May newsletter coming soon

Very soon.

For those SEAS business members who haven't had a clean shot at a couple paragraph piece in awhile, here's your shot.  If you want something in, you have around 2-3 weeks to send it either physically to our box or to my email address.

Seas ed as well as office staff, Tom Meiners, will both be on the water soon but not before we get one last newsletter out to members.

Have a great spring, or what is left of it, and ou should be seeing a new newsletter out in 3-4 weeks.

A lighter spring than last year, who we had a board of fish cycle, a ETJ hearing and a round of buyback to deal with.

Nonetheless, we are working behind the scenes on ETJ and working to further more enhanced salmon production to enhance the trollers position and help gillnetters and seiners as well in an all benefit from rising tides position on enhanced allocation .


Bobbyt

SEAS ED

Mr.Bacon retires from the PSC

Seldom would I recognize a person in leadership capacity through whom I could communicate and collaborate so that our  concurring goals and of the goals of those around us, in the commercial fishing community, become the force, the unremitting, powerful force of which could then, with strategic thinking, rational planning and intense co-mingling of forces of personalites..... that amazing place where the will of the larger, through individual connections, can become the mentor-pupil quality, the latter in which I delighted for years.   I could look at JB from the back of the room, shake my head as he spoke and we would concurrently run the room.  Peckham would take over with some finance report, budget, etc etc, but aside from the big picture, he tackled the more technical issues revolving around SEAS at the time.  JB would get on a political role, get the SEAS board believing his trip-- with Knowles alot through 2001 late.  JB wasn't perfect.  I'm not perfect.  I like JB as a great friend..  Had we better vacation planning, I believe we'd spend at least a weekend and a half out hunting mallards.

And so it is with great pleasure that I give you the career of Jim Bacon.  A career that consisted of contributions in skippering the Wavedancer( Prior to 2001, JB had the Eleanor), and seining in SEAlaska for 26 years, 19 as a skipper.  Jim served on the SEAS board from around 1989 to 2002 and as a member of the Pacific Salmon Commission, ending the final 7 years as Alternate Commissioner for Alaska for the US Department of Commerce at the request of the great State of Alaska.  Jim recently resigned at the end of 2012 after a 21 year career Alaskan diplomat, having served the state at both the great junctures

Perhaps it was after working with this magic that inspired us to work on the great issues of the day.
JB had this business like a steel trap.  He was back and forth from DC at least 7-8 times a year for about a decade and a half.

I would like to think that there are other great thinkers out there and they too are recongnizing that it's quite a different fishery from the days of his beginnings.  JB will tell ya that the Brindle family, specifically Joe if I remember his story right because this is about JB, some close friends and some good luck got JB in the game and then he balanced the skill and expertise to run a seiner for nearly 2 decades.

Jim Bacon.  Unparralled in SEAS history and in his impact to the fleet over the past 2 decades, SEAS would like to call to your attention that 8 different Gentlemen pitched in to buy JB a Lifetime  $6500 membership.

Congratulations, JB  YOU rock forever in the halls of fame at SEAS.    Right up there with Ole, Joe, John, Greg,..........you could go on and on..... you get the picture.

Fleet consolidation a no go

The latest round generated little enthusiasm on behalf of the number or the prices of bidders and permits.

So there will be no further fleet consolidation attempts until further notice.

Just an FYI

Bidders will be shortly notified by the SRA.

Brailer Scoop - Jan. 2013

To MSC or not to MSC

So the state is having a big pow-wow with PSVOA this coming Monday over the boards  decision to stick it out with MSC so that Silver Bay Seafoods could go it alone.

This is a complex issue.

First let's start out with SEAS unequivocal and total non-support of MSC from the outset in the late 1990's when then-Gov Knowles administration welcomed the MSC folks in to get the trophy of certifying the worlds best managed commercial fishery-Alaska Salmon.  SEAS, under the leadership of Jim Bacon at that time, determined that the short-term, feel good of having the MSC label would be short-lived and would not be worth the longer term of inviting the Eco-terrorists into the fold to wreak havoc on the Alaska brand.

