Consumers are demanding more sustainable seafood — and it’s working

Love for the ocean is translating into a desire to protect it — especially when Americans go to the grocery store.

Tiare Buoys / Marine Stewardship Council

Grist Creative

Published Jun 29, 2021

American shoppers cruising down the seafood aisle — even those hundreds of miles away from a working coastline — are increasingly concerned about the health of the ocean. 

The decline of fish populations and ocean health is the sixth highest environmental concern worldwide, but Americans prioritize it even higher — ranking ocean health as their third highest environmental concern, according to 2020 survey conducted by independent research and strategy consultancy, Globescan. 

Read whole article here: https://grist.org/article/consumers-are-demanding-more-sustainable-seafood-and-its-working/

Sign up for the Skipper Science Program

This summer, SHIP and our partners in the commercial fishing industry are launching Skipper Science — an innovative program that will bring your lived experiences and observations of climate change from the fishing grounds to decision makers. Skipper Science uses cutting edge technology that allows you to record observations and data on your smartphone — from the wheelhouse. Plus, when you participate, you’ll be entered to win cash prizes!  

Register Here to Participate in the Skipper Science Program

When you participate in the Skipper Science Program, you will: 

1. Be entered to win cash prizes!  

2. Join fishermen across the State of Alaska who want to strengthen a collective voice in policy and management decisions in our fisheries; 

3. Demonstrate the wealth of knowledge fishermen have to contribute to the scientific and policy community; 

4. Be part of the Alaska community working on climate adaptation, responses and solutions; 

5. Have your voice heard! 

Register Here to Participate in the Skipper Science Program 

The Skipper Science Smart Phone App - How it works: 

The Skipper Science app provides a platform for fishermen to document physical and biological phenomena they observe while fishing through either an iOS or Android operating system smartphone or tablet. Using the app, skippers will document observed environmental changes and anomalies through words, photos, waypoints and other data and information avenues. Participating fishermen will receive quick and easy training, consistent individualized support and technical assistance with data collection throughout the summer.

Read more here: http://alaskasalmonhabitat.org/2021/06/new-skipper-science-program-kicks-off-this-summer-with-on-the-water-climate-observations/

111 Scientists Call on Biden Administration to Make Tongass Temperate Rainforest first entry into a nationwide carbon reserve system for all the nation’s older forests

March 17, 2020

To: The Honorable Gina McCarthy, White House National Climate Advisor
The Honorable Ali A. Zaidi, Deputy White House National Climate Advisor

As scientists with backgrounds in natural resources, climate change, forest carbon, biodiversity natural resource economics, and medicine we write to express our strong support for the Biden Administration’s development of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) for the upcoming United Nations COP26. We request that the NDCs comply with Article 5 of the Paris Agreement by protecting the nation’s carbon dense mature forest ecosystems (“carbon reservoirs”) in a strategic natural carbon reserve on federal lands. To begin this process, we ask specifically that all old-growth forests and roadless areas on the Tongass National Forest in southeast Alaska be a central part of the administration’s NDC commitments and the first entry into the strategic carbon reserve system for protecting remaining older forests on federal lands nationwide 1.

The 16.8 million-acre Tongass National Forest is the crown jewel of the national forest system and is the recognized national champion in storing the equivalent of some 8% of all US forest carbon 2. The Tongass is one of the world’s last remaining relatively intact temperate rainforests that supports a robust tourism and fishing economy, including the provision of abundant salmon, deer, and cultural resources for Indigenous Peoples 3. Because of its northern coastal distribution, the Tongass is likely to function as a “climate sanctuary 4,” in contrast to interior Alaska that is experiencing one of the fastest rates of climate change on the planet 5. Protecting climate sanctuaries like the Tongass is a crucial step toward maintaining the nations’ most important ecosystem services and biodiversity increasingly at-risk.

