Highland Light agrees to pay $135,000 penalty

Here's news from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency:

June 29, 2010

Alaskan processor fined $135,000 for Clean Water Act violations

SEATTLE — Highland Light Seafoods LLC, an Alaskan seafood processor headquartered in Seattle, has agreed to pay a $135,000 penalty to settle federal Clean Water Act violations, according to an EPA order.

Based on an inspection in December 2008, EPA found that Highland Light's 160-foot catcher-processor vessel, Westward Wind, was not in compliance with its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit while operating in Alaskan waters.

Highland Light Seafoods had the following NPDES violations:

• Over the past five years, the company failed to maintain records documenting visual monitoring of the effluent grind size and waste conveyance systems.

• During 2004 and 2005, the company failed to maintain records documenting visual monitoring of the shoreline and sea surface.

• In 2005, the company violated its NPDES permit when the Westward Wind discharged to Nazan Bay.

• In 2006, the Westward Wind discharged near the Pribilof Islands without an authorized NPDES permit.

• On numerous occasions, the Westward Wind discharged seafood waste in quantities greater than the company specified in its application, and

• The company failed to update its application after it made significant changes in its operation.

According to Kim Ogle, NPDES compliance manager, the penalty amount was driven by the lack of demonstration that the crew of the Westward Wind was monitoring its operation for the last five years.

"Monitoring is a cornerstone of the NPDES Program and provides real time input for the company on the effectiveness of its operations," said EPA's Ogle. "Using monitoring to improve operations is an important step in reducing the effects of discharges on the environment."

The NPDES permit program, a key part of the Clean Water Act, controls water pollution by regulating sources that discharge pollutants into waters of the United States.

Make way for crab

Salmon isn't the only lure for commercial fishermen this time of year.

Halibut season also is open, and in some places crab!

Take Norton Sound, for example, where the summer red king crab fishery opened today with a quota of 400,000 pounds.

The fishery begins with a special harvest for the federal Community Development Quota program, which reserves 7.5 percent or 30,000 pounds for CDQ crabbers.

A general fishery for the remaining 370,000 pounds "will open later at a time to be announced, pending buyer interest," the Alaska Department of Fish and Game said.

Elsewhere, fishermen in Southeast Alaska have been stalking Dungeness crab since the fishery opened on June 15. The total season's catch is expected to exceed 2.25 million pounds, meaning crabbers will enjoy "a normal season length," Fish and Game announced today.

Here we go on the Yukon

Commercial fishing on the lower Yukon River opens tonight from 6 to midnight.

The target is chum salmon, but fishermen will be allowed to sell Chinook salmon they catch incidentally.

Here's the announcement from the Department of Fish and Game.

The Chinook catch is expected to be quite low.

Just how coveted is the king of kings?

The Anchorage-based online retailer FishEx is offering fresh Yukon king fillets at $42.95 a pound.

Adak conflict widens

Regular visitors to Deckboss know we've expended a fair amount of energy covering the legal battles surrounding the cod plant on faraway Adak Island.

Now comes yet another twist.

It seems the city of Adak feels the owner of the plant property, Aleut Enterprise, should pony up the unpaid utility bills left behind by its bankrupt former tenant, Adak Fisheries.

The city has sued Aleut in state Superior Court seeking $428,728.55 for electric, water, sewer and garbage services rendered.

Of this sum, $300,890.43 is for utility services to the processing plant, with $127,838.12 for services to 38 housing units that Aleut also leased to Adak Fisheries.

In an answer to the lawsuit, a lawyer for Aleut "denies the City's right to recover any of the requested relief through its claims."

Aleut argues the city is barred from collecting due to its "own negligence," and further cites the "doctrine of unclean hands" and sundry other defenses.

Of course, Aleut is battling in a separate case to evict the plant's successor occupant, Adak Seafood.

And an East Coast bank with millions of dollars in loans at stake also is involved in this fine kettle of fish.

Here they come!

The Bristol Bay sockeye catch has now exceeded 1 million fish.

Track the daily count here.

New laws aid injured fishermen, salmon industry

Gov. Sean Parnell was in Petersburg today and signed into law two pieces of legislation important to fish folk:

Senate Bill 163 revises the Fishermen's Fund, a kind of state insurance program for commercial fishermen who are injured or fall ill on the job. The new law increases the claim allowance from $2,500 to $10,000. The Fishermen's Fund is what's known as a "payer of last resort." That means, for example, that the fund can pay for care in the case of an injured fisherman who is underinsured. The prime sponsor of SB 163 was Sen. Joe Paskvan, D-Fairbanks.

House Bill 344 extends the salmon product development tax credit by four years, through 2015. This tax break has been around since 2003. It was among steps the state took to help the depressed salmon industry better compete with fish farmers. The goal is to encourage processors to add value to the salmon. Equipment for filleting fish, removing pinbones and packing salmon in convenient pop-top cans are examples of investments eligible for the tax credit. The new law adds ice machines to the list of qualified investments. Processors already have earned several million dollars in credits, the Department of Revenue says. The prime sponsor of HB 344 was Haines Republican Rep. Bill Thomas, himself a commercial fisherman.

Alaska industry is sending money to Gulf

A Juneau-based nonprofit, the Alaska Fishing Industry Relief Mission Inc., is sending a $10,600 donation to Louisiana to support efforts to create a watchdog committee for the Gulf of Mexico oil industry.

Here's the press release.