Young Fishermen’s Development Act Passes Congress

Act Creates National Grant Program to Support Next Generation of America’s Fishermen

On Sunday, December 20th, the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association (ALFA) and commercial fishermen around the country are cheering the passage of the Young Fishermen’s Development Act (H.R. 1240, S. 496), which passed in both the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate. The bipartisan bill, introduced by Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) in the Senate and Representative Don Young (R-Alaska) in the House, passed unanimously in both chambers of Congress and establishes the first ever national program to train, educate, and foster the next generation of commercial fishermen.

The Young Fishermen’s Development Act (YFDA) was first proposed in 2015 by the Fishing Communities Coalition (FCC); a national advocacy group that represents over 1,000 independent fishermen and business owners from Maine to Florida to California and Alaska. ALFA - a founding member of FCC - and others have spent the last five years working with members of Congress to develop the YFDA, which directs the National Sea Grant in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to establish a Young Fishermen's Development Grant Program to provide training, education, outreach, and technical assistance initiatives for young fishermen.

To read the entire press release, click here.

$4.1 Million Awarded for Electronic Monitoring

Fishermen’s news online

November 17th, 2020

Grants totaling $4.1 million have been awarded for fisheries electronic monitoring and reporting projects in 14 states, including Alaska, California, Oregon and Washington state, plus Puerto Rico. The grants, which will generate $4.8 million in matching funds, were awarded through the Electronic Monitoring and Reporting Grant Program, a partnership of NFWF, NOAA, the Walton Family Foundation and the Kingfisher Foundation.

Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association received $185,104 to develop improved image quality and cost effectiveness in Alaska’s fixed gear electronic monitoring program. ALFA contributed $213,500, for a total of $398,604 for the project.

See article on Fishermen’s News Online Here: https://fnonlinenews.blogspot.com/2020/11/41-million-awarded-for-electronic.html

Seafood Trade Relief Program Deadline Approaching December 14, 2020

Fishermen applying for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Seafood Trade Relief Program need to get their applications in by December 14, 2020.   The program provides roughly $530 million for disbursement as payments on a per pound basis to fishermen impacted by tariffs on sixteen commercially harvested marine fish species.  Fish caught by Alaska and West Coast small boat hook-and-line and fixed gear fishermen such as tuna, salmon, sablefish, geoducks, Dungeness, king and tanner crabs are among the qualifying species.  The Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency is administering the program.   

Fishermen can apply for the payments through Monday, December 14, 2020.    To apply, commercial fishermen must complete a “2020 Seafood Trade Relief Program Application” and submit the application to their local Farm Service Agency office.  Eligible applicants must have been active commercial fishermen in 2020 and have harvested specific seafood species in 2019 with a valid federal or state fishing permit or license.  Applicants will have to certify the amount of commercial landings in pounds for the 2019 season.  

The payment amount per fishermen depends on the amount of pounds harvested.  Payment rates reflect the estimated severity of the impact of trade disruption.  Sablefish and salmon payments will be $.10 and $.16 per pound, respectively with higher amounts of $.47 per pound for Dungeness crab and $.76 per pound for geoducks.  If a fisherman caught 100,000 pounds of salmon, the Farm Service agency would calculate the payment as 100,000 x $.16.  There is a $250,000 cap on payments.  Fishermen with an average adjusted gross income of $900,000 or more may or may not be eligible and should contact a Farm Service Agency representative for criteria and other information applicable to this income threshold.

In some cases the Farm Service Agency may require fishermen to submit additional documentation for eligibility, including commercial fishing permits, documentation of landings and other forms.  Agency personnel processing the applications have found it helpful when fishermen submit processor payment summaries or similar documents with the application.  The application includes multiple forms but many of the forms for individual commercial fishermen are for registration purposes and require just basic personal information.

