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~~>FISHLINK SUBLEGALS 5/11/01<~~
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A WEEKLY QUOTA OF FISHERY SHORTS CAUGHT AND
LANDED BY THE INSTITUTE FOR FISHERIES RESOURCES
AND THE PACIFIC COAST FEDERATION OF FISHERMEN'S
ASSOCIATIONS
VOL 3, NO. 19 11 MAY 2001
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In This Issue...
KLAMATH WATER ISSUES. See 3:19/01
GROUPS SEEK MORATORIUM ON TRANSGENIC SALMON. See
3:19/03
BUYBACK CALLED FOR TO HELP PACIFIC SALMON AND
GROUNDFISH See 3:19/04
FISHERMEN HELP SCIENTISTS See 3:19/07 and 3:19/08
MAINE LEGISLATURE TO VOTE ON AQUACULTURE
MORATORIUM See 3:19/12
And More...
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
3:19/01. COASTAL MEETINGS PLANNED BY WHITE HOUSE
OFFICIALS ON KLAMATH WATER ISSUES: Officials from the
White House Council on Environmental Quality, as well as the
Departments of Interior and Commerce will be meeting with all sides of the
Klamath Basin water issue on 16-18 May to ascertain what actions could
be taken to prevent contentious water allocation problems in the future of
the sort that happened this year (Sublegals 3:17/02, 3:15/07, 3:14/01,
3:13/02). At PCFFA's request they also will be meeting with commercial
and recreational fishermen from the Northern California area whose jobs
and communities have been affected by past fish kills in the Klamath River
resulting from poor water quality and lack of flows released below Iron
Gate Dam. That meeting is scheduled for 18 May at 1100 HRS in the
National Marine Fisheries Service Conference Room at 1655 Heindon
Road, Arcata, California. For more information call PCFFA's Glen Spain
at: (541)689-2000 and for directions to the meeting call: (707)822-7201.
At the request of California Senator Diane Feinstein, the Senate Energy
& Natural Resources Committee's Subcommittee on Water & Power has
agreed to hold another public hearing on the impact of Upper Klamath
Irrigation Project operations on the lower river and coastal salmon-based
economy. The hearing, originally hoped to be in Eureka, California, has
instead been scheduled for Washington DC, on 23 May. PCFFA, the lower
Klamath River Tribes and many salmon conservation organizations had
asked for a field hearing on the California coast so that coastal residents'
concerns about the Upper Klamath Irrigation Project's water withdrawal
impacts on the entire downriver fishery could be fully heard. In the past,
the Subcommittee has only held such hearings in Klamath Falls, Oregon,
where only Klamath Project farmers could attend, or in Washington, DC.
Two thirds of the Klamath Basin lies in California, but the Klamath
Irrigation Project is mostly in Oregon, and water withdrawals by the
Project can be as great as 90 percent of the total flow of the river at Iron
Gate Dam. Only this year, in response to a lawsuit spearheaded by
PCFFA, has the Bureau of Reclamation been required to leave adequate
water in the Klamath River to prevent extinction of coho salmon and avoid
extensive lower river fish kills of other salmon runs such as occurred in
prior years. For more information on the Klamath water issues and how
they affect west coast salmon fishermen, see:
http://www.pcffa.org/klamath .
3:19/02. ALASKA BANS CHILEAN SALMON: On 8 May,
WorldCatch reported that free-trade negotiations between Chile and the
United States are on thin ice after the Alaska State Legislature passed a
resolution against Chilean farmed salmon. The measure has provoked
anger within the Chilean salmon sector, which exports more than 30
percent of its production to the United States.
Last year, Chilean salmon exports were valued at $973.2 million, of
which $357.8 million were sold to the U.S. market. The Alaska
Legislature's resolution of 10 April accuses the Chilean industry of
"dumping" its products and of operating "in a low-cost labor environment
with heavy government subsidization and without the regulatory
constraints that govern the Alaskan fishing industry, giving Chile a major
advantage in terms of production costs." The resolution was sponsored by
State Senator Al Austerman (R-Kodiak), on behalf of the United Fishermen
of Alaska (UFA), the state's largest fishing organization, representing
fishing men and women from various gear types and fisheries. The
commercial fishing industry is Alaska's largest private-sector employer,
and Alaskan producers are concerned that cheap imports of Chilean farmed
salmon are undercutting their products and threatening their businesses. For
more information go to www.worldcatch.com.
