Oscar Dyson overhaul

NOAA has awarded a $95.4 million contract to a Seward shipyard for major upgrades to the fisheries survey vessel Oscar Dyson.

Sen. Cantwell rips reported NOAA purge

Here's her statement.

Oregon State prof picked to head NOAA

Here's the White House announcement and an OSU press release.

Fish cops stay busy

Federal authorities say the F/V Castaway unlawfully fished with longline gear in a coral habitat protection area. They're proposing a $13,335 fine.

Read about this and other Alaska cases in this national summary of NOAA enforcement actions for the second half of 2013.

Also, we've posted several new items on our sister blog, The Brig.

Illicit halibut charter operator fined $15,000

An Anchorage resident who took customers fishing without the required halibut charter permit will pay a $15,000 fine to settle an enforcement action, federal authorities say.

Sidney Bouschor initially was assessed a $30,300 civil penalty following an undercover operation by NOAA's Office of Law Enforcement.

"Bouschor admitted the charge, but claimed an inability to pay the entire assessed penalty," says this press release. "After supplying the required financial documentation to NOAA, which was evaluated by a NOAA financial expert, NOAA's Office of General Counsel found it appropriate to settle the case for $15,000."

The press release, unfortunately, doesn't specify which port Bouschor was operating out of, or provide other details of the undercover operation.

Trawler hit with $325,442 enforcement action

Federal enforcement officials have charged the owner and operator of the F/V Pacific Challenger with fishing for Pacific cod in the Western Gulf of Alaska without having a license limitation permit.

A $325,442 notice of violation and assessment has been issued.

The case is listed in a NOAA enforcement summary for the second half of 2012.

You can see several more Alaska cases starting on page 1 of the summary. And on page 16 are five Alaska cases that have settled. One of those, involving the F/V Alaska Dawn, settled for $130,326.

According to state records, the Pacific Challenger is a 116-foot trawler that belongs to Pacific Dawn LLC of Seattle.

Bad boys, bad boys

NOAA has posted its draft enforcement priorities for 2013.

Alaska priorities are on pages 4-5. Among "high priority" items:

• Observer assault, harassment or interference violations

• Felony and major civil cases involving significant damage to the resource or the integrity of management schemes

• Commercialization of sport-caught or subsistence halibut

• Maritime Boundary Line incursions by foreign fishing or transport vessels

Agree? Disagree?

Click here to learn how you can submit comments to NOAA's Office of Law Enforcement.

Lubchenco leaving

Jane Lubchenco reportedly will step down in February as head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

NOAA is the parent agency of the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Feds propose $543,500 fine, charge fish-weighing violations on factory trawler American Dynasty

The American Dynasty in Dutch Harbor. Jim Paulin photo

The first we heard of a potential scandal involving the Bering Sea pollock factory trawler American Dynasty was more than four years ago, at a meeting of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council.

Federal agents said at the time that they were investigating allegations that hauls of fish were inaccurately weighed aboard the 272-foot trawler, which belongs to Seattle-based American Seafoods.

Well, now we know more.

The NOAA Office of the General Counsel, Enforcement Section, says the vessel owner, manager and operator have been charged with numerous civil infractions.

A NOAA case summary doesn't specify exactly when the charges were filed, just sometime during the first six months of the year.

The agency is proposing a $543,500 fine.

Here's the full NOAA summary on the enforcement action, beginning with the file number:

AK0700698; F/V American Dynasty — Owner, manager, and operator were charged in thirty-two counts under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act for failing to maintain or operate a flow scale to obtain accurate weights; for submitting inaccurate or false data, statements or reports; for failing to comply with flow scale testing requirements; for failing to provide notification to an observer and failing to have an observer present; for failing to comply with reporting requirements; and for failing to weigh catch, interfering with or biasing the observer's sampling procedure, and failing to provide reasonable assistance. A $543,500 NOVA (Notice of Violation and Assessment) was issued.

Murkowski agrees with Obama on NOAA home

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, believes President Obama's proposal to move the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration from the Commerce Department to the Interior Department is a good idea.

Read her thoughts on the matter here.

The National Marine Fisheries Service, of course, is part of NOAA.

