Disabled cargo ship reaches Dutch Harbor

The Associated Press

(12/07/10 14:24:26)

A cargo ship disabled in the Bering Sea has reached Alaska's Dutch Harbor.

The Golden Seas was towed more than 500 miles along the Aleutian Islands chain and reached Broad Bay in Dutch Harbor shortly before 1 p.m. today.

The Coast Guard says it will remain at anchor while repairs to its engine are made.

The 738-foot ship, with a crew of 20 and cargo of canola seed, lost some power Friday in the Bering Sea and started drifting. The ship has nearly a half-million gallons of fuel oil aboard. The Coast Guard says no pollution has been reported.

Sitka Deers Get a Helping Hand

A foursome of young Sitka black-tailed bucks fell upon some good luck Sunday as they were pulled from the icy waters of Stephens Passage by a group of locals out to enjoy the last few days of recent sunshine.

Sitka Black tailed Deer in the icy waters of Stephens Passage

The good Samaritans describe their experience as "one of those defining moments in life."

They swam right toward Tom Satre's 62-foot charter vessel, the Alaska Quest and then, they started to circle the boat.

They were looking up and looked like they needed help. Once they reached the vessel, Satre said they began to circle the boat and looked obviously distressed.

The typically skittish and absolutely wild animals came willingly and once on the boat, collapsed with exhaustion. They were shivering.

They swam right toward Tom Satre's 62-foot charter vessel, the Alaska Quest and then, they started to circle the boat.

All deer were transported to Taku Harbor and witnesses reported they all recovered from what appeared to be exhaustion and a bit of hypothermia. Once the group reached the dock, the first to be pulled from the water hopped onto the dock, looked back, then leapt into the waters of the harbor and swam to shore. He quickly disappeared into the forest. Two others followed suit, after a bit of prodding and assistance from the group.

One of the four Sitka black-tailed bucks was seen being transported via wheelbarrow by Tom Satre after reaching Taku Harbor. Witnesses reported all the deer recovered fully from what appeared to be exhaustion and a bit of hypothermia.

From left: Tom, Anna and Tim Satre help one of the "button" bucks to its feet after they rescued it from Stephens Passage. Four bucks in all were rescued.

Reduced halibut catch has brokers buying

KODIAK -- Next year will be no exception to the five-year trend of trimming halibut catches.

There's a lot of halibut out there, but the fish are growing so slowly that the rate is keeping a downward press on the amount of fish being made available for harvest. Fisheries for the Pacific coast, British Columbia and Alaska could be cut by 19 percent next year if managers accept the recommendations of fishery scientists.

The International Pacific Halibut Commission released preliminary numbers last week that show a combined catch of 41 million pounds for fisheries on the Pacific coast, British Columbia and Alaska. Of that, 32.5 million pounds is allocated to Alaska fishermen, down from 40 million pounds of halibut this year.

The reductions would be especially brutal again for Southeast Alaska, where halibut catch limits have dropped by more than 60 percent over the past five years. For 2011, a whopping 47 percent cut is being proposed for the Panhandle, to just 2.3 million pounds.

For the state's biggest halibut hole, the Central Gulf of Alaska, next year's catch could be slashed by 28 percent to 14.3 million pounds. The recommended catch for the Western Gulf is 7.5 million pounds, down 24 percent.

Smaller fisheries along the Aleutians could see slight increases to 4.6 million pounds. Likewise, Bering Sea fishermen would get a slight bump to 3.7 million pounds of halibut.

"Already halibut prices are the highest in more than 10 years, with dressed fish wholesaling for more than $7 in Seattle. The lower landings already have buyers bidding up prices, and that will be a bigger problem next year. Halibut is a very popular food service fish on a lot of menus, and it is not easy for many restaurants to change course," he said.

Sackton cautioned that total removals of sport and commercially caught halibut have been running 9 to 14 percent per year above recommended levels.

"The fish are growing so slowly that the scientists are asking the halibut commission to consider a management strategy to reduce catches even further, given the current biological situation."

The international commission will make final decisions on 2011 halibut catches at its annual meeting Jan. 25-29 in Vancouver. The Pacific halibut fishery opens in March.

FISH EARMARKS

Both of Alaska's senators voted against a proposed three-year moratorium on federal budget earmarks, saying the state has needs that are best served by the assignment of money to specific purposes identified by congressmen.