3:19/03. GROUPS SEEK MORATORIUM ON TRANSGENIC
SALMON: On Wednesday, PCFFA joined with a coalition of more than
60 environmental and fishing groups at a press conference in Washington,
DC demanding the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) place a
moratorium on approval of any genetically modified fish. The coalition
filed a formal petition, which requires a response from the FDA within 180
days, arguing that the current regulations are inadequate to deal with
genetically modified fish. The FDA is considering a petition from
Massachusetts-based Aqua Bounty Farms for approval of a salmon strain
with a gene that allows the fish to reach full size and maturity much more
quickly than a natural salmon. If approved, the salmon would be the first
transgenic animal to reach American dinner plates.
"This is a precedent-setting regulatory action by the FDA.," said Joseph
Mendelson, legal director of the Center for Food Safety, the Washington
group that is leading the action. The Food and Drug Administration is
regulating the fish because it considers the added gene to be an animal
drug. But the agency is less capable of the assessing environmental
consequences of transgenic fish, say critics. The groups argue that the fish
could damage the environment. Farmed fish, they say, inevitably escape
into the wild. For more information on genetically engineered food visit:
http://www.greenpeace.org/~geneng/gehome.htm
A computer simulation, called the "Trojan Gene Hypothesis," came out
of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) last
November by two renowned biologists at Purdue University, Indiana. This
hypothesis implies that a single genetically modified salmon, straying into
a northwest river, could ultimately wipe out the entire native population
after several generations. Similarly, hatchery broodstocks could be
compromised beyond recovery by only one errant salmon. A principle
purpose of genetic modification in fish used for aquaculture is to increase
growth rates. Muir and Howard named their theory the "Trojan Gene" after
the Trojan Horse of Homer's Iliad, "It gets into the population looking like
something good, and it ends up destroying the population." For the full
text of the article see: www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/96/24/13853?
3:19/04 BUYBACK CALLED FOR TO HELP PACIFIC SALMON
AND GROUNDFISH: At a hearing Thursday, 10 May, by the US House
of Representative's, Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Water,
Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations (PCFFA) Executive
Director Zeke Grader called for Federal assistance in the form of buybacks
to help the salmon and groundfish fishery. For salmon, Grader said, what
is needed are federal buybacks of irrigated agricultural land in areas where
there is not enough water to sustain agriculture and still maintain the
instream flows needed for fish.
In his prepared statement, Grader said there is a clear federal
responsibility to help the groundfish fleet since the government had
encouraged the buildup of that fleet without having first determined what
level of harvest the stock could sustain. He also warned that without the
buyback of up to half of the groundfish fleet capacity, the spillover of
boats from that fishery could devastate other fisheries such as Dungeness
crab and albacore. He was joined by Gordon Blue of the Alaska Marine
Conservation Council (AMCC) and others. Blue testified in support of a
buyout program for a portion of Alaska's crab fishery. For more
information contact Sharla Beall at (202)224-6176 and for a copy of the
testimony please go to www.pcffa.org
3:19/05. PRESENTATION ON SALMON FARMING ISSUES:
Edward May, a salmon farming campaigner for the Friends of Clayoquot
Sound in Tofino, British Columbia will be giving a presentation in San
Francisco on salmon farming effects on human health, the marine
environment and wild fisheries. He works with a coalition of
environmental groups, commercial fishermen, scientists and First Nations
and is planning to tour the major market area of BC farmed salmon, which
is the West coast of the United States. There will be a one hour slide
presentation (with time for questions and discussion). The purpose of the
presentation is to bring groups up to speed on the issue in time for a large
market initiative that will begin in November of this year. The market
initiative will attempt to equip consumers in California, Oregon, and
Washington State to make educated decisions as to whether they would
like to purchase farmed salmon or not. The presentation will be held at the
Institute for Fisheries Resources, 3rd Floor (Old Coast Guard Station) in
the Presidio, San Francisco on 21 May at 1000 HRS. For more information,
or if you would like to attend, please contact Natasha Benjamin,
ifrfish at pacbell.net, before 16 May as there is limited seating.