Feds say radiation poses no seafood safety threat

A trio of federal agencies today issued this fact sheet concluding that seafood imports and U.S. fishing grounds are free of contamination from Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The battle for NOAA's research fleet

The research vessel Miller Freeman. NOAA photo

Quite a battle has been playing out in recent months about where the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will base its fleet of research ships.

The fleet includes some ships of vital importance for Alaska fisheries surveys, including such familiar hulls as the Miller Freeman.

A while back, NOAA decided to move the fleet to Newport, Ore., upsetting Washington politicians fighting to keep the fleet at Seattle's Lake Union, or at least in Puget Sound.

Bellingham is bidding for the fleet, too.

Here's a press release from Washington's two senators, Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, on the latest twist in this pitched naval battle:

Ruling Casts Doubt on Move from Puget Sound to Oregon

Dec. 2, 2009

SEATTLE — Today, U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., praised the Government Accountability Office (GAO) for ordering a review of NOAA's decision to move its Marine Operations Center, Pacific from Puget Sound to Newport, Ore.

The decision sustains a protest lodged by the Port of Bellingham, one of the bidders in the competition for the Marine Operations Center. The GAO determined that NOAA failed to take into account that the location of the proposed pier in Newport lies within a 100-year floodplain. Locating the NOAA facility in a floodplain is prohibited under both the competition's rules and a presidential executive order.

"The GAO has made the right call in sustaining the Port of Bellingham's protest," said Cantwell, who has been actively engaged in seeking a review of NOAA's decision. "Throughout the process, Bellingham has made a strong case against NOAA's decision and pursued its protest with tenacity and strong leadership."

Cantwell said the award to Newport should be immediately revoked and the Department of Commerce, which oversees NOAA, should follow the GAO's recommendations and also make sure to incorporate the many policy factors neglected in the previous competition.

"NOAA should keep its Marine Operations Center in Puget Sound. The proximity of employees and oceans research centers makes Puget Sound the logical choice," Cantwell said. "With today's announcement, Bellingham's case for keeping NOAA's Pacific fleet in Puget Sound can now get a full and fair hearing."

"As I have said all along, NOAA's decision was a mistake. And apparently the GAO agrees," said Sen. Murray. "For decades NOAA has called the Puget Sound home because it provides the people, resources and setting that help the agency best carry out its important scientific mission."

Port Commission President Scott Walker said: "We are very pleased with this decision and we believe it validates our concern that this was not a fair site selection process. We appreciate the support we have received from Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray, as well as Congressman Rick Larsen. We anticipate continuing to work with them as the final NOAA location is determined."

Since NOAA announced its proposal to move NOAA's fleet of scientific ships to Oregon in August, Sen. Cantwell has raised numerous policy concerns about the agency's decision.

Cantwell, Murray and several other members of the Washington delegation have asked whether moving NOAA's fleet outside Puget Sound would damage NOAA's scientific missions; whether it would hurt NOAA's capacity to hire and retain qualified mariners; whether NOAA fully understood the consequences of moving its ships away from a major maritime center; and whether NOAA ignored crucial weather factors in the Pacific Northwest.

As chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard, Sen. Cantwell has principle oversight over NOAA.

NOAA chief Lubchenco coming to Alaska

Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is planning a swing through Alaska later this month.

"She’ll be here the week of Aug. 17 through 21, traveling with dignitaries from the Coast Guard and other agencies," a NOAA spokeswoman in Juneau told me today. "The group plans to travel in rural Alaska to see climate effects, ongoing research, and to talk with people in rural Alaska. Their aim is to learn more about the Arctic and to talk about interagency coordination on Arctic topics."

Lubchenco and other senior administration officials involved with the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force also are planning to hold a public meeting on Aug. 21 in Anchorage.

President Obama ordered the task force on June 12.

Still no word about what's on the meeting agenda, or who will testify.

NOAA, of course, is an agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce. And under NOAA's wing is the National Marine Fisheries Service, which regulates commercial fishing in federal waters.

Lubchenco is a marine ecologist and environmental scientist who was teaching at Oregon State University when the Obama administration chose her as NOAA administrator.

One thing we'll be sure to ask her about when she comes to Anchorage: What's the status of hiring a new boss for NMFS?