SEAS is, has always been and will always be opposed to MSC.  The shine of the MSC label began to come off the wrapper in the early 2000's with MSC finagling and harassment of ADFG managers over breaking down Alaska salmon into multiple subdistricts as well as beating up our scientifically sound and and advanced, modern 21st century salmon enhancement practices.  Then the wheels came off when we were traveling in Europe with Governor Murkowski in 2006 and the MSC certifier was on a much ballyhooed rumored cocaine runner in southern California with both our money and our certification.

Shortly thereafter the state of Alaska dumped MSC.  At first ASMI picked up the tab, then AFDF, then finally no one.

Until PSVOA.

SEAS and PSVOA work together on many fronts.  This is not one of them.
But SEAS has no adverse opinion on the very controversial decision by PSVOA to go this course.
It's just not our bag.  Sure we've been adamantly opposed to MSC in Alaska salmon all along.  But then MSC is in several other Alaska species.  They must have just not caused as much mischief in those fisheries, we presume.

Obviously Silver Bay has a relationship they'd like to extend with MSC.  Before it was just down to Silver Bay, Trident was holding on even though Icicle, NPPI, AGS, OBSI had all had enough of MSC.  Once Trident kicked the MSC habit, SBS was left holding the bag.

So why do we bring this up?

The state of Alaska is happy to be going with the new certification program for the rest of he 80% of salmon sold in Alaska but  not while working for the MSC program in addition.  We presume there is a bit of marketplace confusion as well as a lack of staffing to handle both programs.

Having said that, there are some who feel that having both programs gives the marketplace a bit of time to switch as opposed to changing 'cold turkey'.   This is an understandable strategy that seems to allow some grace time between the final weening off of MSC prior to a final departure from using the MSC label.  Of course the financial benefits aren't evenly distributed under this scenario and that is probably one of the major issues here.  It's also confusing the issue for some that MSC must go while it sits on the product lines for potluck, halibut , etc.

SEAS hates MSC.  Always has.  Always will. We're the only state or administrative region in the world that disallows farmed salmon .  Yet we get blasted by MSC ( who certify everything but beluga whaling) for our scientifically sound ocean ranching programs.  MSC set back the Alaska hatchery program by 2 decades, allowing the world farmed salmon countries to eat our proverbial lunch.  MSC is, was and always will be a scam to screw Alaska.

But we are not going to disparage the decision by PSVOA.
These are our brothers and they must have their reasons.

Fleet Consolidation primer

Guys

For most of you this is old news but since we've had so much technical discussion about the SRA and fleet consolidation we need to have a ten point -give or take- clarification here

1.  This is not a conservation buy back.

The SE purse seine fishery is as robust as at any ten year period in history.  There have been only 340 million pinks harvested in the past decade, due to a couple of droughts and tough winters.  The average harvest on odd cycles exceeds 40 million, while even cycles are around 20 million. This brings us rapidly to point number 2.

2. The cycles necessitate a tighter fleet on the off( even)years.

The even cycles have been particularly slow in north end recruitment and rebuilding.  In 2008,2010 and 2012 the seine fleet didn't fish central or northern Chatham at all, save for the Hidden Falls THA and the postage stamp at Augusta.  This jammed the entire fleet in the southend, a few assorted bays and the hatchery areas.  And we all know what kind of congestion we already have in the hatchery THA's.

3.  Fuel coats, insurance, shipyard bills, boat purchase costs and overall operational expenses are going through the roof.  

Although SEAS ED is trying to punch through with a 20th century vessel, I still run my 1949 wood Sagstadt built vessel.  My operations cost just to outfit and run the boat are well over $100,000.  And that's a vessel that has no mortgage or bank payments.  In the years of plenty there is enough to go around but let's face facts:  there simply is not enough gravy in this fishery to pay the bills year in and year out with an expanded fleet.

4.  The next phase of the buyback is chipping away at permits likely to be deployed in the next year or so.

The 3% is already being collected.  We are down 100 permits since we began and this phase is likely to only retire a dozen or a couple dozen permits.  But this would knock the total permits down by 4%-8% more.  And these are permits that have a high likelihood of being fished in the next couple of years.