An earmark is anything requested by a member of Congress not included in the president's budget, explained Sen. Lisa Murkowski in a phone call from Washington, D.C.

"It is so important to understand that so much of what we include in legislation are initiatives that have been requested by states that the administration doesn't even know about, and there are many competing interests," she added.

"I don't view construction of a harbor as pork or abusive wasteful spending," Murkowski said, using a $750,000 appropriations request for dredging at Kodiak harbor as an example.

"That is an earmark because it is not included in the president's budget. It is something I have requested be inserted in the energy and waters appropriation bill because it is a priority for Kodiak."

A good chunk of earmark money funds fishery research grants in Alaska. A $400,000 earmark funds the annual crab stock assessments in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands. No assessments, no fishery. Another $500,000 bankrolls research for Alaska seals and Steller sea lions

Murkowski called the recent push by Congress to ban all earmarks "long on bravado but short on substance."

Fish and Game outlines Alaska climate change expectationsFish and Game outlines Alaska climate change expectations

Alaska's fish and wildlife managers have released a state plan anticipating effects on Arctic bodies of water, fishing industries and wildlife resources brought on by climate change.

The state is suing to overturn the federal listing of polar bears as a threatened species because of declining sea-ice habitat, but the 19-page report released this week begins by acknowledging that scientific and traditional evidence increasingly shows climate changing at unprecedented rates throughout the Arctic.

"We have to take a look at what could possibly occur," said Doug Vincent-Lang, endangered species coordinator for the Department of Fish and Game.

The report, called "Climate Change Strategy," notes warming temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, altered stream flows, loss of sea ice, increased wildfire patterns, thawing permafrost and coastal erosion.

Warming and precipitation changes are expected to affect freshwater quantity and quality throughout Alaska and likely will affect wetlands, rivers and lakes, especially shallow lakes maintained by permafrost, the report says.

The report anticipated that access by anglers to water bodies might change, as could subsistence opportunities. Distribution of fish may be altered, with a shift to species tolerant of warmer waters, it said.

Changes in fire patterns will hurt some terrestrial species and help others, the report said. For example, moose could benefit in some areas that experience more fires, whereas woodpeckers or other species dependent on old growth forest could suffer.

Distribution of seal species could change as a result of altered sea ice conditions, the report said. Ocean acidification has the potential to alter the marine food web, affecting commercially targeted fish.

The report is an outgrowth of an effort launched by former Gov. Sarah Palin, who formed a climate change task force to prepare a strategy for Alaska.

Vincent-Lang said the Fish and Game Department has stayed out of the debate of climate change causes but thought it was time to take stock of the effects.

It's no different, he said, than looking at how oil and gas development or other human-caused actions could affect fish and animals.

"The climate is changing," he said. "As a result of that climate change, what are some of the things that we anticipate are going to occur to fish and wildlife, and as such how are we going to be able to adapt our management program to assure that we continue to provide for a sustained yield and sustained uses of those resources?"

The report will be used to make regional managers aware that climate might be a factor in wildlife management, Vincent-Lang said. It will also underscore that climate change should be considered as a variable in planning research.

A key initial action, the report said, will be to fill information gaps on Alaska's species of greatest conservation concern so that steps can be taken to prevent them from becoming threatened.

"As climate adds another stress onto species, we'd like to be able to collect more information and be better able to manage those species so that they don't become listable under the Endangered Species Act," Vincent-Lang said.

Healing Waters encourages vets to start casting

That's where Staff Sgt. Michael Henrie of Elmendorf Air Force Base was stationed in late 2008. In stocked waters around the palace and in the Eurphrates River swam carp-like fish. Some troops managed to secure gear from donor stores in the U.S., and before long, Henrie was casting.

"We signed out some fishing poles and went fishing in the desert," he said. "Fishing while you're wearing a Kevlar vest and a helmet with Apache helicopters overhead is a unique and inspiring thing."

Not long afterward, Henrie heard about Project Healing Waters, founded in 2005 by Navy captain Ed Nicholson while he was recovering at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C. The program encourages mentally or physically injured veterans to tie flies and cast in nearby lakes and streams.

By March, Henrie was working on plans for the first Alaska chapter. In November, he talked to the national president.

