Fisheries

A plan to raise Alaska’s minimum wage saw widespread support during Tuesday’s election. In Unalaska, at least 83 percent of voters approved the measure. And the seafood industry — which is the town’s biggest source of minimum wage jobs — wasn’t expect anything different; they’re factoring in the wage hike as they look cut costs.

Don Goodfellow is the plant manager for Alyeska Seafoods in Unalaska. Leading up to the election, he says they were already planning on scaling back their workforce.

“We’ll have people who, as they retire out of the industry, we just won’t replace them,” Goodfellow says. “Machinery will take over a lot of those jobs.”

Eventually, Goodfellow thinks up to 30 percent of Unalaska’s processing workers could be automated. He says the seafood business is well overdue to make that kind of change.

“I think we’ve already started and it’s not as a response to that bill, specifically. It’s the need to be more efficient about how we do things,” Goodfellow says.

At UniSea, the biggest processing company in town , the potential wage hike just makes that need more urgent. Chris Plaisance is a human resources director for the company. If they had to implement the pay increases laid out in Tuesday’s ballot initiative, he estimates it could cost up to $3.5 million.

“Our margins are so thin that we need to make improvements or we’re gonna have a problem,” Plaisance says..

UniSea would need to trim its workforce — not through layoffs, Plaisance says, but through attrition — by leaving entry-level jobs empty at the end of each season. That leaves room to keep employees who’ve been with the company the longest.

Levell Curtis Standifer, Jr. has been working for UniSea almost year-round since 2010. He’s originally from Washington State.

“Down in the Lower 48, the economy is real bad,” Standifer says. “And I thank God for the state of Alaska, and how they create fishing jobs.”

Standifer and many of his coworkers start out earning minimum wage. But they have ample opportunities to work overtime. Plus they receive free room, board, and transportation from UniSea. Still, Standifer thinks his employer can afford to pay a little more.

“The fishing companies, they’re doing quite well off our labor. That’s the bottom line,” Standifer says.

Judging by the early results, he wasn’t the only one that felt that way. And he certainly wasn’t the only UniSea worker at the polls. Once an hour, the processing plant trucked in employees to cast their votes — and possibly, set their pay.

KUCB’s Lauren Rosenthal contributed to this report.

 

The Federal Subsistence Board’s rural determination process will change, according to an announcement made at the Alaska Federation of Natives Convention last month.

The changes should mean a more favorable process for villages and other rural communities that rely on hunting and fishing. Deputy Secretary of the Interior Michael Connor told AFN attendees that the new regulations will come soon.

“We’re moving out, beginning the discussions,” Connor said. “We’ve got to consult with the state, overall this is strongly supported throughout the leadership at the department of the Interior.”

Title VIII in the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, or ANILCA, mandates a subsistence preference for rural residents on public lands. Every ten years the Federal Subsistence Board determines whether a community meets certain guidelines to qualify for ANILCA’s subsistence preference. That rural determination process has been harshly criticized in recent years.

In 2007, several communities were told that they were no longer considered to be rural, including the Southeast community of Saxman. The board reasoned that the community’s proximity to non-rural Ketchikan put it in the same category. While the community is incorporated as a municipality, a majority of the population is Alaska Native and are members of the Organized Village of Saxman.

The tribe has fought against the board’s attempt to take away their rural status arguing that they have a history of traditional subsistence gathering in the area. The determination was put on hold in 2009 by then-Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar pending a comprehensive review of federal subsistence policies. That hold was scheduled to expire this past July, which meant that the Organized Village of Saxman’s opportunity to litigate would also expire.

In April, the Federal Subsistence Board voted unanimously to submit new regulations in the rural determination process. The board does not have authority to implement new regulations, but it can propose them to the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture. While Connor did not give details of the proposal, he did say that the board will defer more to communities and tribes in its decision-making process.

“Once implemented the new determination process will enable the board to use more flexible criteria that could lead to the kind of determinations sought by AFN and others in cases such as Saxman in Southeast Alaska,” Connor said.

Native American Rights Fund attorney Matthew Newman represents the Saxman tribe. He says the proposed rules give residents hope, but that the outcome is still in question. While the tribe favors an administrative fix, Newman says the lawsuit won’t be dropped until they’ve had a chance to review the new rules and are satisfied with them.