The Tongass is also the only national forest where industrial logging of old-growth forests continues apace despite overwhelming public and tribal opposition. Tongass logging and road building costs the American taxpayer some $600 million over two decades 6. Despite these costs, the Trump Administration recently rescinded 9.3 million acres of roadless area protections that would allow road building and logging of some 186,000 acres of the largest, oldest trees. Such targeted logging would, according to one estimate, result in the equivalent emissions of ~10 million vehicles on Alaska’s roadways 7, a clear defiance of the warnings to humanity from thousands of scientists 8 regarding escalating climate and biodiversity calamities. In sum, we have precious little time before ecosystems and the climate are pushed beyond the point of no return that according to a recent United Nations report 9 will impact all citizens on the planet, including the grim prospect of contributing to more global pandemics as wild areas are increasingly developed and more zoonotic diseases released 10.

We urge that you demonstrate global leadership on the importance of including the nation’s remaining carbon dense, natural, and intact areas in a system-wide reserve network that would begin with the Tongass in the NDCs. Doing so, would also demonstrate progress towards the administration’s commitment to protect 30 percent of all lands and waters by 2030.

Sincerely (*affiliations for identification purposes only),

Dominick A. DellaSala, Ph. D Chief Scientist, Wild Heritage Talent, OR

James R. Karr, Ph. D, Emeritus Prof. University of Washington, Seattle, WA

Dennis Murphy, Ph. D, Prof. Ecology, Evol., Conservation Biology University of Nevada, Reno, NV

Thomas T. Veblen, Ph. D, Distinguished Prof., University of Colorado, Boulder, CO

James R. Strittholt, Ph. D
President/Ex Director, Conservation Biol. Inst. Corvallis, OR

Malcolm L. Hunter, Jr. Ph. D University of Maine, Orono, ME

Richard T. Holmes, Ph. D. Emeritus Prof. Dartmouth College
Hanover, NH

Barry R. Noon, Emeritus Prof.
Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, CO

Kai M.A. Chan, Prof., lead author IPBES Connecting Human & Natural Systems

William J. Ripple, Ph. D
Endowed Chair and Distinguished Prof.

University of British Columbia, Vancouver

Jason A. Koontz, Ph. D
Professor of Biology
Co-Chair Environ. Studies Program Augustana College, Rock Island, IL

Jon Grinnell, Ph. D
Francis Morley Chair in Biology

Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR

Reed F. Noss, Ph. D, President
Florida Institute for Conservation Science Melrose, FL

Brian Linkhart, Ph. D, Professor Dept. Organismal Biology & Ecology

St. Peter, MN Colorado College, Colorado Springs, CO

Timothy A. Pearce, Ph. D
Curator: Carnegie Museum Natural Hist. Pittsburg, PA

Gregory M. Huey, R.E.P

William L. Baker, Ph. D, Emeritus Prof. Program Ecology, University of Wyoming Laramie, WY

William D. Anderson, Jr., Ph. D, Emeritus Prof.

Environ. Project Lead
U.S. Army Garrison, Kwajalein Atoll

Mitchell M. Johns, Ph. D, Emeritus Prof. College of Agriculture
California State University, Chico, CA

Robert L. Beschta, Ph. D. Emeritus Prof. Forest Ecosystems and Society
Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR

Don M. Waller, Ph. D, Emeritus Prof. University of Wisconsin
Madison, WI

John Robinson, Ph. D
J.L Tweedy Chair in Conservation Wildlife Conservation Society Bronx, NY

James Quinn, Ph. D, Emeritus Prof. Rutgers University, NJ

Michael W. Fox, BVetMed, Ph. D Consultant Veterinarian, Minneapolis, MN

Bobb Carson, Emeritus Prof. Earth & Environmental Sciences Lehigh Univ., Bethlehem, PA

Terry L. Root, Ph. D
Senior Fellow Emerita Stanford Woods Insti. Environ. Stanford University, CA

David F. Whitacre, Ph. D, Wildlife Treasure Valley Math/Sci Center Boise, ID

Jessica Pratt, Ph. D, Assoc. Prof. University of California, Irvine

Robert Summerfelt, Ph. D, Emeritus Prof. Dept. Natural Resource Ecology & Mgmt. Iowa State University, Ames

