The staggering cost of bycatch

We have a huge international conference on bycatch running through the week in Anchorage.

Deckboss regrets he wasn't in the meeting room yesterday, when analysts with the National Marine Fisheries Service were scheduled to give a presentation on the economic impacts of bycatch in U.S. commercial fisheries.

Here's an eye-opening summary of their talk:

This presentation will describe the economic impacts of early closures due to bycatch in US fisheries, by describing past case studies as well as evaluating the economic impacts of discarding fish in US commercial fisheries. Premature closures in the fisheries reviewed resulted in potential losses ranging from $34.4 million to $453.0 million annually. Nationally, bycatch estimates in the form of regulatory discards are annually reducing the potential yield of fisheries by $427.0 million in ex-vessel revenues, and as much as $4.2 billion in seafood-related sales, $1.5 billion in income, and 64,000 jobs.

Walmart protest set for this morning

Alaska salmon fishermen plan to picket Walmart's South Anchorage store beginning at 10 a.m.

Read why in this protest alert that popped up in my email.

IPHC makes port call in Anchorage

The International Pacific Halibut Commission is holding its annual meeting today through Friday at the Hilton Anchorage.

Of course, the IPHC annual meeting is a big event on the commercial fisheries calendar. It's when the bilateral panel — three members from the United State and three from Canada — sets catch limits for the upcoming season.

Here's a handout, known as the Bluebook, containing the meeting schedule, a summary of the 2011 fishery, the latest assessment of the Pacific halibut stock, and much more.

As previously reported here on Deckboss, the meeting is likely to culminate with some rather dismal news.

This is cool

The Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program is partnering with Integrated Marine Systems Inc. to offer the one-day refrigeration workshop March 29 in Anchorage.

The workshop is designed to help commercial fishermen better use and maintain onboard refrigeration systems.

Interested? Sign up here.

Norton Sound Seafood House to make its debut

Nome cooking on Concourse C.

Now this sounds tasty. A grand opening ceremony for the new Norton Sound Seafood House at the Anchorage airport is set for 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The Norton Sound Economic Development Corp., one of Alaska's Community Development Quota fishing companies, is partnering on the themed restaurant with HMSHost, a global shopping and dining concessionaire with a contract at the airport.

The eatery is expected to offer items such as halibut po' boys and king crab cakes. But we'll see for sure once the place opens.

The airport location is a marketing coup for Norton Sound, which harvests a share of Bering Sea fish and crab for the benefit of a group of villages in the Nome area.

"The Norton Sound Seafood House is a showcase of the fisheries, resources and the small-boat fishermen of remote Northwest Alaska," says a press release sent out last week.

Will your fishing grounds be designated an MPA?

Tomorrow is the start of a three-day meeting in Anchorage of something called the Marine Protected Areas Federal Advisory Committee.

I'll confess that when I first saw the meeting notice, I said to myself: "What the heck is this?"

So I did a little research.

It seems the 30-member committee has to do with the National System of Marine Protected Areas.

This system includes 225 MPA sites designated around the country following a round of nominations in the fall of 2008.

The list includes four sites in Alaska corresponding to major federal preserves: the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, and the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge.

The government has opened a second round of MPA nominations with a deadline of Nov. 6.

So what is an MPA?

"MPAs are areas where natural or cultural resources are given greater protection than in the surrounding waters," the government says. Most allow activities such as fishing, boating and diving. Others, however, are "no take" zones where extraction of fish or other resources is prohibited.

Needless to say, MPAs are a hugely controversial subject in the commercial fishing world. While proponents argue they offer refuge for fish, spinning off greater abundance for fishermen, people trying to make a living from the sea have a hard time abiding a bunch of "Do not enter" signs up and down the coast.

Many people won't know that Alaska already has way more MPAs than those few on the national list. Regulators have restricted many areas around the state to fishing or other activities. For example, all of Southeast Alaska is closed to trawling. And in Western Alaska and out the Aleutians, fishermen can't work for miles around the rookeries of endangered Steller sea lions.

Anyway, it seems wise to keep a close eye on this MPA Federal Advisory Committee, which will meet all day tomorrow through Friday at the Hilton hotel in downtown Anchorage. The meeting is open to the public.

On Wednesday, a panel of experts — including Oceana and Pew environmental campaigners — will talk about MPAs, climate change and "ecosystem resilience."

On Thursday, several federal state and federal officials, plus representatives of a trawl group and oil company Shell, will talk about MPAs in Alaska.

Here's the agenda.