“I think everyone is relieved and optimistic that the rule is going to move forward,” Newman says. “This rule moving forward is not just a good thing for Saxman, it’s a good thing for all rural communities subject to ANILCA’s priority. This rural determination process has really been a bane for many communities and this idea that every 10 years your way of life is potentially subject to change causes a very, very uneasy feeling among rural residents in Alaska.”

Deputy Secretary Connor also announced changes in the board’s makeup. Two additional public members were added, Anthony Christianson of Hydaburg and Charles Brower of Barrow. Former AFN co-chair Tim Towarak from Unalakleet was named chair of the board. Towarak has served as a president of the Bering Straits Native Corp. and as rural affairs advisor to Gov. Tony Knowles.

Connor said the Department of the Interior is working on a new process that would make it easier for communities and subsistence users to participate in the board’s decision-making process.

Unprecedented closures kept fishermen this summer from targeting king salmon in an effort to bring more fish to spawning grounds after several poor runs. The drainage-wide results showing how well the management worked are now beginning arrive, and the state says the Kuskokwim may have achieved its critical Chinook escapement goal.

John Linderman is Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim Regional Supervisor with the Division of commercial fisheries. He says the fisherman deserve a thanks for their sacrifices this summer.

“The result this year is that we saw escapements overall compared to 2013 well, about double, or a little bit higher than that. So, much improved escapement this year compared to 2013, with many more escapement goals being achieved, however, two primary tributaries: the Kogrukluk river at the headwaters of the Holitna river and the Kwethluk in the lower river, their escapement goals were not achieved this year,” said Linderman.

A preliminary report published last week says the drainage wide escapement goal was likely met. Managers however are not committing until they’ve worked through all of the data in the coming weeks.

“There’s a chance that yes we could have achieved the goal this year. But the big wild card in that equation is the fact that two signification tributaries did not meet their escapement goals. It makes it that much more difficult. If it was a bit more black and white, if a minority of goals were reached or all goals were reached it’d be easier to try and draw conclusions at this point,” said Linderman.

Lisa Olson, the deputy director for State’s Subsistence Division says work is underway for next year’s planning.

“Now is the time to starting thinking what would work for 2015, what did not work well in 2014, and I hope that people in the area get involved,” said Olson.

Federal managers were in control of the Chinook fishery last summer after the federal subsistence board took action to federalize the management. No one knows yet what will be happen next year in terms of management, but Linderman says fishermen will likely see restrictions on par with this year.

“It’s an unfortunate reality of the current situation and the current poor abundance that the Kuskokwim Chinook run finds itself in, there just isn’t enough to provide for the demand that’s out there with respect to chinook salmon. That is the current expectation that we would expect the season to start with similar restrictions to what we saw in 2014,” said Linderman.

Subsistence fishing will likely be at the forefront at the Association of Village Council Presidents Convention, which hosts a subsistence panel Tuesday afternoon. The forum will include Fish and Game Commissioner Cora Campbell, AVCP Attorney Sky Starkey, and Federal Manager Gene Peltola Junior, plus Victor Joseph, the CEO of the Tanana Chiefs Conference.

The Southeast Alaska summer troll fishery is being extended by 10 days. That allows continued fishing through the end of this month.

Alaska Department of Fish and Game commercial fisheries biologist Pattie Skannes says all species of salmon except Chinooks can be harvested. But the fishery is mostly about cohos.

“What normally happens is the season closes by regulation on Sept. 20, unless we do an assessment of the coho run and determine that it’s strong enough to warrant extending,” she says. “So this year, that was the case. It’s been shaping up to be a very strong return.”

Fish and Game’s August stock assessment projected wild coho abundance at 4 million fish. An assessment done this month pegged it at 4.3 million, allowing the season to continue.

Skannes says the projected total is 15 percent higher than the past 30 years’ average.

But the extended season doesn’t necessarily mean more fish will be caught.

“The effort is relatively low during September. On the average, less than 1 percent of the troll coho harvest has been taken during those 10-day extension periods,” Skannes says.

The new data means the allowable wild commercial catch is set at 2.3 million, up from earlier projections.

Skannes says the coho troll season has been extended 13 times since 1994, including this year.

The extension has exceptions. Skannes says some Southeast fishing grounds have already been closed to protect Chinooks.

“There are five areas of high king salmon abundance that are closed: The Fairweather grounds, an area just north of Cape Spencer, waters off Yakobi Island and Kruzof Island, and waters just south of Whale Bay,” she says.