"This is the fly-fishing capital of the world," Henrie said. "I just wanted to hang out with the guys and have them tell me about their experiences. Before I hung the phone, I became the project director for Alaska."

He quickly connected with Alaska Fly Fishers, who joined him in an effort to make the program happen here. At the time, it was just little more than an idea -- no volunteers, no gear, no trips planned.

But by late May, flies were being tied in the physical therapy wing of the 3rd Medical Group Hospital. This summer, more than four dozen wounded soldiers have participated, nearly $25,000 has been raised and 130 volunteers have chipped in, Henrie said.

"A doctor and a physical therapist can do a lot with the physical healing," he said. "But Project Healing Waters provides the emotional healing."

With late fall blending into winter and ice creeping onto local lakes, most casting is done for the year. But Henrie and fishing guide Damon Blankenship of Alaska Fly Fishers are encouraged by the seven fishing trips they've organized this summer.

"At first," Blankenship said, "I was worried about having enough people to come and help. But one day this summer, we had one person come to the clinic with six instructors on hand.

"We've got a unique state here. Between the streams locally, the Mat-Su, the Kenai Peninsula and the western Alaska rivers, the opportunities are absolutely phenomenal."

Henrie has been a drummer in the U.S. Air Force Band of the Pacific since 2007 and performed with such stars as Toby Keith and Maureen McGovern. He owns an Air Force Commendation Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal. But he's particularly proud of his work with Project Healing Waters.

During winter, the focus shifts to bobbins, vises and fly-tying equipment. The group usually meets twice a month to make flies.

"Anybody who can walk and chew bubble gum can tie flies," Blankenship said. "I'm a living example of that."

And Henrie has made several new friends through the program, including a 72-year-old Vietnam veteran who's now one of his closest fishing buddies.

"I was not prepared for some of the stories I would hear," Henrie said. "I've never been shot at or had experiences like some of these guys."

Sometimes, he said, rugged servicemen don't believe they're even qualified.

"A lot of people don't think they will qualify for the program because they aren't wounded," he said. "In fact, I had one guy who had shapnel in his leg and was walking around on crutches who said he didn't think he qualified for it.

"He said he was just walking to the chow hall and was hit by a mortar. To me, you don't have to have shrapnel in your leg, you don't have to have taken a bullet, you don't have to have been rewarded for your war accomplishments to feel like you can benefit from standing in the water learning to fly fish."

And creating the fly that fools the fish makes the experience especially rewarding.

"We don't tie flies that are sophisticated, but the first fly we tie will catch fish," Blankenship said.

Egg flies are often among the first attempted.

"They catch fish," he said.

For now, the program is small.

"I would like to sort of keep it that way," Henrie said. "It's a very personal experience."

New rule curtails the number of Alaska halibut charters

HARVEST: About a third of sport fish operations may lose business.

By MIKE CAMPBELL
mcampbell@adn.com

Published: November 22nd, 2010 10:09 PM
Last Modified: November 22nd, 2010 10:10 PM

Federal rules taking effect in February are expected to keep a third of the halibut sport charters working out of Homer, Seward and Valdez stuck in harbor this year.

To curtail a charter fleet it feared was growing too quickly, the National Marine Fisheries Service is demanding boat owners demonstrate they participated in the fishery in 2004 or 2005 as well as 2008 to qualify for a permit. All permits carry limits on the number of anglers aboard who can keep halibut, called angler endorsements.

Unless the vessel has a federal permit, charter boat anglers cannot keep halibut.

"For the state of Alaska to have 40 percent of the business in any sector eliminated is not good," said Greg Sutter, president of the Alaska Charter Association and the owner of Captain Greg's Charters in Homer. "The government has artificially eliminated competition, but competition is great for a diverse fleet. This is going to eliminate a lot of the choices for the consumer."

The action dates to 1993, when the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council first became concerned about a growing halibut charter sector.

"Commercial stakeholders asked for a cap on the charter harvest, the fastest-growing segment of the sport fishery," Homer biologist Scott Meyer, the statewide halibut and bottomfish coordinator for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, wrote on his agency's website. "The problem was that charter harvest was deducted 'off the top' of each year's allowable fishery removals before setting the commercial catch limit ... Growth in charter harvest had to be offset by a lowering of the commercial catch limit."

