Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan has scored seats on nearly every Congressional committee that deals with issues on, over and under the oceans. That fulfills a commitment he made to Kodiak when he ran for office two years ago, he said at a ComFish town meeting during a two day stay on \u201cthe Rock.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sullivan ticked off a list of fishery related actions he\u2019s had a hand in getting accomplished over the past year: passage of an enforcement act that combats global fish pirating and seafood fraud; adding language to bills that lifts pricey classification requirements on new fishing vessels; and a one year water discharge exemption so fishermen don\u2019t need special permits to hose down their decks.<\/p>\n
He said he is \u201cworking to make sure new regulations are not an undue burden on the industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hear about overregulation in terms of costs from every single group I\u2019ve met with,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cWe all want clean water and a safe environment, but we have federal agencies that are taking a one size fits all approach to these regulations and it can be crushing on what you all do. I hear it loud and clear.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sullivan said when it comes to Alaska\u2019s fisheries, he is guided by three core principles: science is the foundation for sustainability, seafood is the engine for strong coastal economies, and the need to create more markets for what he dubs the \u201csuper-power of seafood.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been looking at ways structurally to create more demand for Alaska seafood,\u201d he said, citing recent legislation that was added to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement to fix a seafood oversight.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe authorizing legislation said our trade negotiators have to achieve objectives to open markets for different industry groups, such as agriculture, high tech, textiles\u2026,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cGuess what industry was not in the bill \u2013 seafood. So my team drafted legislation that said in any future trade agreements, the U.S. has to get access for our fisheries and fish products in foreign markets, and go after the subsidies of foreign fleets that unfairly compete against us. It passed and was signed by the president. So all trade agreements for the next six years must have major provisions focused on opening markets for U.S. seafood products. It also is included in a European trade agreement being negotiated now.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the home front, Sullivan said he is working with the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture to require the nation\u2019s school lunch program to only include fish that is caught in U.S. waters.<\/p>\n
\u201cBelieve it or not, there are loopholes in the program that don\u2019t require that,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cIn my view, we should not be feeding our kids fish that is caught in Russian waters and then processed in China and injected with phosphates. If our kids get fed fish that is not very good, you turn off a generation until they get about 30 or 40 and get over the fact that the fish sticks they had in second grade made them not like seafood.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a separate media interview, Sullivan took exception to allegations that he and Alaska\u2019s delegation aim to stymie U.S. and global protections for an increasingly off kilter climate to benefit the fossil fuel industry.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the science side we\u2019re trying to make sure that ocean acidification and other issues that impact the fisheries are completely and fully funded. I\u2019m all over that,\u201d he asserted. \u201cIn Alaska we\u2019re seeing the impacts of climate change and a warming ocean. I have been very focused on making sure the agencies have the applied science capability to manage the stocks accordingly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sullivan agreed that human activity has an impact on climate change, to some degree.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith seven billion human inhabitants there is certainly a human impact, but to what degree, I don\u2019t think the science is ever settled on that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Sullivan said he supports an \u201call of the above energy strategy, crediting the \u201cnatural gas revolution\u201d of the past few years (fracking) for \u201cdriving down America\u2019s greenhouse gas emissions significantly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senator Sullivan said Alaska\u2019s roads, ports and harbors will benefit from a $2.6 billion highway bill passed by Congress, and another in the pipeline will provide \u201csignificant\u201d money for airports. The Coast Guard\u2019s biggest airbase at Kodiak also is set for some upgrades, including new aircraft and cutters.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Hatchery hauls<\/strong><\/p>\n Each year more than one third of Alaska\u2019s salmon catch and value comes from fish that started out in hatcheries.<\/p>\n It\u2019s very different from fish farming, where salmon are crammed into nets or pens until they\u2019re ready for market. In Alaska\u2019s salmon enhancement program – which began in the early 1970s in response to low statewide runs \u2013 all fish originate as eggs from wild stocks, and are released as fingerlings to the sea. In the state\u2019s 29 hatcheries operating today, most of the home grown fish are pinks and chums.<\/p>\n According to the Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game\u2019s annual Alaska Fisheries Enhancement Report, the 2015 salmon season produced the second highest catch for hatchery stocks at 93 million fish with a dockside value of $125 million.<\/p>\n Pink salmon accounted for 47 percent of the value of the statewide hatchery harvest, followed by chum salmon at 31 percent, sockeyes at 17 percent, cohos at 3 percent and Chinook salmon at two percent of the value.<\/p>\n By far most of Alaska\u2019s hatchery production is in Prince William Sound, where last year\u2019s 74 million hatchery harvest was worth nearly $80 million, or 67 percent of the Sound\u2019s total salmon value.<\/p>\n Southeast ranks second for hatchery production, which last year yielded about 11 million fish worth $37 million, or 42 percent of the total exvessel salmon value for the region.<\/p>\n Kodiak\u2019s two hatcheries produced over 5 million pink salmon last season, valued at $4.5 million, or 12 percent of the total salmon value.<\/p>\n At Cook Inlet, about 2.4 million hatchery sockeyes were caught, valued at more than $3 million, or 10 percent of the fishery value.<\/p>\n Nearly 150 Alaska schools \u2013 K through 12 \u2013 participate in hatchery egg take and salmon release programs.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Fish watch<\/strong><\/p>\n Kodiak\u2019s roe herring fishery begins on the 15th with a low 1,670 ton harvest limit.<\/p>\n Alaska\u2019s biggest herring fishery at Togiak in Bristol Bay will follow with a catch pegged at nearly 30,000 tons. There\u2019s lots of herring in the Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim region, but no buyers. A small herring fishery may occur this summer at Norton Sound.<\/p>\n A fleet of 84 vessels signed up for a six day, 47,061 pound pot shrimp fishery set to open at Prince William Sound on April 15.<\/p>\n In Southeast Alaska, salmon trollers will be back out targeting spring kings by May 1 at the Stikine River.<\/p>\n Southeast crabbers had their second best Tanner fishery ever, topping 1.3 million pounds in just 12 days. The crab averaged $2.23 for 74 permit holders, 30 cents higher than last year.<\/p>\n To the contrary, dwindling stocks of golden king crab yielded a catch of just 155,000 pounds, down by half from last year. The 17 crabbers got $10.50 a pound, compared to $11.86 last season.<\/p>\n Crabbing was about over in the Bering Sea, where just 2.5 million pounds of snow crab remained in the 36.5 million pound quota. Also, the 17 million pound Tanner crab quota is a wrap.<\/p>\n Halibut landings were approaching 2 million pounds, or 10 percent of the 17 million pound catch limit. Ten percent of the 20.3 million pound sablefish quota had crossed the docks.<\/p>\n Fishing for cod, pollock, rockfish, flounders and other groundfish continues throughout the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan has scored seats on nearly every Congressional committee that deals with issues on, over and under the oceans. That fulfills a commitment he made to Kodiak when he ran for office two years ago, he said at a ComFish town meeting during a two day stay on \u201cthe Rock.\u201d Sullivan ticked […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":7,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[74],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-12195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","tag-arts-and-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12195\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12195"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=12195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}