The winter troll fishery opens Oct. 11th. Its management plan will be released early next month.

It’s been just over two weeks since Russia banned imports of American food products into its country. Now, Alaska’s seafood industry is asking the U.S. government to strike back.

Terry Shaff is the president of UniSea — one of 10 major processing companies that’s lobbying to get Russian seafood kicked out of the United States.

“Well, what we would really like is to have Russia lift their embargo of all U.S. seafood products going into Russia,” Shaff says. “And it seems like we just can’t go and ask them to please do that. So one of the best ways to do it is to call for a ban — an embargo — on all Russian seafood product coming into the U.S.”

They’re hoping Alaska’s congressional delegation and federal trade officials can make that happen.

Russell Smith oversees international fisheries for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He couldn’t say whether a ban is something they’d support.

“NOAA has focused more on trying to provide our fishermen, our processors with information about what is happening, and trying to help them find other outlets for their product,” Smith says.

But getting clear information has been difficult, ever since Russia stopped accepting food shipments from western nations at the beginning of the month. Russia is protesting economic sanctions for its political incursions on Ukraine.

There’s some confusion about what’s covered under the ban. And Tom Enlow, a UniSea executive in Unalaska, says there’s at least one loophole.

“They will accept a U.S.-origin product, if it’s reprocessed in another country that is not under the ban,” Enlow says.

It’s not clear how much American seafood is getting into Russia this way. But it’s not going unnoticed.

The shore-based processors — and even the Bering Sea crab fleet  — that are pressing for an embargo on Russian imports want theirs to be absolute. They’re seeking to ban all Russian fish, no matter which countries processed it along the way.

Not everyone in Alaska’s seafood industry is on board with that plan, though.

Glenn Reid is the president of the Pacific Seafood Processors Association.

“There’s a concern and a desire to have support of interests in the E.U. and other places beyond our region,” Reid says. “And absent that support, some people were less comfortable signing on. That’s a general consistency — whether it’s a group or an individual company.”

Unless Russia changes course, the ban on western food imports will last until next August.

The scale of American seafood exports to Russia can vary from year to year. But in 2013, the market was valued at $83 million. Most of that was from sales of Alaskan salmon roe — otherwise known as red caviar -– followed by pollock.

After an unprecedented two extensions, the summer king salmon season for trollers in Southeast is over.

The Alaska Department of Fish & Game closed the fishery at 11:59 p.m. Monday, August 18 — two days later than planned.

Pattie Skannes is troll management biologist for the region.

“Yeah. We don’t usually work on Saturday and Sunday. But this was one of those openings that required a little bit of attention every day. We set it for three days thinking, This is going to be easy. But it turned out to be anything but easy.”

The target for the three-day opener was 36,000 kings. But on day one, it looked like trollers were bringing in about 12 fish per day. During the first opener of the season — the first week of July — trollers were landing about 50 kings per day. An August storm blew in and kept many of the region’s 700 trollers off the ocean. So the department extended the opening 24 hours to Sunday night. And then another 24 hours until Monday night.

As the weather improved, Skannes says, so did the fishing.

“There were some boats that came in with 0-10 kings, and some that came in with a few hundred. So it’s a wide range, but the average is still fairly low — 19-20 per boat per day. So I think that we’re going to come out just about right.”

Skannes relies on fishermen to keep her informed of their success during the fishery. During a three-day opener, the Department can’t collect fish tickets from processors quickly enough to make timely decisions about how things are going. So a number of boat call in their catch rates directly to Skannes, and she estimates the total harvest based largely on this voluntary survey.

It’s a strategy to avoid undershooting the harvest, and having a third opener later in the summer.

“There have been years in the past where there was a third opener to kind of mop up what’s left. We don’t let you do that anymore. It’s very unpopular. So I expect this will be our last opening for the year.”

In the first summer opener in July, trollers landed almost 200,000 kings. They were paid an average of $3.14 per pound. Since then, the catch rate for coho salmon has skyrocketed, with trollers sometimes bringing in hundreds of coho with their kings. The average price for coho has been around $1.49 per pound.

Although this wraps up the summer season for kings, trollers will still be on the ocean fishing for coho and chum salmon for the next few weeks. And come October, trollers will once again be able to target kings when the winter fishery gets underway.