Doug Vincent-Lang

Alaska’s federal fisheries for halibut, pollock, Pacific cod, crab and other groundfish are economically important at the local, state and national level. These fisheries provide an economic base for many of our coastal communities through jobs and income from fishing, processing, industry support services, transportation and shipping. Sustainable management of these fisheries is critically important to our state. Alaska shares management responsibilities for federal fisheries (from 3 to 200 miles offshore) with the federal government. Decisions regarding the management of these fisheries are made via the North Pacific Fishery Management Council. The North Pacific Council has a four-decade track record demonstrating that sustainable fisheries production is possible when based on the best scientific information available and conservative fishery management policies. The Council has 11 voting seats, of which five are nominated by the state of Alaska and another is the commissioner of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. As a result, Alaska has the opportunity to focus the work of the Council on issues of import to our state and its fishermen and communities. Based on discussions with a diverse range of user groups, delegations from our coastal communities, fishermen, processor representatives and other Alaskans, it is clear our fisheries are facing a number of challenges. These challenges include unprecedented declines in Bering Sea crab stocks and ongoing low harvestable levels of Pacific cod and other economically valuable stocks that are causing economic hardship for fishery participants and affected communities. We also heard ongoing concerns about the impacts of federal fisheries on key species like halibut, salmon and crab. This input was valuable to better understand the issues and to identify priorities and potential solutions. We plan to focus our efforts in the Council over the next few years on several areas, each of import to fishery participants and our coastal communities. First is to continue Council efforts to reduce bycatch of Western Alaska chum salmon bycatch in the Bering Sea pollock fishery. We recognize the critical importance of chum salmon to Western and Interior Alaska communities and ecosystems, and will continue to prioritize consideration of measures to further minimize Western Alaska chum bycatch in the pollock fishery at the Council in a manner that does not increase the bycatch of other species. We plan to continue addressing longstanding issues related to the observer program for groundfish and halibut fisheries. It is critical that managers have a robust observer program that provides high quality data for stock assessments and fisheries management. While about 93% of federal groundfish fisheries harvest is monitored by human observers and/or cameras, we recognize there are ongoing concerns about the limited portion of harvest that is not monitored by an observer or camera. We intend to work on finding program improvements that maximize monitoring efforts and use available funding more efficiently. We understand the program needs to be affordable and minimize impacts on fishing and processing operations. As technologies improve, we need to continue incorporating electronic monitoring systems into the program. Finding the right mix will be challenging, but is critical towards ensuring catches and bycatch are accurately monitored and established limits are enforced in a manner that is economically viable for fishery participants. Finally, we plan to move forward with three recommendations provided by the Alaska Bycatch Review Task Force to protect crab stocks in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska. While the best available information suggests that changing ocean conditions are driving Bering Sea crab stock declines, we are committed to finding ways to better understand and reduce groundfish fishery impacts on crab stocks. We will continue to work with the Bering Sea crab industry and research partners to better understand seasonal changes in Bristol Bay red king crab distribution and migration. This information will be critical to assess existing protection measures in Council-managed groundfish fisheries in the Bering Sea. We intend to consider a new management program for pot vessels longer than 60 feet in the Bering Sea Pacific cod fishery. Catch limits continue to be relatively low and the pace of this fishery has grown to a point where safety and bycatch have become concerns. As we explore management alternatives for this fishery, we will consider options for rationalization of the fishery based on catch histories or other approaches, opportunities for cooperative fisheries strategies, improvements in monitoring and fisheries data collection, and establishing incentives to reduce crab bycatch. In the Gulf of Alaska, we intend to focus on monitoring and data collection to better understand the impacts of trawl fisheries on tanner crab. We understand the importance of the Kodiak Tanner crab fishery to Alaska residents and want to ensure that appropriate groundfish fishery measures are in place to protect Tanner crab in areas that are important to the stock. Based on discussions with a wide range of users we will not begin development of a rationalization program for Gulf of Alaska trawl fisheries. While there is a consensus that there are significant issues with this fishery, there is not broad consensus on whether a rationalization program is the appropriate method to address them. We will continue working with fishery participants to improve prosecution of the fisheries. There are many other issues that will require Council time, including routine actions such as setting annual catch limits and development of charter halibut management measures, as well as addressing management changes requested by Bering Sea crab and halibut and sablefish IFQ fishery participants. We understand this and will continue our commitment to these efforts. In closing, we understand the importance of Alaska’s federal fisheries and their contribution to our coastal economies and to fishery participants in the harvesting and processing sectors. We appreciate the efforts of our Alaska Council team and are looking forward to working with others on issues facing these fisheries, including the priorities identified above. Doug Vincent-Lang serves as commissioner of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and is a member of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council.

