Federal disaster dollars reportedly inch closer

Here's a press release from Alaska's congressional delegation.

Owner, captains of crab vessels charged

Details in this press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Anchorage.

Disaster relief for crabbers advances

Staggered by recent fishery closures, the Alaska crabbing industry has been waiting patiently for federal disaster relief to arrive.

Now, we see a significant step toward that end.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has finalized a spend plan for more than $190 million in congressionally appropriated disaster funds covering the 2021-22 and 2022-23 Bristol Bay red king crab and Bering Sea snow crab fisheries.

The spend plan divvies the money among crabbers, processors, and communities. It also allocates — over the grumbles of many industry players — 12 percent of the money, or $22.5 million, to research.

Finalizing the spend plan does not mean relief checks are about to hit mailboxes. No, some additional steps remain in the process.

The spend plan has been forwarded to the Portland, Oregon-based Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission for administration.

The city of Unalaska, the main port for the crab industry, is expecting a share of up to $5.5 million, the city manager said in a recent memo.

"We are hopeful that the funds will be disbursed either in late 2024 or early 2025," the memo said.

CDQ companies work a major crab deal

Here's the press release.

Crabbers go to court

The Inter-Cooperative Exchange, a cooperative of Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands crab fishermen, is suing the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Here's the 15-page lawsuit.

ICE is seeking the release of agency records, including text messages and the like, related to the crab price arbitration system.

The suit indicates a NMFS official took a stance that could tilt the arbitration system in favor of crab processors. ICE, with its suit, is demanding agency records that might shed light on the matter.

The arbitration system is "so critical to ICE members receiving a fair price for crab," the suit says.

Crab quotas are out!

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game today posted quotas for major crab fisheries opening Oct. 15.

The Bristol Bay red king crab total allowable catch (TAC) is 4.3 million pounds, down 35 percent from last season.

The Bering Sea snow crab TAC is 27.6 million pounds, up 45 percent.

The Bering Sea bairdi TAC is 2.4 million pounds, down 2 percent.

Oregon vs. Alaska?

Evidently some commercial fishermen in Oregon, specifically crabbers who fish the Bering Sea, are feeling threatened.

Here's a resolution signed yesterday by the mayor of Newport, Ore., supporting the addition of two more Oregon seats on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, which regulates federal fisheries off Alaska.

As it stands, Oregon has only one seat on the 11-member council, while Alaska has six seats and Washington three.

The Newport resolution raises fears that Oregon crabbers might soon lose some of their annual crab income due to the "unfair partisan conduct" of the council's Alaska majority.

Deckboss isn't quite sure what to make of this, but of course he'll endeavor to find out more.

Attention crab boat crewmen

Are you a crab boat crewman interested in learning more on how to buy and finance Bering Sea crab quota share?

Well, here's your chance.

A workshop on the topic is planned for May 3 in Seattle's Leif Erikson Hall. Here's a flier with more details.

"We have also reserved the Fishermen's Hall in Kodiak and will have a teleconference line set up," says Edward Poulsen, executive director of the trade association Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers.

The workshop is intended to "educate crew regarding opportunities to purchase and finance crab quota share," Poulsen says. "Crew and owners are encouraged to attend."

Catching up with the council

Deckboss spent a good bit of time this weekend hanging around the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, which is meeting through Tuesday here in Anchorage.

This is a meeting that lacks a really big, sexy headliner issue.

But lots of interesting currents are running through the council chamber, and even more through the corridors and bars of the downtown Hilton hotel, where the 11-member panel is encamped.

Here's a sampler:

• You know it's an election year when top politicians start showing up at the fish council. So it was no surprise to see Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell appear and give a little speech on Thursday. Naturally, after the speech came a fundraiser for Parnell, who is running for a new term.

• Jim Balsiger, Alaska chief for the National Marine Fisheries Service, announced it might be months longer before we see a new "biological opinion" on the status of the endangered Steller sea lion. This is a matter of considerable dread for Alaska's billion-dollar bottomfish industry, which very possibly could face painful new restrictions or even a shutdown if the agency determines commercial fishing is jeopardizing the sea lion's recovery or adversely modifying its habitat. Many industry players suspect internal conflict among NMFS scientists could explain the continual delays in rolling out this new BiOp.

• The island community of St. Paul, smack in the middle of the Bering Sea, is very worried about a pending change in crab management. You'll recall that, a few years ago, the king and snow crab fisheries were "rationalized" or divided into fishing, processing and regional shares. Under the rules, some of the crab must be delivered to northern ports including St. Paul, which heavily depends on landings taxes for its economic survival. Well, fishermen and processors want a change to allow crab to be delivered elsewhere in the event of an emergency, such as ice blocking the St. Paul harbor or a tsunami damaging the town's processing plants. St. Paul fears such an emergency exemption could be abused, however, draining the island of crab. Last I heard, a deal was in the works to compensate St. Paul somehow for lost crab landings, perhaps by requiring compensatory deliveries in future years.