3:19/06. WORKSHOPS ON MARINE PROTECTED AREAS: The
American Oceans Campaign (AOC) will be conducting two workshops in
Southern California in the coming weeks to train activists interested in
implementing a network of marine protected areas (MPAs) on the West
Coast. They will take place in the Los Angeles/Orange County area and
are tentatively scheduled for late-June or early-July. For more information
about dates and locations, contact AOC's Los Angeles office at (323)936-
8242 or e-mail Leslie Paoletti at: lpaoletti at americanoceans.org .
3:19/07. FISHERMEN IN MAINE HELP SCIENTISTS
RECAPTURE SMOLTS: WorldCatch reported on 11 May that earlier
this spring a team of scientists from the National Marine Fisheries Service
(NMFS) tagged and released 170,000 young Atlantic salmon, or smolts, in
the Penobscot River, in Maine. On 14 May the scientists using fishing
vessels will begin trawling the surface waters of the upper Penobscot Bay
to determine how many of the stocked fish survived their migration down
river into the bay's salt waters. The numbers of salmon returning to the
river have been declining over the past 15 years, with last year's low of 532
adults. Using two chartered commercial fishing vessels, researchers hope
to recapture some of the tagged smolts in a large net towed at the water's
surface. The information gained from the tagged fish will help measure the
smolts' survival rates during the first leg of the two-year migration that
will
take the salmon as far as the shores of Greenland. Researchers will try to
avoid trawl tracks in places where lobster gear is evident. The F/V Nobska
and F/V Morue out of Woods Hole and New Bedford, Massachusetts, have
been chartered for the work and will carry four to five scientists, as well as
their operating crews. The surface net (originally developed and used
successfully in Norway) has a specially designed box that allows fish to be
captured, examined on deck, and released unharmed. The Penobscot River
currently hosts approximately 60 to 70 percent of all adult wild Atlantic
salmon returning to United States rivers. The 532 adult fish known to have
returned to the Penobscot in 2000 are less than 10 percent of the number
of spawners required for a healthy population. Information about juvenile
survival rates could be useful in making plans to rebuild healthy, self-
sustaining populations of Atlantic salmon. For the full article see:
www.worldcatch.com
3:19/08. FISHERMEN WORK TOWARD SUSTAINING
CHESAPEAKE BLUE CRAB: Chesapeake blue crab populations have
declined drastically and now fishermen, marine scientists and seafood
restaurants are coming together to learn more about the life cycle of crab.
The crab research program, called "Crab Restoration and the Bay" or
C.R.A.B. involves collecting fertilized females from the Bay that are put
into facilities at the Center of Marine Biology hatchery in Baltimore, where
they spawn and juveniles are reared. Researchers hope that this hatchery
effort will answer questions about the blue crab's environment, physiology
and molecular structure that will enable managers to make better decisions
about how to manage for a sustainable fishery. The goal of this project is
to seek the creation of a statewide, multidisciplinary study to sustain and
enhance the Chesapeake blue crab. Such a program could include a
network of hatcheries, along with standardized monitoring and habitat
restoration. There are many people affected by this decline, including the
watermen of the Chesapeake Bay, whose livelihood is nearly 50% derived
from crab harvesting, the restaurant business, the local residents, tourists,
and the associated species in the Bay. For more information contact Mary
Madison at mweditor at crosslink.net .
3:19/09. KOEPF HIRED AS NEW CENTRAL CA SUSTAINABLE
FISHERIES ORGANIZER: The Institute for Fisheries Resources (IFR)
has recently hired the second Central California (Sonoma to San Luis
Obispo County) Sustainable Fisheries Organizer (SFO), Ernie Koepf from
the Half Moon Bay area. The veteran commercial fisherman comes from
a fishing family with both father and brother fishing. His brother Mike was
author of the novel, the Fishermen's Son. Koepf, who has fished for
salmon, herring and crab, was featured in the recent San Francisco
(www.sanfran.com) magazine article on the expansion of the San Francisco
airport. Koepf joins Roxanne Jordan in covering the central coast for IFR's
Sustainable Fisheries Program, a two year effort to encourage commercial
fishermen and angler participation in the Marine Life Management Act
(MLMA) process. The program is funded by a generous grant from the
David and Lucille Packard Foundation, which is also helping to underwrite
other portions of MLMA implementation. The SFO's for the North Coast
are Vivian Bolin and Ronnie Pelegrinni, with Pete Halmay and Chris
Miller on the South Coast. For more information please contact Natasha
Benjamin at: ifrfish at pacbell.net .