The online application and other information about the Seafood Trade Relief Program is available at:

https://www.farmers.gov/Seafood

The Alaska Service Center is in Palmer, and its website, including contact information for staff administering the STRP is here:

https://www.fsa.usda.gov/state-offices/Alaska/index

Fishermen in other states can find their local Farm Agency Service Center through the following link:

https://www.farmers.gov/service-center-locator

There is a Call Center available for fishermen who may need individual support with the application process: (877) 508-8364 and a powerpoint about the program available here:

https://www.fsa.usda.gov/Assets/USDA-FSA-Public/usdafiles/Outreach/Presentations/STRP/STRP%20Producer%20Webinar-for%20pub%20site-no%20speaker%20notes-2020Sept25.pdf

ADF&G Releases Second Disaster Relief Draft Spend Plan with Changes to Eligibility Criteria and Payment Tiers

ADF&G RELEASES SECOND DISASTER RELIEF DRAFT SPEND PLAN WITH

CHANGES TO ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA AND PAYMENT TIERS

On November 9, 2020, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) released

its second “Section 12005 CARES Act Relief for Fisheries Participants Second Draft

Spend Plan” which will distribute $49 million in fisheries disaster relief funds to

eligible participants from the commercial fishing, seafood processing, charter fishing,

aquaculture and subsistence sectors. ADF&G’s second draft spend plan allocates

over a quarter of the funds – 27 percent - to the charter sector. Commercial fishing

vessel owners who are not processors will receive 35 percent of the allocation.

Seafood processors, including numerous commercial fishing vessels that freeze,

participate in dive fisheries or direct market their catch, will receive 32 percent of the

disaster relief funds.

The second draft spend plan makes some changes to the October draft spend plan

which include an extended time period for calculating revenue declines, eligibility for

a small number of commercial fishermen who reside in states outside of Alaska, and

changes to the tiered payment system. Eligible commercial fishermen must have one

of the following permits or licenses: (1) a 2020 CFEC commercial vessel license; (2) a

2020 CFEC Commercial fishing permit; (3) a 2020 NOAA Fisheries License Limitation

Permit; (4) a 2020 NOAA fisheries IFQ permit and/or (5) NOAA fisheries crab

rationalization IFQ permit. Eligible applicants will receive 1 share per permit.

Payment amounts are unknown until all applications are received and the total

number of shares counted to determine the value of a single share.

Eligible applicants must have fished in 2018 and 2019 and must certify that they

have experience a greater than 35% loss in fishery revenue from January 1, 2020 to

November 30, 2020 as a direct or indirect result of COVID-19 relative to average

gross fishing revenue the past five years for same time period. Those applicants who

did not fish all five years can use average gross revenue for their years in operation.

Applicants must also certify that if they received other pandemic related aid,

including unemployment, grants, or loans that won’t be repaid, the sum of fishery

revenue + pandemic aid (not including loans to be repaid) must not exceed average

annual revenue from 2015 to 2019. Self-certification will be sufficient to verify the

losses, but applicants must attest that they have and will retain records documenting

the losses.

One of the changes to eligibility requirements is that commercial fishermen who are

residents of other states may apply, but only if they have a business license issued by

Alaska Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development. It is

unclear if this change will help non-resident commercial fishermen. In June, the

state of Alaska excluded most commercial fishermen from the Alaska Cares Act

grant program by requiring a state business license. Alaska exempts most

commercial fisheries businesses from the state business license requirement. As a

result, most commercial fishermen were not eligible for the AK CARES grants until

the state expanded program eligibility in August.

Many commercial fishermen, including freezer vessels, many dive operations, direct

marketers and some tender vessels will apply for relief funds allocated to the

processing sector. Processors must hold a 2020 processing permit issued by Alaska

Department of Environmental Conservation and processing vessels must be

homeported in AK. Eligible processors must have a minimum average annual

wholesale value revenue of $30,000 from 2015-2019. The spend plan establishes

seven tiers based on average wholesale revenues to determine payment amounts.

For example, processors with revenues between $30,000 and $75,000 receive one

share, and processors with revenues between $75,000 and $500,000 receive 2

shares. At the top end of the scale, processors with larger revenues of between $20

million and $50 million would receive 6 shares, and processors with revenues above

$50 million would receive 7 shares.

