| Alaska sea grant seeks funds to make six community based marine extension positions permanent |
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SEAFOOD.COM NEWS [Alaska Sea grant] Feb 24, 2010 -Fairbanks, Alaska - Marine Advisory Positions in several Alaska communities are at risk due to funding shortfalls expected to hit the program later this year. MAP positions in five coastal communities - Cordova, Nome, Dillingham, Unalaska, and Petersburgare scheduled to run out of money later this year. A sixth position, in Kodiak, has been unfilled for the past 13 years. Fully one-third of the 16 agent and specialist positions are facing significant budget problems. 'We've struggled for years to keep these positions operating on various state, private and federal grants,' said Cullenberg. 'At this point future funding is tenuous.' To keep these community programs operating, the University of Alaska's 2011 operating budget request includes $614,000 to permanently fund MAP positions in the six communities. The Alaska Legislature must approve the request. 'Our program is committed to helping Alaska's coastal communities and the marine resources they depend on remain strong and resilient,' said Cullenberg. 'The funding we're requesting would represent a long-term commitment by the University of Alaska to maintain a Marine Advisory Program agent in these communities.' Around the state, Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program (MAP) agents and specialists make a difference in the lives of coastal Alaskans. Take Cordova resident Eric Lian for example. Last year, he participated in a forum for young fishermen sponsored by MAP, with the goal of creating a new generation of leaders that would reverse the slow decline of fishing traditions in coastal communities. Encouraged by what he learned in the forum, Lian now serves on the board of directors for the Cordova District Fishermen United. He speaks often on marine policy issues, and mentors other young fishermen coming up the ranks. In seafood processing plants around the state, thousands of workers are producing safer, higher quality seafood after participating in training and workforce development programs run by MAP. Fishermen not content to sell their catch to processors have learned how to sell to restaurants and specialty stores in direct marketing classes and workshops taught by extension agents. To be sure, Alaska's fishing industry is an important focus for Marine Advisory Program agents and specialists located in ten coastal communities around the state. But the program is much more than fish. In Unalaska, for example, high school students coached by MAP took part in a nationwide marine science competition and were inspired to pursue science degrees at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. In Bethel, the local marine advisory agent is helping residents launch ecotourism businesses, and in Kodiak, MAP helped Latino women learn how they can start small businesses in their community. Whether it's helping Nome set up their own water monitoring plan, assisting shellfish farmers detect and avoid red tide outbreaks, looking for harmful invasive marine species, or working on archaeological studies of Alaska Native artifacts, the university's Marine Advisory Program is there. 'Helping communities improve their standing and sustain their traditions and lifestyles is just part of being a MAP agent,' says Paula Cullenberg, MAP leader. 'In many of the communities where we're based or visit, we're the only university presence.' More than 45 letters from city and community leaders, fishermen's associations, seafood processors, Alaska Native organizations, and others, urging support for the MAP budget request have poured into legislative offices. Shirley Marquardt, mayor of Unalaska, said ensuring MAP's viability is important to her community and others across the state. 'The program links us with research around the state, encourages youth toward workplace opportunities in the seafood and fishing industry, and responds to the needs of communities in cases of oil spills, marine mammal strandings, and the effects of climate change on our marine environment,' said Marquardt. |
| Value of New Zealand fish stocks set at over $4 billion, up 47% under catch share program |
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SEAFOOD.COM NEWS [Statistics New Zealand] Feb 25, 2010 - Copyright 2010, scoop.co.nz All Rights Reserved. The value of New Zealand's commercial fish stocks passed the $4 billion mark in 2009, Statistics New Zealand said today. The asset value of New Zealand's commercial fish stocks, as managed under the Quota Management System (QMS), has grown 47 percent since 1996. The number of species managed under the system, introduced in 1986 to manage New Zealand's fisheries, rose from 26 in 1996 to 96 in 2009. In 2009 the top 20 species, including hoki, rock lobster, pāua, and blue cod, comprised 91 percent of the fish stocks' total value. Hoki contributed the highest value at $815 million, or 20 percent of the total asset value. In 2009, jack mackerel, dredge oysters, and stargazer replaced alfonsino, hapuku and bass, and scallop in the top 20 species by asset value. These statistics are from the Fish Monetary Stock Account: 1996Ð2009 released by Statistics NZ today. The report, which is based on information from the fishing industry, measures the asset value of New Zealand's commercial fisheries; it excludes aquaculture, recreational and customary catch, and commercial species not currently managed by the QMS. The Fish Monetary Stock Account: 1996Ð2009 is part of a series of statistics that can be used to monitor the interaction between the economy and the environment. The full report is available on the Statistics NZ website (www.stats.govt.nz). |
| Steller Sea Lion issue threatens to become major embarrassment for NMFS |
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SEAFOOD.COM NEWS by
John Sackton -(news analysis and comment) Feb 24, 2010 - There is
a sword of Damocles hanging over the N. pacific pollock fishery, and NMFS
may dislodge it if it does not take especial care regarding the Steller
Sea lion issue. The issue, for those
not familiar, is that several years ago, the N. Pacific Council asked NMFS
to prepare a new biological opinion on the status of steller sea lions, a
threatened species found throughout Alaska. In southeast Alaska, Sea Lions
have been thriving and populations have been increasing. In Western
Alaska, between 1970 and the 1990's, populations declined significantly.
In the period from 2000 to 2003, NMFS declared that the sea lions were in
jeopardy, and as a result, the council imposed significant fishing
closures and restrictions around rookeries. Since that time, the data
on the recovery of the western stock of sea lions has been ambiguous, with
some data pointing to increases, while other data shows low reproduction.
At the same time, a number of studies have begun to show that fishing is
not the primary, or even a major cause, of sea lion population changes.
Predation by whales, changes in water temperature and the Bering Sea
ecosystem, and migration of animals are all additional factors seen in the
population fluctuations. Now, a new
draft biological opinion, issued by the protected species division within
NMFS, is scheduled to be released March 1st. Once the draft is
released, it sets the stage for a final opinion, and if the final opinion
finds the sea lion stock in jeopardy, or finds that fishing creates
'adverse modification', NMFS is legally mandated to create remedial
measures. Those measures could impose multi-million dollar costs on
Alaska's fishing industry. Given the
importance of this, it would seem that NMFS would take all the necessary
steps to create transparency and public confidence in the draft bi-op,
including providing the actual scientific data to the committee of
independent experts who will review the opinion, and giving them
sufficient time to do so. |