3:19/10. JOB ANNOUNCEMENT: The Institute for Agriculture &
Trade Policy (IATP) is seeking a national organizer for a campaign to
reform industrial fish farming. This is a full-time, temporary position
(yearly contract) with the preferred location at their national office in
Minneapolis, Minnesota. This campaign will focus on educating
consumers and institutional fish buyers about the social, ecological, and
human health dangers of industrial aquaculture. A key tactic will be
organizing consumers into local action groups working to convince their
local food stores, cooperatives, and restaurants to stop buying industrially
produced fish and to switch to third-party certified sustainably harvested
and organic fish. If interested, send cover letter (including references and
salary requirements) and resume to Mark Ritchie, President, IATP, 2105,
First Ave. South, Mpls, MN 55404. Closing date for applications is 30
May 2001.
3:19/11. PFMC GROUNDFISH MANAGEMENT TEAM
MEETING: The Pacific Fishery Management Council's (PFMC)
Groundfish Management Team (GMT) will hold a working meeting, which
is open to the public, on 4-7 June to prepare reports and technical advice
for the upcoming Council meeting and in support of Council decisions
throughout the year. The meetings will be held at the National Marine
Fisheries Service (NMFS), Northwest Region, 7600 Sand Point Way NE,
Building 1, Director's Conference Room, Seattle, Washington. For more
information, contact the PFMC at: (503) 326-6352.
3:19/12. MAINE LEGISLATURE TO VOTE ON AQUACULTURE
MORATORIUM: The 26 April edition of the Ellsworth American
reported that the Maine Legislature's Marine Resources Committee is
supporting a bill that would prohibit granting new aquaculture leases in
Blue Hill Bay, Maine for two years. The moratorium would prevent new
leases for both finfish and shellfish from even being considered during that
time. Over the last three years, a series of lease requests for Atlantic
salmon aquaculture have created intense controversy. Concern stems from
the high oxygen content requirements and strong currents needed to
prevent food and waste build-up beneath the pens. Those who oppose
aquaculture in the Bay feel that it is too calm and secluded to meet these
requirements. Friends of Blue Hill have agreed to fund a comprehensive
study of the Bay in cooperation with the Maine Department of Marine
Resources (DMR). No date has been set for the final vote by the Maine
House and Senate. For the complete article go to:
www.ellsworthamerican.com/archive/news2001/04-26-01/
ea_news4_04-26-01.html
3:19/13. NEW PUBLICATION ON FISHERIES MANAGEMENT:
Understanding Fisheries Management: A Manual for Understanding the
Federal Fisheries Management Process, Including Analysis of the 1996
Sustainable Fisheries Act (Second Edition) is the title of a new publication
produced by the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Program. The first
edition, Fisheries Management for Fishermen, published in 1994, was an
effort to unlock the mysteries of fisheries management in light of changes
made in the late 1980's and early 1990's. The 2000 edition covers how the
eight regional fishery management councils work and how members of the
fishing community can become involved, including an analysis of the 1996
Sustainable Fisheries Act which significantly changed fisheries
management by adding three new national standards, amending bycatch
provisions, and shifting attention from fisheries harvest to fisheries habitat
with the inclusion of essential fish habitat provisions. For more
information on the 53-page publication, contact Sea Grant
Communications of Oregon State University at: (800) 375-9360.
3:19/14. CORRECTION: The last issue of Sublegals, in the article
titled "US EPA DOCUMENTS SHOW MANY PESTICIDES IN RIVERS
AT LEVELS HARMFUL TO SALMON (3:18/02)," contained a numerical
error. The article stated that "at least 48 commonly used or frequently
detected pesticides now occur in west coast rivers at levels well above the
aquatic life criteria maximums allowed by law." That line should read:
"Government documents for 48 pesticides show current uses are likely to
harm salmon. The EPA has determined that current uses for 41 commonly
used or frequently detected pesticides could result in surface water
contamination at levels that threaten fish or their habitat. Thirteen of the
48
pesticides have been found in west coast rivers at levels above established
aquatic life criteria." IFR apologizes for any confusions that error may
have caused.
NEWS, COMMENTS, CORRECTIONS: Submit your news items,
comments or any corrections to Natasha Benjamin, Editor at:
ifrfish at pacbell.net or call the IFR office with the news and a source at
either: (415) 561-FISH (Southwest Office) or (541) 689-2000 (Northwest
Office).
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