The second draft plan is available at:

https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/static/home/news/hottopics/pdfs/cares_act_spending

plan_110920.pdf

ADF&G is allowing a public comment period through 5:00 p.m. November 15, 2020.

Fishermen can send comments to dfg.com.caresact@alasak.gov.

ADF&G's Second Spend Plan Maintains Disproportionate Allocation of CARES Act Fishery Relief Funds to Charter Sector

ADF&G’S SECOND SPEND PLAN MAINTAINS DISPROPORTIONATE ALLOCATION OF CARES ACT FISHERY RELIEF FUNDS TO CHARTER SECTOR

On November 9, 2020, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) released its second “Section 12005 CARES Act Relief for Fisheries Participants Second Draft Spend Plan” which will distribute $49 million in fisheries disaster relief funds to eligible participants from the commercial fishing, seafood processing, charter fishing, aquaculture and subsistence sectors.  ADF&G’s second draft spend plan allocates over a quarter of the funds – 27 percent ($13.2 million) - to the charter sector. Commercial fishing vessel owners who are not processors will receive 35 percent ($17.2 million) of the allocation. The seafood processing sector, which includes both shore-based processors and numerous commercial fishing vessels with processing permits that freeze, participate in dive fisheries or direct market their catch, will receive 32 percent ($15.7 million) of the disaster relief funds.  There are well over 500 seafood processors permitted in Alaska, and most of the permit holders are community-based commercial fishing vessels.  The spend plan allocates most of the remaining funds to the aquaculture and subsistence sectors while leaving an unexplained omission of $1 million from the plan.

ALFA and other fishery stakeholders have repeatedly requested that the Department use the approach of other major fishing states such as Massachusetts, which evaluated 2020 fishery market trends and other fishery data while developing its spend plan and allocated its funds by sector using NOAA Fisheries’ formula for distributing the CARES Act funds to each coastal fishing state. Other coastal state spend plans also attempted to allocate fishermen’s funds fairly by identifying the number of license holders and businesses in each sector. 

NOAA Fisheries allocated $50 million to Alaska based on multi-year revenue information from commercial and charter fishing sectors, aquaculture businesses, and processing/seafood sectors showing that nearly 60 percent of Alaska’s fishery revenue derived from seafood processors.  Commercial fishermen generated 35.2 percent of the state’s fishery revenue, and charter operators generated the remaining 5.5 percent.  ALFA requested that ADF&G should use these percentages as a primary basis for allocating disaster relief funds between the sectors.  

Instead, ADF&G’s spend plan explains that the agency increased the charter allocation to 27 percent to mitigate losses caused by travel restrictions and health mandates.  This approach deprives commercial fishermen who hold processor permits and shorebased processors from access to over $10 million in CARES Act relief funds allocated to Alaska’s processing sector under NOAA’s formula.  ADF&G ignores the fact that many Alaska-based processors have also incurred significant expenses in order to operate under the state’s health mandates and travel restrictions, and despite precautions, some have shut down due to COVID-19 outbreaks.  The ADF&G spend plan does not provide any explanation for the state’s assumption that the charter sector experienced more cumulative economic harm than commercial fisheries and seafood processors.

Alaska’s fisheries produce more seafood volume than all the other states combined - nearly 60 percent of all commercial fishery landings in the United States by volume, and one-third of the nation’s commercial fishery economic value.   The seafood industry is second only to oil and gas in terms of state jobs, making it important to utilize the limited funds in a way that fairly allocates relief.  ADF&G’s allocation does not reflect the relative importance of the seafood sector, which employs more workers than any other industry in Alaska.  Available data from the McDowell Group’s 2017 report, “The Economic Value of Alaska’s Seafood Industry” identify a total of 16,500 Alaska residents and 9,400 home-ported fishing vessels that, combined with non-resident fishermen, generated $1.7 billion in ex-vessel value in 2016.  The state’s seafood processing industry employs 26,500 Alaska residents and generated a wholesale value of $4.2 billion in 2016.  