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Still, even back then, commercial fishermen took more than 80 percent of the total harvest.

The sport charter restrictions that go into effect next year were first recommended in early 2007, said Rachel Baker, a Juneau-based fisheries specialist with the National Marine Fisheries Service, which is primarily responsible for enforcing regulations.

Four years later, when the rules go into effect next February, some of the trends that spawned the action will have softened or reversed.

Between 2007 and 2009, for instance, the Southcentral sport halibut harvest in what's known as Area 3A between Kodiak and Juneau declined 24 percent to 4.7 million pounds, fueled by the national recession that kept some anglers home. Anglers fishing with charters make up about 57 percent of that harvest.

At the same time, commercial fishermen in the same area captured the lion's share of the halibut -- about 22 million pounds, according to the International Pacific Halibut Commission.

"Although it doesn't seem like there's continued growth (among the charters)," Baker said, "we're still going ahead with the program. There's been a lot of growth, a lot of turnover. By itself, a limited-access program doesn't guarantee a harvest will go down. In fact, it's hard to say what will happen to the harvest."

How many charters will be sidelined?

According to the National Marine Fisheries Service's regulatory impact review, "154 of the guided businesses (in Southcentral) that showed evidence of bottomfish fishing in 2008 would not qualify to receive a permit; 111 of these had five or more trips in 2008, and 81 of these had 15 or more trips in 2008. For comparison, there were 296 qualifying businesses."

In such ports as Homer, Seward and Valdez, halibut charters are big business. The Fish House in Seward said halibut charters this summer averaged $240 per angler, plus tax.

"Halibut allocation is clearly a complicated matter," noted Meyer. "What effect will limited entry ... have on the fisheries? No one can be sure ... (But) as the smaller charter fleet approaches full capacity, charter prices may rise and anglers may have fewer choices."

Homer charter owner Weldon Chivers fears he may be among the charters forced out by the new rules.

Chivers, 67, said he had owned Tacklebuster Charters for more than a dozen years when he purchased Halibut King four years ago to help secure his family's financial future. Now it appears that because he didn't own that business in 2004 or 2005, he may not be granted a permit.

"When they first came up with it, the way everybody interpreted (the forthcoming rule) was that you ought to be able to continue with the business if you bought it," said Chivers, a Kenai resident. "It looks to me now like they're turning people down just because they can.

"They're hoping people just throw in the towel. Just disappear. They'll force the rest of us to take legal action."

That's precisely what Chivers plans to do. "I have too much money invested in Halibut King to make a living with just Tacklebuster."

Halibut regulators

• International Pacific Halibut Commission: Created by a treaty between the United States and Canada in 1923, it conducts and manages to provide an optimal yield of flatfish.

• North Pacific Fishery Management Council: Created by the Magnuson Act of 1976, the North Pacific is one of eight regional councils that manage all fisheries in federal waters. Federal waters are defined as those between three and 200 nautical miles offshore. It is responsible for allocating halibut among various users such as commercial fishermen, sport fishermen and sport charters. Made up of government officials and members of those groups, its recommendations must ultimately be approved by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce. There are 11 voting members, six from Alaska, three from Washington, one from Oregon, and a federal representative, the Alaska Regional Director of the National Marine Fisheries Service. Members with Alaska connections include chairman Eric Olson of the Yukon Delta Fisheries Development Association; Sam Cotten of Eagle River; Ed Dersham of Anchor Point; Duncan Fields of Kodiak; Dan Hull of Anchorage; the state Fish and Game commissioner (current commissioner Denby Lloyd has resigned); Jim Balsiger of NOAA in Juneau, with Sue Salveson as the alternate; and Adm. C.C. Colvin of the 17th Coast Guard District in Juneau, with Capt. Mike Cerne his alternate.

• Alaska Department of Fish and Game: Even though Alaska lacks management authority, it monitors the sport harvest. Alaska State Troopers assist with enforcement.

Tis the season to be fishing

The rivers are open, the snow is melting, and the salmon are headed back to their home waters. King fishing season should start up pretty soon. There are going to be some high tides this month, and hopefully that will pull in quite a few King Salmon.

We are going to start fishing the Little Susitna River in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley of South Central, Alaska this week, in hopes to bring some early fish reports.