It’s a great time of year, when Alaskans emerge from the long, dark winter and launch eagerly into the great outdoors, ready to experience again the freedom and natural beauty for which our state is so justifiably celebrated. As we prepare to head out fishing, hiking, boating, camping, four-wheeling or sightseeing, Alaskans should be mindful of our responsibility to respect our common natural resources, and recommit ourselves to being great stewards of the lands we love by keeping our state clean and litter-free this summer. We Alaskans pride ourselves on doing things our own way. We “don’t care how they do it Outside,” and we’re proud of our reputation for taking good care of the special place we call home. Our reputation for pristine natural beauty supports a healthy lifestyle for ourselves, and a thriving visitor industry whose benefits extend statewide from city to village. But while most of us do our part to maintain high standards of outdoor care and cleanliness, the bad behavior of even a few can literally trash Alaska’s reputation. Too many of us have seen the evidence in too many places: piles of empty bottles or food wrappers, carelessly discarded fish carcasses, overflowing dumpsters, and the telltale wisps of toilet paper blowing in the roadside wind. Last summer During last summer’s Alaska’s COVID “hunker down” — which most of us conducted outdoors — heavy weekend use at the Kasilof River Special Use Area on the Kenai Peninsula saw dumpsters overflowing with trash and an unsightly campground that produced ugly images in the news and on social media. Sadly, with travel from Outside visitors restricted by the pandemic, Alaskans had only ourselves to blame for this embarrassing scene. Simple practices like “pack it in, pack it out” make a world of difference when we are all sharing the facilities and public use areas. As commissioners, we lead departments dedicated to fulfilling our constitutional responsibility to conserve and develop our state’s land, water, fish and wildlife for the common benefit of the people. As part of this mission, we are proud to support Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s “Unlocking Alaska” initiative, asserting state management authority over navigable waters and submerged lands, just as promised to Alaska at statehood. Alaskans can help strengthen this effort by making sure we know who owns the lands and waters where we are recreating and by being respectful users, whether the ownership is state, federal or private. A case in point is the popular Copper River dipnet fishery near Chitina. Those who drive the Copper River Highway to access the public salmon resource at the end find themselves on private land, most of it owned by Ahtna Inc., the Alaska Native regional corporation, and the Chitina Native Corp., the area village corporation. Having endured the damage caused by a few bad actors in the past, these private landowners are justified in charging fees to defray the costs of maintaining their land, cleaning up the trash and repairing damage, and in some cases restoring desecration of Alaska Native burial sites. Such behavior has consequences, not just on a local or state level, but on the national stage, as well. Our state is under national scrutiny, with important resource development vital to our state’s continued prosperity being blocked because of perceptions that Alaskans are not willing or able to protect our own environment. Alaskans trashing public and private land lend credibility to the claims of anti-development forces that we can’t be trusted to protect our own environment. They strengthen the case of those who want to impose federal authority to look over our shoulder to keep Alaska “clean.” We are Alaskans. We respect our communities and love our land. It just takes a little consideration, a bit of thoughtfulness, and some preparation to be good stewards of public land and respectful visitors on private land. If you pack it in, pack it out. Leave the trail or campsite cleaner than you found it. Pick up after your pets. Be a good example of the kind of Alaska outdoorsman that you wish all visitors would be. When we do, we demonstrate to ourselves and the world that we Alaskans care for our land, and are more than capable of managing our common resources responsibly without the federal government or outside special interests telling us how we should care for our own home. Corri A. Feige is Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources. Doug Vincent-Lang is Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game

