March 28, 2009
"Watch Commercial Fishing Boats jockey for position, then race to the fishing grounds. Fast paced action."
Click here for video link
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Experts Worried About Depleted Herring Stocks
By Kate Golden JUNEAU EMPIRE
Kake elder Clarence Jackson says that when he was young, the seas near Sitka boiled with herring.
"The herring have disappeared in my lifetime," he told the House special committee on fisheries Tuesday.
Jackson and others told the lawmakers they believe Southeast's Pacific herring stocks are in trouble from past overfishing and present predation. And they don't believe the state is doing enough to help them recover.
Herring is an important element of Alaska Native subsistence. It's a bellwether species and a foundation of the ecosystem on which many other species depend. And it's a famously lucrative commercial fishery, in which a few boats can gross millions in minutes to an hour.
Thomas Thornton, an anthropologist at Oxford University, said that herring stocks were overfished in the first part of the 20th century. By the time Fish and Game started counting herring, they were already seriously depleted.
Click here for content
Kake elder Clarence Jackson says that when he was young, the seas near Sitka boiled with herring.
"The herring have disappeared in my lifetime," he told the House special committee on fisheries Tuesday.
Jackson and others told the lawmakers they believe Southeast's Pacific herring stocks are in trouble from past overfishing and present predation. And they don't believe the state is doing enough to help them recover.
Herring is an important element of Alaska Native subsistence. It's a bellwether species and a foundation of the ecosystem on which many other species depend. And it's a famously lucrative commercial fishery, in which a few boats can gross millions in minutes to an hour.
Thomas Thornton, an anthropologist at Oxford University, said that herring stocks were overfished in the first part of the 20th century. By the time Fish and Game started counting herring, they were already seriously depleted.
Click here for content
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Pacific Herring: Endangered Species Status Review
73 FR 66031, November 6, 2008. Notice of request for information, data, and comments pertinent to a risk assessment as part of a status review of the Southeast Alaska population of Pacific herring. Comment period through December 8, 2008.
73 FR 19824, April 11, 2008. Initiation of status review for Southeast Alaska Pacific Herring.
More information avaialable at NOAA Fisheries, Alaska Regional Office
73 FR 19824, April 11, 2008. Initiation of status review for Southeast Alaska Pacific Herring.
More information avaialable at NOAA Fisheries, Alaska Regional Office
Monday, August 18, 2008
City OKs Yankee Cove for Mine Use
City OKs Yankee Cove for mine use
Coeur plans to ferry workers from facility to Kensington project
By Kate Golden JUNEAU EMPIRE
"Coeur Alaska Inc. came a little closer to getting the Kensington gold and silver mine under way Tuesday with the city's modified approval of a marine facility at Yankee Cove.
Once the mine starts up, Coeur plans to bus mine workers to Yankee Cove, on Lynn Canal just past 33 Mile Glacier Highway, and ferry them from there to the mine site in Berners Bay, 45 miles northwest of Juneau. When marine weather is bad, Coeur will run people to the mine site in helicopters.
...
Various new permit conditions address oil spill prevention and cleanup.
Other conditions on the marine facility were carried over from its 2004 permit. In-water work is forbidden from March 1 to June 15 to protect spawning Pacific herring. Treated wood, creosote and other chemicals are controlled or forbidden on the site. Traffic to the facility is limited to six vehicles per hour."
...
Click here for content
Coeur plans to ferry workers from facility to Kensington project
By Kate Golden JUNEAU EMPIRE
"Coeur Alaska Inc. came a little closer to getting the Kensington gold and silver mine under way Tuesday with the city's modified approval of a marine facility at Yankee Cove.
Once the mine starts up, Coeur plans to bus mine workers to Yankee Cove, on Lynn Canal just past 33 Mile Glacier Highway, and ferry them from there to the mine site in Berners Bay, 45 miles northwest of Juneau. When marine weather is bad, Coeur will run people to the mine site in helicopters.
...
Various new permit conditions address oil spill prevention and cleanup.
Other conditions on the marine facility were carried over from its 2004 permit. In-water work is forbidden from March 1 to June 15 to protect spawning Pacific herring. Treated wood, creosote and other chemicals are controlled or forbidden on the site. Traffic to the facility is limited to six vehicles per hour."
...
Click here for content
Monday, July 7, 2008
Project Update
As of June, 2008, we have made the following progress on key project tasks:
So far data collected reveal the strong cultural and ecological significance of herring in Southeast Alaska. Preliminary results also provide evidence of localized declines in herring stocks and spawning areas, which our sources attribute to a variety of factors, including overfishing, non-human predation, development, and environmental change. In addition we have mapped hundreds of miles of historical herring spawning habitat, much of which has not been previously documented in the scientific record. We look forward to completing interviews and data analysis by early 2009.
- Completion of preliminary a literature review, annotated bibliography, and historical timeline.
- Local and Traditional Knowledge (LTK) interviews and focus groups with more than 60 consultants in the communities of Angoon, Craig/Klawock, Hoonah, Juneau/Douglas, Kake, Ketchikan/Saxman, Petersburg, and Sitka. We anticipate doing additional interviews.
- Compilation of archaeological site data and archaeofish records in Southeast AK
- Preliminary synthesis of herring massing, spawning, and harvest data from Alaska Dept. of Fish & Game and industry records (esp. herring reduction plants) into a GIS database and maps
- Integration of select cultural and environmental data layers in GIS for spatial analysis (e.g., ecological zones, bathymetry).
- Construction of a project web page(http://herringsynthesis.research.pdx.edu/research/index.html) to disseminate information to local tribes and the public.
So far data collected reveal the strong cultural and ecological significance of herring in Southeast Alaska. Preliminary results also provide evidence of localized declines in herring stocks and spawning areas, which our sources attribute to a variety of factors, including overfishing, non-human predation, development, and environmental change. In addition we have mapped hundreds of miles of historical herring spawning habitat, much of which has not been previously documented in the scientific record. We look forward to completing interviews and data analysis by early 2009.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Permit granted for construction of Lynn Canal highway
Alaska Public Radio Network
Rosemarie Alexander, KTOO - Juneau
Thu, June 19, 2008 Posted in Alaska News
The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers issued a permit Wednesday that allows the discharge of fill material into US waters, including forested wetlands, streams, and deep water habitat, to construct the road.
Click here for content
Rosemarie Alexander, KTOO - Juneau
Thu, June 19, 2008 Posted in Alaska News
The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers issued a permit Wednesday that allows the discharge of fill material into US waters, including forested wetlands, streams, and deep water habitat, to construct the road.
Click here for content
Sunday, May 25, 2008
My turn: State puts fish and fishing at risk
Juneau Empire.com
May 25, 2008
By Andy Rauwolf
"Coastal communities throughout Southeast Alaska with local and traditional knowledge of herring claim that historic stock levels have significantly declined due to factors that include over-harvesting, predation and climate changes.
Perhaps the factor presently having the greatest impact in this area may be attributed to predation. It appears that protected marine mammals are increasingly having a much larger impact on herring stocks than anyone could envision."
Click here for content
May 25, 2008
By Andy Rauwolf
"Coastal communities throughout Southeast Alaska with local and traditional knowledge of herring claim that historic stock levels have significantly declined due to factors that include over-harvesting, predation and climate changes.
Perhaps the factor presently having the greatest impact in this area may be attributed to predation. It appears that protected marine mammals are increasingly having a much larger impact on herring stocks than anyone could envision."
Click here for content
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