripen. The rest of the pollock is made into fillets and surimi, and market watchers say demand is strong for all three products, at home and in foreign markets. 

The outlook for Alaska pollock is good, thanks to lots of young fish growing into the fishery. In the eastern Bering Sea, dubbed the nation’s “fish basket”, year classes from 2006 and 2008 are up 17 percent and 26 percent, respectively. That pollock will fuel the fishery for the next few years. Alaska pollock is the nation’s largest fishery, accounting for nearly 35 percent of U.S. seafood landings.

This article appears in the AJOC February 5 2012 issue of Alaska Journal of Commerce

Read more: http://www.alaskajournal.com/Alaska-Journal-of-Commerce/AJOC-February-5-2012/COMMENTARY-Halibut-cut-again-Bering-Sea-ice-slowing-down-crab-pollock/#ixzz1lHBAh8aL