• Maybe the hottest issue at this meeting concerns Gulf of Alaska rockfish. As with crab, rockfish was "rationalized," but only temporarily. The council now faces a universe of choices on how to manage the rockfish harvest after 2011. One option is awarding perhaps 20 percent of the catch rights directly to processors as "protection" for their historic investment in the fishery. This would be an unprecedented step in Alaska fisheries management, and a highly controversial one at that. So we can expect to see plenty of rockfish wrangling at future council meetings.

• Another hot topic is the proposed closure of some waters off Kodiak and Afognak islands to keep boats targeting bottomfish from accidentally catching, or mangling, bairdi Tanner crab. Supporters of the closures point the finger mainly at trawlers for this crab bycatch. Trawlers are saying, hey, we don't want to see vast areas closed without clear scientific justification. We've previously seen some pretty tough lobbying here. Remember those pictures of purported extreme crab bycatch from a few months ago? As with many issues before the council, final action on this one is still a long way off.

• Efforts to invent an excluder device to keep Chinook salmon out of pollock trawl nets apparently are coming along swimmingly. Researcher John Gauvin made a presentation on a "flapper-style" excluder to the council's Scientific and Statistical Committee. The committee wrote: "The concept for a salmon excluder has evolved over a number of years, and results of the most recent test appear to be the most promising to date." The excluder plays on salmon tendencies to allow them to exit the net through an escape hole, while most pollock stay inside. Gauvin said several vessels intend to use the excluder during next winter's pollock fishery.

• The council plans to hold its June 2011 meeting in a very unusual place: Nome! That's a big logistical challenge for the town, as a council meeting can attract hundreds of agency staffers and other people and bed space is limited. Folks in Nome believe they can handle the meeting like the Iditarod, which obviously brings scores of people to the shores of Norton Sound.

• And finally, from the rumor department, here's the very biggest buzz I heard at the council meeting (uh, in the bars) this weekend: Coastal Villages Region Fund and the company it partly owns, American Seafoods, possibly are going to divorce. This could involve part of American's mighty fleet of factory trawlers splitting off into a new company, knowledgeable and only slightly tipsy industry sources told me. Deckboss has not inquired of either Coastal Villages or American about this, so make of it what you will.

Crab boat hobbled but OK in Bering

Just talked with the U.S. Coast Guard, which is monitoring a crab boat with engine trouble in the Bering Sea.

The Lisa Marie dropped some cylinders and is limping its way to Dutch Harbor, making 3-5 knots, a Coast Guard spokesman in Juneau told me.

Weather isn't especially rough at this time.

The Lisa Marie has been featured on the hit cable show "Deadliest Catch." I'm not sure whether she has a camera crew aboard this season.

An Olympic opportunity lost for golden king crab?

Alaska Glacier Seafoods Inc. saw a chance to come out a big winner in Vancouver, British Columbia, site of the upcoming Olympic Winter Games.

All the Juneau-based processor needed was a little help from the Alaska Board of Fisheries.

But the board rejected the company's plea during a work session this month in Anchorage. Here's the details:

Alaska Glacier told the board it markets roughly half of the Southeast golden king crab catch each season, with most of it sold in Vancouver.

The Winter Olympics presents an exceptional opportunity to sell fresh, live crab.

But timing of the games is a problem.

The Olympics are scheduled for Feb. 12-28, while the crab fishery will start sometime between Feb. 10 and 17, depending on the tides.

That means Alaska Glacier's crab won't arrive in Vancouver for the most part until after the games are over.

"This will create a very adverse marketing situation," Alaska Glacier's president, Mike Erickson, told the board. "Our Vancouver buyers expect a major drop-off in restaurant spending following the expected very high sales during the Olympics."

Selling into that down market could mean crab fishermen will earn a subpar $2.50 to $3 a pound at the docks, versus the potential $5.35 for golden king crab delivered in time for the Olympics, Erickson said.

So, Alaska Glacier proposed opening the 2010 season, and only the 2010 season, three weeks earlier than usual.

The board didn't act directly on that idea.

Rather, the question at the work session was whether the board would add Alaska Glacier's proposal to the agenda of the Dec. 1-8 board meeting on Bristol Bay salmon issues. The board otherwise isn't scheduled to consider Southeast crab proposals again until 2012.

In the end, the board declined to grant Alaska Glacier's agenda change request, finding it didn't meet strict policy requirements for such changes.

Parnell to keep Moller as rural affairs adviser

Sean Parnell
Lieutenant Governor

July 20, 2009

Rural Affairs Adviser John Moller Will Stay on with Parnell

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell today announced the retention of Gov. Palin’s rural affairs adviser, John Moller.

“John’s strong community leadership has given him the tools to be an effective advocate for rural Alaska,” said Parnell. “Together we can continue to work hard for Alaska’s rural communities.”

John Moller was born in Unalaska. He is working toward a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Alaska. He’s been a commercial crab fisherman in the Bering Sea for 13 years and has served as general manger of the Aleutian Pribilof Island Community Development Association for 12 years.

Moller also currently serves as staff assistant for the departments of Military and Veterans Affairs and Commerce, Community and Economic Development.