5.  The fishery can go one of two ways.  More boats and less fishing time or vice-versa.

The managers of the SE purse seine fishery have a number they consider when making announcement decisions.  The fewer the boats, the more likely we will get expanded fishing time and area.

6.  The seine fleet is a mobile fleet.

Unlike many other salmon operators in the state, i.e.,set net, Bristol bay, copper river...the seiner in false pass, PWS and Kodak, not to mention the sardine and squid seiners of Cali and OR, are extremely mobile.  There's at least 2 dozen guys who fished PWS in 2012 who will be in your lineup in 2013.  Maintaining a tighter number of permits in SE keeps us within predictable expectations for future years.

7.  Boats are bigger. Gear is more effective. Equipment is more efficient.

While the SE fleet is still catching up to modern efficiencies practiced in most Alaska salmon fisheries due to the low economic condition we experienced with pink salmon a half decade ago, the fleet is constantly increasing in boat size, net efficiency and skiff power.  This leads us to either a reduced fleet or reduced fishing time in order to make the correct management calls for the resource.

More to follow.......

Hope you all have a Happy and prosperous 2013.



Bobbyt

New Fleet Consolidation Phase Begins

Bid packets were sent out today from the SRA! Soliciting bids from eligible permit holders.

Look for them in the mail early next week.

Thanks to those of you who have supported our fleet consolidation program and thanks to those of you who continue supporting it into the future.

For those of you who want to sell a permit at this time for any reason, this would be a good way to do so.


Again, thanks for your support.  Bidders have until late January to return the packets.  At that time there will be awarded bid ranges and the NMFS will conduct a vote, as they did last spring, when the permits in SO1A were narrowed down to 315 outstanding permits.

Deckboss Article on Angoon

We posted this on March 18, taken verbatum from the Deckboss blog.  There have been 110 hits on this article from folks scrolling  back to March to read it on our website so we thought we'd haul it out to the front page.
Just so you don't have a Orson Wellesian World at War breakdown, this is about a meeting that happened LAST March, not this coming March.  Naturally SEAS has had alot to say  about the USFS's ability to manage Alaska's state marine waters salmon fisheries, but you'll have to go elsewhere to find those opinions as this is just a direct haul off the Deckboss website.


Deckboss on Angoon and Comments 

Southeast seiners face a subsistence fight

The Federal Subsistence Board, at a meeting set for March 21-23 in Juneau, will consider a petition seeking to close or curtail commercial salmon fishing in Southeast Alaska.

Kootznoowoo Inc., the Native corporation for the village of Angoon, submitted the petition to the federal government.

The petitioner asks the feds to exercise "extraterritorial jurisdiction" to protect the subsistence priority for Angoon residents. It contends the state-managed commercial fisheries have interfered with subsistence fishing for sockeye.

Kootznoowoo wants commercial fisheries in the waters around Angoon closed or restricted. This includes fishing districts in Chatham, Icy and Peril straits.

The Native corporation also recommends reducing the harvest area adjacent to Hidden Falls Hatchery, located across Chatham Strait from Angoon.

In advance of the meeting, the Federal Subsistence Board has posted a staff report that looks at the petition, area salmon runs, Angoon subsistence practices and fishery management.

The report concludes by saying "not enough information" is available to know if a total closure of commercial purse seine fisheries would meet all of Kootznoowoo's stated needs.

The report adds, however, that it "appears more likely than not that the commercial purse seine fishery is reducing the number of sockeye salmon returning" to federally managed waters.

To see Kootznoowoo's petition and supplement, go to the Federal Subsistence Board website.

JKT by 32 in recount--It's officially over now

Fishing in the wake of the great Angoon seine boat captains

My first impression of Angoon was a good one but one that brought to light the post 1970's salmon deficit. Wally Swanson, Bob Thorstenson Sr., and myself flew in to look at a net for Wally's son Rob, who was beginning to seine then, in the spring of 1982. There had been a decade of no fish for seiners, over a decade, and the only boats and seine skippers who survived were lucky or good enough to diversify: geographically, like Ketchikan, Sitka or Craig districts; other fisheries, like longline or crab fishing, or early or late season herring or dive tendering or shrimping; or diversification that takes the place of your better half having a better job that you do.  A real job. Up until very recently Angoon had a few boats to take in some of the seine harvest.