In contrast, according to a 2019 NOAA Fisheries report measuring economic contributions from the charter fishing sector, “the saltwater recreational charter fishing sector is small relative to the commercial seafood sector,” contributing a total economic output of $166 million, or 4 percent of the $4.4 billion total fishery economic output to Alaska’s economy.  Most saltwater charter businesses are concentrated in portions of Southeast and Southcentral Alaska.  This means that funds which would otherwise provide relief to processors and the numerous commercial fishing vessels with processor permits that operate in rural coastal fishing communities throughout the state will instead accrue to charter businesses concentrated in just a few communities – or even to residents of other states. 

ADF&G’s initial draft spend plan allowed charter operators residing in other states to apply for relief funds but excluded non-resident commercial fishermen.  The second plan now allows commercial fishermen who are residents of other states to apply, but only if they have a business license issued by Alaska Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development (DCCED).  Alaska exempts most commercial fishing businesses from the DCCED business license requirement.  As a result, the second plan effectively excludes non-resident commercial fishermen from the program – but includes non-resident charter businesses.

Most major coastal fishing state spend plans reflected an evaluation of data showing the relative economic contributions of the sectors or the number of affected businesses and workers.  Their spend plans evaluated changes in the ex-vessel values of their fisheries and compiled data identifying of the total number of eligible participants by sector.  But Alaska’s spend plan uses hypothetical examples based on “back of the napkin math” to illustrate how the state will calculate direct payments rather than using readily available data to assess the number of total shares or estimate payment amounts.

ADF&G is allowing a public comment period through 5:00 p.m. November 15, 2020.  ALFA encourages commercial fishermen, processors and community members to comment on this unfair allocation.  The second draft plan is available at: https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/static/home/news/hottopics/pdfs/cares_act_spendingplan_110920.pdf 

Fishermen can send comments to dfg.com.caresact@alasak.gov.  

An updated summary of eligibility requirements and other spend plan components for fishermen and processors is available on ALFA’s COVID-19 page.   

Bycatch Becoming Massive Issue in BSAI and GOA: First Halibut, Now Sablefish, Soon Crab

November 6, 2020

Ten harvester groups from Alaska urged NOAA Fisheries Administrator Chris Oliver to consider “area closures, payback provisions, and even hard cap inseason closure authority ”to reduce the overharvest of sablefish bycatch in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska.

For the second year in a row, the Bering Sea trawl fishery caught more sablefish as bycatch than their allocation allowed -- by 484% this year, after a 356% overage last year. Together, that amounts to over 11 million pounds in the last two years alone.

Peggy Parker
SeafoodNews.com
1-781-861-1441
peggyparker@urnerbarry.com

U.S. Department of Agriculture repeals Roadless Rule protections on Tongass National Forest

On October 29, 2020, the U.S. Department of Agriculture published its final rule exempting the Tongass National Forest from the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule (“Roadless Rule”).  The State of Alaska petitioned the Forest Service to remove Roadless Rule protections in order to increase the amount of acreage available for old-growth clearcutting by two federal timber sale purchasers.  The two timber companies would like access to currently roadless areas so that they can clearcut some of the remaining stands of high volume old-growth forest from the southern portion of the Tongass National Forest.   

In order to supply these two companies, the Tongass National Forest timber sale program incurs a substantial net loss each year, as shown in a September 2020 report by Taxpayers for Common Sense.  Over the last five years, timber sale revenues averaged $590,000 per year.  In 2019, the timber sale program generated a loss of $16.1 million.  Over the past 40 years, the Tongass National Forest lost $1.7 billion, or $44 million per year on average.  Planned timber sale volumes could cost taxpayers nearly $190 million over the next five years. These costs combined with the agency’s raw log export economic model have caused concern that current forest management primarily benefits Chinese economic interests rather than that of local businesses.