Alaska’s federal fisheries for halibut, cod, pollock, flatfish, mackerel, sablefish and rockfish are economically important, both on a state and national level. They form the cornerstones of the economies of many of our coastal communities and provide numerous jobs at the fishing, processing and transportation/shipping levels. Through exports they provide a source of nutrition worldwide. As a result, decisions regarding their management are critically important to our state. Alaska shares management responsibilities for federal (3 to 200 miles) fisheries with the federal government. Decisions regarding the management of these fisheries are made via the North Pacific Fishery Management Council. This Council has 11 voting seats, of which 6 are nominated by the State of Alaska. As a result, Alaska has the opportunity to focus the work of the council on issues of import to our state and its fishermen and communities. We have spent the past several months speaking with a diverse range of user groups, delegations from our coastal communities, fishermen, processor representatives and other Alaskans to assess the issues facing them. These discussions were valuable, identifying not only the issues, but also in identifying priorities and potential solutions. Based on our discussions it is clear that many issues exist. Fortunately, we also found a willingness by many to roll up their sleeves and put in the hard work to resolve these issues. Based on these discussions we plan to focus our collective efforts in the council over the next several years on several areas, each of import to fishery participants and our coastal communities. First is to resolve long-standing issues related to the observer program for groundfish and halibut fisheries. It is critical that managers continue to have a robust observer program that provides high quality data for stock assessments and fisheries management. But the program needs to be affordable and minimize impacts on fishing and processing operations. As technologies improve, we need to better incorporate electronic monitoring systems into the program. Finding the right mix will be challenging but is critical towards ensuring catches and bycatch are accurately monitored and established limits are enforced in a manner that is economically viable for fishery participants. We also plan to focus our attention on developing a comprehensive management program for the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands trawl cod fishery. Catch limits have declined in recent years and the pace of this fishery has grown to a point where fishermen safety and bycatch have become concerns. As we explore management alternatives for this fishery, we will consider options for rationalization of the fishery based on catch histories, protection of Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands coastal communities with shore-based processing plants, opportunities for cooperative fisheries strategies, and means to further reduce bycatch of halibut. As we develop these options, we will also need to assure that we protect existing fisheries in the Gulf of Alaska through enacting meaningful sideboards. We also plan to develop a funding mechanism for the compensated reallocation of commercial halibut individual fishing quota, or IFQ, to the charter boat sector to allow this industry relief from restrictive regulations enacted as a result of reduced allocations. This would fully implement the council’s recreational quota entity program that allows the charter industry to hold commercial quota purchased from willing sellers to allow private anglers the opportunity for more liberal harvest opportunities that mirror those of non-guided anglers. The program is based on a willing seller-willing buyer model financed by some type of charter stamp. Finally, we plan to explore options for abundance-based management options for bycatch of halibut in Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands groundfish fisheries. The allocation to directed halibut fisheries floats with abundance, where at lower abundance levels allocations are lower and at higher abundance levels allocations are higher. Halibut bycatch quotas, however, are fixed and become a larger portion of total halibut catch when abundance declines. We need to explore if there are options to float the bycatch quotas with overall abundance. We understand the complexities associated with this but need to assess the options available. Based on discussions with a wide range of users we will not begin development of a rationalization program for Gulf of Alaska trawl fisheries. While there is a consensus that there are significant issues with this fishery, there is not broad consensus on the biggest challenges facing the fishery and whether a rationalization program should be considered to address them. We would appreciate hearing suggestions from stakeholders for regulatory measures to improve management of the fisheries under the current management structure. There are many other issues including routine options such as setting annual catch limits and development of charter halibut management measures to longer term issues related to the halibut IFQ fishery and bare boat halibut charters that will require council time. We understand this and will continue our commitment to these efforts. In closing, we understand the importance of Alaska’s federal fisheries and their contribution to our coastal economies and to fishery participants in the harvesting and processing sectors. We have an excellent council team and are looking forward to working with others on issues facing these fisheries, including the priorities identified above. Doug Vincent-Lang is the commissioner of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