Grice Marine Biology Laboratory College of Charleston, SC

John Ratti, Ph. D
University of Idaho, Moscow, ID

Bruce G. Baldwin, Ph. D, Professor Integrative Biology & Curator Jepson Herb. University of California, Berkeley, CA

Philip Myers, Ph. D, Emeritus Prof. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

Garry Rogers, Ph. D, President Agua Ria Open Space Alliance, Inc. Humboldt, AZ

John W. Schoen, Ph. D, Wildlife Ecol. Anchorage, AK

Gretchen B. North, Ph. D, Prof. Biol. Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA

Gary D. Grossman, Ph. D
Fellow Am. Fisheries Soc., Linnean Soc. Athens, GA

David Karowe, Ph. D, Prof. Biol. Sci. Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI

Stephen T. Tettelbach, Ph. D, Emeritus Prof. Long Island University, NY

Faisal Moola, Ph. D. Assoc. Prof.
Dept. Geograp., Environ., Geomatics, Guelph, CAN

Robert T. Heath, Ph. D, Dir. Emeritus Water Resources Research Inst.
Kent State University, OH

Paula M. Schiffman, Ph. D, Prof. Biol. California State University, Northridge

Carlos Carroll, Ph. D
Klamath Center for Conserv. Research Orleans, CA

Peter B. Moyle, Ph. D, Emeritus Prof. University of California, Davis

Robert M. Pyle, Ph. D
Xerces Society, Gray’s River, WA

Robert Huber, Ph. D, Biol. Sci. Bowling Green State University, OH

Roger A Powell, Ph. D
Dept. Applied Ecology
North Carolina State Univ. Ely, MN

Gary K. Meffe, Ph. D, Conserv. Biol. University of Florida, Gainesville

Scott Hoffman Black, M.S Executive Director, Xerces Society Portland, OR

Philip D. Cantino, Ph. D
Dept. of Environ. & Plant Biol. Ohio University, Athens

Thomas L. Fleischner, Ph. D
Executive Director, Natural History Inst. Prescott, Arizona

M. Henry H. Stevens, Ph. D, Assoc. Prof. Director Ecology, Evol., and Environ. Biol. Miami University, OH

F. Stuart Chapin, III Ph. D, Emeritus Prof. Institute of Arctic Biology, Univ. Fairbanks Fairbanks, AK

Darlene Chirman, MS Ecology University of California, Davis, CA

Thomas M. Power, Prof. Emeritus
Economics Dept. University Montana, Missoula

Melissa Savage, Ph. D, Emerita Prof. University of California, Los Angeles

Wayne D. Spencer, Ph. D, Chief Scientist Conservation Biology Institute, Corvallis, OR

March Lapin, Ph. D, Associate Prof. & Ecologist Middlebury College, VT

Craig W. Benkman, Ph. D, Prof. Zoology & Phys. University of Wyoming, Laramie

Richard Bradley, Ph. D, Assoc. Prof. Emeritus Evolution, Ecology, & Organismal Biology The Ohio State University, Columbus

John Harte, Ph. D, Ecosystem Sciences University of California, Berkeley, CA

Amy Moas, Ph. D
Senior Climate Campaigner, Greenpeace Washington, D.C

Karen Holl, Ph. D, Prof. Enviro. Studies University of California, Santa Cruz

Erik Asphaug, Ph. D University of Arizona, Tempe

Hartwell Welsh, Ph. D, Wildlife Ecologist Arcata, CA

Edward Huang, Ph. D, Principal California Institute of Environ. Design Arcadia, CA

Jay H. Jones, Ph. D, Prof. Biology & Biochem. University of La Verne, La Verne, CA

W Scott Armbuster, Ph. D University of Alaska, Fairbanks University of Portsmouth, UK

Monica Bond, Ph. D, Principal Scientist Wild Nature Institute, Concord, NH

Michael S. Swift, Ph. D, Emeritus Assistant Prof. Biology
St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN

John M. Marzluff, Ph. D, Prof. Wildlife Science
University of Washington, Seattle, WA

Jim Boone, Ph. D Ecology
Desert Wildlife Consultants, LLC Las Vegas, NV

Pepper W. Trail, Ph. D
Rogue Valley Audubon Society Ashland, OR

Bitty Roy, Ph. D, Emerita Prof. University of Oregon, Eugene, OR

Roger Sabbadini, Ph. D, Emeritus Prof. Biology, San Diego State Univ., CA

Curtis Bradley, M.S., Senior Sci. Center for Biological Diversity Tucson, AZ

Chad Hanson, Ph. D, Ecologist
John Muir Project, Big Bear City, CA

Ken Carloni, Ph. D, Forest Ecologist President, Umpqua Watersheds, Inc. Roseburg, OR

Franz Baumann, Ph. D Visiting Research Professor New York University, NY

Mary Edwards, Ph. D, Professor Geography & Environmental Sciences University of Southampton, UK

Janet Marsden, Ph. D
Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY

Rob Mrowka, MS, Retired Biologist Center for Biological Diversity Franklinville, NY

Russ K. Monson, Ph. D, Emeritus Prof. Dept. Ecology & Evolutionary Biology University of Arizona, Tempe

Fred M. Rhoades, Ph. D, Biology Western Washington University Bellingham, WA

Dan Gavin, Ph. D, Professor
Dept. Geography, University of Oregon Eugene, OR

Shaye Wolf, Ph. D, Climate Sci. Dir.
Center for Biological Diversity, Oakland, CA

Rich Nawa, MA, Staff Ecologist
Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center, Ashland, OR

Cindy Haws, M.S., President Umpqua Natural Leadership Sci. Hub Myrtle Creek, OR

John Bailey, Ph. D, Emeritus Prof. Colorado State University, Belgrade, MT

Maya Khosla, M.S., Wildlife Biologist Rohnert Park, CA

Evan Frost, M.S., Conservation Biologist Wildwood Consulting LLC
Ashland, OR

David Johns, JD, Ph. D
Hatfield School of Government Portland State University, Portland, OR

Roger Rosentreter, Ph. D, Botanist Boise State University
Boise, ID

James Catlin, Ph. D Emeritus
Wild Utah Project, Salt Lake City, UT

Timothy Ingalsbee, Ph. D, Ex. Dir. Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, Ecology (FUSEE), Eugene, OR

Ceal Smith, M.S, Res. Policy Analyst Alaska Institute for Climate and Energy Homer, AK

Michael Goodchild, Ph. D, Emeritus Prof. University California, Santa Barbara, CA

Frank Lance Craighead, Ph. D Ex. Director, Craighead Institute Bozeman, MT

Judith Well, Ph. D, Ecologist Rutgers University, NJ

Travis D. Marsico, Ph. D, Prof.
Curator, Arkansas State Univ. Herbarium Arkansas State University, AR

Ken Driese, Ph. D, Program Director University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY

Paul Schaeffer, Assoc. Prof. Biology Miami University, Oxford, OH

Theodora Tsongas, Ph. D
Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility Portland, OR

Catherine Thomasson, MD
Physicians for Social Responsibility, Portland, OR

David J. Cowen, Distinguished Emeritus Prof. Assoc. Member National Academy of Sciences Columbia, SC

Zach Brown, Ph. D, Tides Institute Gustavus, AK

Winston P. Smith Ph. D. Principal Res. Sci. Retired: Inst. of Arctic Biol., Univ. Fairbanks, AK

John Talberth, Ph. D, Pres. & Senior Economist Center for Sustainable Economy
West Linn, OR