The Department of Agriculture’s decision removes Roadless Rule protections for over 9 million inventoried roadless acres on the Tongass National Forest.  ALFA’s comments on the Roadless Rule DEIS explained that the exemption the Tongass National Forest from the 2001 will be a disaster for Southeast Alaska because the Roadless Rule currently protects many salmon producing watersheds from roadbuilding and industrial scale clearcutting.  The no-action alternative was the only option for sensibly and sustainably saving some salmon for subsistence, sport and commercial fishing.  Thousands of fishermen, southeast Alaska residents and other Americans provided individual comments on the Roadless Rule.  Nearly all commenters requested that the Forest Service take no action on the rulemaking and leave the Roadless Rule in place in the region.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture ignored public comments and expert comments from fisheries scientists who identified the physical and biological diversities of southeast Alaska’s salmon producing watersheds as “globally unique,” warranting comprehensive protections that assure no net loss of watershed condition.  The scientists explained that timber extraction activities, along with climate change, pose the greatest risks to salmon productivity.  Also, 21st century salmon science research shows that sustainable populations rely on a “portfolio effect” which requires available habitat across multiple areas and ecosystems to ensure diversity and buffer against ongoing shifts in watershed productivity.  In addition, new and effective, science-based standards are necessary to protect salmon in areas zoned for timber uses. 

The harvests of “forest fish” - pinks, sockeye and coho salmon during the summer of 2020 were some of the lowest in Southeast Alaska since Alaska became a state in 1959 and reflect recent trends that suggest serious population declines.  Long-term drought conditions and marine “heat waves” are likely contributors to the run failure.  There is increasing concern throughout Alaska that freshwater habitat conditions, particularly summer stream temperatures and low flows, may have a more significant role that initially thought in contributing to declines of Southeast Alaska salmon and salmon declines throughout the entire state, warranting more precautionary management of freshwater habitat.  However, the Forest Service believes that the warming climate will not affect salmon populations in Southeast Alaska for at least another two decades – in 2040.

There are no further opportunities for the public to comment on or object to the decision.  Many of ALFA’s members participate in multiple fisheries, including salmon fisheries that rely on Southeast Alaska’s forest fish.  During the second week of October, ALFA petitioned the Department of Agriculture to initiate a “Salmon Conservation Rulemaking” that requests a scientific review of existing standards for fish habitat and ALFA will continue to press the agency to correct existing deficiencies with the current Forest Plan.

Taking a Stand for the Tongass and Salmon

Below please find the petition from Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association regarding salmon conservation rule making.

ALFA Petition for Salmon Conservation

Seafood Companies Sue Federal Government: Claim Trump Administration Plays Favorites with Tariff Relief Money

The Trump administration was taken to court on 21 October by three seafood-related companies that claim the federal government’s trade policies has harmed their businesses.

Texas-based Houston Seafood Company, LLC along with Gulf Marine Product Co., Inc. and Ningbo Trading Company, LLC, both based in Louisiana, filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for Southern Texas.

Read full article at Seafood Source:

https://www.seafoodsource.com/news/supply-trade/seafood-companies-sue-federal-government-claim-trump-administration-plays-favorites-with-tariff-relief-money?utm_source=marketo&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter&utm_content=newsletter&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTXpOaE1XUXpZV1EzWTJOaiIsInQiOiJRWnB3THVmR3hJOXo5R21zNG9cL3JGeXQzSU40VVdLOGJONHFwUWpFamRKbjkxT0xialJwNkJUNDZPRG92ZHN4NUxkeXBBVTFBaXk0S2RJQVVvTUU4dVRwVGpKdjNZXC9EWEF1N3JWZktXNlB1SDRDeEdKZUpROXZ1VUVpZzFNTVpwIn0%3D

Why Fishermen Worry about Climate Change

https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/central-gulf-alaska-marine-heatwave-watch?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

Sea surface temperatures (SST) in the Central Gulf of Alaska have remained in heatwave conditions (SST elevated above the 90th percentile for more than 5 consecutive days) since the 13th of  September. Overall the SST has oscillated in and out of heatwave conditions throughout the late Spring and Summer, and now into Fall. For the past 90 days there have been three periods with heatwave conditions (SST elevated above the 90th percentile for more than 5 consecutive days), July 14th through August 3rd and August 14th through August 30th, and September 13 through the present. In the short cooler periods between heatwave conditions in this time period the mean daily sea surface temperatures in the Central Gulf of Alaska continued to remain above the 1982-2012 mean.

Follow link above to read more, from NOAA.