In any event, the fleet took the huge hit from the impacts of the 1970's, not the least of which was the closure of the Chatham Cannery, where over half the population of Angoon worked in the summer. In those older days, those who weren't out seining with the Angoon seine fleet worked over at the Chatham Cannery at Sitkoh Bay. Dad left me movies and slides we've watched over the years when Linne and Dot Bardarson ran the Chatham Cannery in the 1960's. It was a very positive experience for the social as well as economic benefits and I've spoken with many Angoon residents or descendants who were there who recounted the experience as a very positive one.

Once the rest of the Chatham Straits canneries mostly shut down, the opportunity to work would have split the family up. After Kake closed for good in 1978, the only canneries that the wives, younger kids and older daughters could travel to work would be XIP at Excursion Inlet, or Sitka Sound Seafoods or Petersburg Fisheries.

This became uneconomical as well as impractical to split up families. For a time in the 1970's through the early 1990's Icicle Seafoods kept a buying station with ice and provisions for local trollers. But the connection to the Chatham Cannery hurt the industry connection, as well as limited the sockeye that were harvested for subsistence out of Sitkoh Creek. When the cannery working famies lived over there all summer it was an easier harvest. Unless there are low water conditions present, Sitkoh sockeye are not always available, making a trip from Angoon meaningless if it's a day the sockeyes are scattered or not schooled up.

So while the local canneries lost the local connection- as the Hood Bay Cannery had in earlier times- a handful of the local fishermen did not. These fishermen, with just a 5-6 man crew, would be a huge economic unit for Angoon. Besides the jobs these boats brought home cook fish from the large catches. In 1985, I fished for the same company as Peter Jack and we caught almost exactly the same amount of fish.  He was a little ahead of me with 562,000 lbs. And that year Dennis caught about the same and he was also fishing for Icicle. Now that's a little stake to take a few fish home from even though they were mostly pinks and chums. The 58 footers were also great for helping with subsistence if the weather was rotten, and of course, to get in a good deer hunt or two over in Peril Strait, Kelp, Hook or Chaik Bays.

There were yet fishermen like former SEAS members Ronald Johns- FV St Peter, Peter Jack-FV Jerilyn and Dennis Eames-FV Talia who highlined out of Angoon throughout the 1980's and 1990's and were many seasons the top -per capita- purse seine fleet in all of Southeast Alaska. In 1993 Dennis Eames was top boat in all of Southeast Alaska with 1.3 million pounds and was typically top boat in the northern districts all of his last 2 decades of seining through his last season in 2006. That is, typically top boat if he managed to beat the great Johnny Hinchman on any particular year. One of my favorite fishing spots, near Hoonah, was Johnny's and then Dennis's spot. But I found it in 1999 while Dennis and Johnny were out in Lisianski on a wild goose chase. So I get up the next morning and the Talia was anchored there. Because guys had been complaining to me that this spot was too close to their spot, I asked Dennis about it.   He told me that was his spot. Unless Johnny or Wayne got there, but usually Johnny went behind, at Beacon Pt.

I also recall one trip to Dall Island in 1986. Dennis was down there with the first Talia - the old Dean- and he and I weren't catching too well due to our smaller northend 3 1/4 strip nets. I was getting gillers in my chafing gear. I remember just like it was yesterday. He said " well,kid, we'll get back up to the northend one of these years and then we'll show 'em". We went into Cordova Bay with our little nets and did just fine. I fished Mellon Rock and then Eek Pt., where Dennis came over from where he'd been fishing in Hetta Inlet. Dennis was a longtime SEAS member and onetime board member as well.

I fished with Peter Jack many times at the hatchery, at Peril Strait, Neva Strait and Pt. Caution. One of our last years fishing nearby was in Neva Strait in 2001. He could hardly see with his eyes going bad due to his elderly age-- he must have been nearly 80-- but we were patient and waited turns with him all day. Peter Jack also was a SEAS member when he was younger and active as well as Mayor of Angoon when the Admiralty Island National Monument was created.  Peter Jack was also CEO and President of Kootznoowoo Corporation.