John R. Cannon, Ph. D
Conservation Biologist, Front Royal, VA

Jon Evans, Ph. D, Prof. Biology The University of the South Sewanee, TN

1 https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/a-strategic-natural-carbon-reserve-to-fight-climate-change/2https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225169208_Effects_of_Management_on_Carbon_Sequestration_in_Forest_Biomass_in_Southeast_Al aska
3 DellaSala, D.A. 2011. https://islandpress.org/books/temperate-and-boreal-rainforests-world
4 DellaSala, D.A., et al. 2015. https://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/journals/pnw_2015_dellasala001.pdf
5 https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/static/lands/ecosystems/pdfs/sp10_14.pdf
6 https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.taxpayer.net%2Fenergy-natural-resources%2Fnew-report- taxpayers-losing-hundreds-of-millions-of-dollars-on-tongass-timber-sales-over-last-two- decades%2F&data=04%7C01%7Coped%40seattletimes.com%7Cce2fce3e14fe4a4ca76708d895697bdb%7Cfc2b8476b7f0473d82fbe0a89fd9985 5%7C0%7C0%7C637423627615324626%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWw iLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C2000&sdata=YXnxLis3y%2F9tuHbEE5SmImv2bewfFSoSywXPvJj7f6M%3D&reserved=0
7 https://forestlegacies.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/tongass_carbon_2019_12_16.pdf
8 https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-climate-emergency-2020-in-review/

9 https://www.unep.org/resources/making-peace-nature
10 https://newrepublic.com/article/157361/public-health-depends-healthy-planet

Biden officials move to reinstate Alaska roadless rule, overturning Trump policy

The proposal would affect 9.3 million acres of forest, including vast areas of old growth, that Bill Clinton originally protected in 2001.

June 11, 2021

By Juliet Eilperin

The Biden administration said Friday that it would “repeal or replace” a rule allowing roads and other types of development in more than half of Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, reviving 20-year-old protections President Donald Trump had stripped three months before leaving office.

Here's what President Biden is doing to unwind Donald Trump's environmental legacy

Header image:

Paradise Valley in the Tongass National Forest in Alaska in 2011. (Karen Dillman/USDA Forest Service)

Alaskans Own to host virtual screening of documentary film, Understory, on World Oceans Day

PRESS RELEASE

June 1, 2021

Event draws attention to clearcut logging in the Tongass National Forest and

Southeast Alaska’s role in addressing the climate crisis

Sitka, AK - In celebration of World Oceans Day, Alaskans Own and Southeast Alaska Conservation Council will host a free virtual screening of Understory, a new documentary film about clearcut logging in the Tongass National Forest, on Tuesday June 8th at 6:30pm Alaska Time. Directed by Colin Arisman and produced by Elsa Sebastian, Understory is a journey into the Tongass National Forest where Elsa, biologist Dr. Natalie Dawson from Audubon Alaska, and artist Mara Menahan explore the ecological, economic, and cultural impacts of clearcut logging and the Tongass’s role in climate change. 

Following the film attendees will have a chance to ask questions and hear from Elsa; Joel Jackson, President of the Organized Village of Kake; and Matthew Jackson from Southeast Alaska Conservation Council. 

“This year we decided to celebrate World Oceans Day by drawing attention to the interconnected relationship between the health of the Tongass National Forest and the health of our oceans. We’re really excited to share Understory with people who eat and appreciate Alaska’s wild seafood and hope that this event will spark a larger conversation about the future of the Tongass and Alaska’s wild fisheries,” said Natalie Sattler, Alaskans Own Coordinator. 

“We cannot take Alaska’s sustainable wild fisheries for granted; they are already struggling because of climate change and we need to protect the freshwater ecosystems that keep our fisheries and oceans healthy,” said Linda Behnken, commercial fisherman and Executive Director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association. “The Tongass National Forest provides a climate sanctuary in an overheating world. With 40% of the trees standing on US National Forest land, the Tongass is a carbon sequestering champion—and it does all that while still providing 95% of the salmon harvested in Southeast Alaska’s commercial fisheries and driving our local economies.”

 “I grew up on Prince of Wales Island, the largest and the most aggressively clearcut island in the Tongass. I was just a kid when the Tongass timber industry collapsed due to lack of profitability, despite half a century of heavy federal subsidies. Even after all of that logging, this island still has some of the biggest trees in the Tongass. Decades later, politicians are still trying to resurrect an old-growth timber industry in Alaska and my home island continues to be in the crosshairs. I can't stand by and watch a place I love be destroyed,” said Southeast Alaskan and commercial fisherman Elsa Sebastian.

“Protecting the Tongass National Forest isn’t just about protecting some of the last old-growth stands, it’s about protecting our way of life and our culture,” said Joel Jackson, President of the Organized Village of Kake. “The land needs to heal, and we will not be deterred from our responsibilities to future generations. We will continue to fight for our ancestral grounds, to fight for our culture, to fight for our future.”

To learn more about Understory and watch the trailer: https://www.laststands.org

To register for the June 8th Understory screening: https://tinyurl.com/AOunderstory

### 

Alaskans Own is a Community Supported Fishery in Sitka, Alaska that sells premium-quality wild Alaska seafood direct to consumers in Alaska and throughout the U.S. A program of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, 100% of Alaskans Own’s seafood sales goes towards projects that support conservation of Alaska’s fisheries, create equitable fishery access, and provide healthy seafood to communities in need. 

Media Contacts:

Natalie Sattler - Alaskans Own, info@alaskansown.com, 907-738-1286

Linda Behnken - Alaska Longline Fishermen's Association, alfafishak@gmail.com, 907-738-3615

Tongass holds more than 40% of all carbon stored by national forests

KTOO

April 1, 2021 by Sage Smiley, KSTK - Wrangell

New research reaffirms the global importance of Southeast Alaska’s temperate rainforest for combating the effects of climate change. That’s according to data released Tuesday by a coalition of environmentalists and tribes opposed to old growth logging in Tongass National Forest.

Click here to read article on KTOO

Grassroots meets high finance in Sitka Community Boatyard proposal

by Robert Woolsey, KCAW | May 18, 2021

The map accompanying the Sitka Community Boatyard proposal. If approved, most of the remaining available lots (shown in yellow) eventually could be leased for the project.

The board of Sitka’s industrial park has determined that a grassroots proposal for a new marine haulout facility is worth pursuing further — but wants to hammer out a few details before sending the deal to the assembly.

Find the complete Sitka Community Boatyard proposal, and the Gary Paxton Industrial Park request for proposals, in the May 12, 2021 board packet.

Click here to listen

Seafood harvesters applaud 30×30 report

Effort to conserve 30% of the nation’s federal lands and waters faces uphill battle

By Margaret Bauman -

May 15, 2021

A Biden administration plan to conserve at least 30% of federal lands and oceans by 2030 is winning applause from the seafood industry, but questions abound elsewhere, raising political obstacles.

Just about 12% of the nation’s land area is currently under some form of environmental protection, along with about 26% of the country’s ocean areas.

Research confirms trawl ban substantially increases the abundance of marine organisms

ScienceDaily

Date: May 5, 2021

Source: City University of Hong Kong

Summary:

Biodiversity is of crucial importance to the marine ecosystem. The prohibition of trawling activities in the Hong Kong marine environment for two and a half years has significantly improved biodiversity, a new study has found. Research results showed that the trawl ban could restore and conserve biodiversity in tropical coastal waters.

Click here to read entire study

Opinion - Fisheries managers should reverse course on censoring public comments

Anchorage Daily News

May 13, 2021

Author: Mary Peltola | Opinion, Scott Van Valin | Opinion, Michael Kampnich |

The North Pacific Fisheries Management Council process is difficult to navigate. It is a world of acronyms, statistics and legal jargon; but decisions made there impact the lives of all Alaskans, and directly affect allocations of federally-managed species — including king salmon and halibut — to Indigenous, sport and commercial stakeholders. Meetings occur over weeks and can last more than 10 hours per day. It requires significant time to participate, time the average Alaskan does not have. Recently, the Council enacted a policy that makes it more difficult for Alaskans to effectively advocate for their communities, businesses and food sources.

Read here