I met Ronald Johns the first time in 1989 in Craig at the fuel dock. The St Peter was getting a bit worse for wear. I almost stepped through the main deck. Must've had good pumps as they were fishing seagull bluff and little roller the next 2 days. Ronald was an incredibly wise man and he would tell me about his biggest sets in Lake Anna and Sisters Lake. He had a knowledge that should have been collected either in writings, interviews, tapes or some other medium.

All the old timers knew so many things that they accomplished or failed at long ago that could help us today.  They also knew of the cycles.

There have always been salmon cycles, up and down, since time immemorial. Of the 100% of salmon fry that emerge, we catch a minor single digit percentage of them. The other 95% get killed by predators: whales, seals, sea-lions, dolly varden, larger salmon, stream blockages like that at Kanalku ( Kanalku has had stream passage problems for sockeye as early as 1968, when the USFS began blasting out rock-- and as recently as 2011 when the state of Alaska funded a quarter million dollar USFS study as to how best proceed with a fish ladder or to enlarge the jumping pool below the falls)as well as Hasselborg Lake( which, blockage free, probably has more potential to produce sockeye than Kanalku), bad winters, deep freezes, drought conditions with low water levels, floods. There are more factors that contribute but this isn't meant to be a salmon essay.

Back to Angoon.

I spent some time in 1984, trying to buy shotgun shells in October. The community was nice to us and I really felt a kinship with the place. ( Remember my kindergarten birthday party was a hunting trip to a cabin closer to Kake than Petersburg) We were back in 1989, bootlegging on a late August 4 day opener. I'll never forget getting corked by Dennis Eames at Peninsular Point- across and north of Angoon- because I couldn't figure out which way the tide was going so I stalled a bit. So he corked me. I'd have done the same had I been in his shoes.

So I was in Angoon with Magnus, in 2009, the year my father died, listening to the dock stories(which insisted that he caught at least 500 unreported sockeye, which we won't repeat here) of the Senator Kookesh issue, but my son and I didn't go uptown because there'd been alot of Brown Bears in town that summer.

The best news about Senator Kookesh's issue was that we now knew that Kanalku was ready for fishing. Subsistence fishing. 2009 and 2010 have been the biggest known or counted Kanalku years ever. We would have likely had higher sub. limits in 2009 had we understood that the run was going to be a record.

Same thing happens seining. We have such a big year, unsuspecting to the ADFG, that we aren't allowed to fish accordingly. We miss a few days or a few weeks even.

An inseason adjustment to subsistence harvest from 15-20-25 would be alogical outcome of such a program. It may take a while to get used to and subsistence fishers would have to be connecting with the management authority

So are we saying Senator Al should have been able to fish. YES, in a more up to the moment management, we'd have seen that he had to catch more sockeye in order to not overescape Kanalku Lake.

Back to the Great Angoon Seiners.

I learned alot from these guys. Probably Dennis more than anyone else. But I remember one day I was down in Cholmondeley in 1987 and I sat around waiting for the dogs to come up. Well, Ronald Johns on the St Peter, he went out on the corner by Hump Island - but on the mainland west of Hump- and scratches up 1500 dogs in a day. Worth about $15,000. Back to school for bobbyt. I had enough for dinner and a six pack.

Anyways. I hope the next generation of seiners will show up in Angoon. There's lots of fish swimming by on odd cycles now. The state is doing a fantastic job of managing the fishery and Angoon should participate.  The Hydaburg fleet is growing with Sid Edenshaw having great seasons with Peter Jack's boat the Jerilyn.  Frank Wright of Hoonah had one of his better years of alltime in 2011. Some of the younger Kake guys are doing great-- Clarence Jackson's son Jeff is doing just fine and Henrich Jr. is spending more time running the Donna Jean as well.  A few years ago Delbert Kadake bought George Hamilton's boat the Janice and is doing well with that first class vessel.  And Nik Nelson is out in Chatham running Joe Demmert's old boat the Lovey Joann.

bobbyt