I read with interest a recent guest editorial penned by long time Adak fisheries advocate Clem Tillion regarding the need to take immediate actions to protect Alaska’s residents and coastal communities to ensure for their economic viability. The insinuation is that not enough is being done. Let me begin by saying that the State of Alaska is committed to developing fisheries management policies that benefit Alaska residents and coastal communities. We recognize the unique challenges faced by fish harvesters and processors operating in remote Alaskan waters and are committed to finding solutions. The state has worked closely with our management partners over the years to develop programs that provide economic benefits and stability to fishery-dependent communities in Alaska. Specific to Adak, the state has actively participated in the development and implementation of several fisheries management actions to promote economic opportunity. For example, the Alaska Board of Fisheries established the Aleutian Islands Subdistrict Pacific cod fishery in 2006 to provide economic benefits to Adak. In 2018, the board took action to increase the state-waters Pacific cod guideline harvest level to provide more harvesting opportunities for Alaskans and more fish delivered to Adak. The board action increased the amount of Pacific cod allocated to the state waters fishery from 27 percent to 31 percent of the total allowable Aleutian Islands removals for 2019 and 35 percent for 2020. The overall state waters allocation could increase to a maximum of 39 percent in subsequent seasons if 90 percent of the guideline harvest level is taken in 2020. In March 2019, the Board of Fisheries again acted to benefit Adak by authorizing a Western Aleutian District Tanner crab fishery under the authority of a commissioner’s permit. The state also supported several management actions in federal waters off Alaska to support Adak. A 2004 congressional action allocated Aleutian Islands pollock to Adak in order to promote a local, small boat pollock fleet to deliver fish to Adak and further develop the local fisheries-based economy. While several challenges have prevented Adak from realizing the benefits from its pollock allocation, the state supports continued efforts to fulfill Congress’ intent to benefit fisheries development in Adak. In 2005, the state supported action by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council and Congress to allocate 10 percent of the Western Aleutian golden king crab to Adak and require 50 percent of the Western Aleutian golden king crab allocations to be processed in Adak. These measures were implemented as part of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Crab Rationalization program and intended to aid in the development of seafood harvesting and processing activities within the community. In 2010, the state actively supported council action to authorize Adak to purchase and hold commercial halibut and sablefish quota to provide fisheries access for a local fishing fleet and benefit the community. Finally, the state strongly supports the council’s most recent action, known as Amendment 113, to provide opportunity for trawl catcher vessels, onshore processing plants, and communities, including Adak, to sustain participation in and receive benefits from the Aleutian Islands Pacific cod fishery. The 2018 and 2019 fishing seasons demonstrated that Amendment 113 worked as intended for Adak by providing deliveries of Pacific cod to keep the plant operating and the associated benefits flowing to harvesters and the community. The state was disappointed by the March opinion in the Washington, D.C., District Court that vacated the regulations for Amendment 113. We are actively working with our management partners, the Alaska congressional delegation, and our legal advisors to pursue all available options to reinstate Amendment 113 regulations and/or develop new regulations that benefit Adak and other Aleutian Islands shore plants. Unfortunately, immediate solutions are constrained given the court decision. The record is clear. The state has well documented history of taking actions to help ensure the continued viability of this remote community. We will continue our efforts as we move forward on issues that affect this and other remote Alaskan communities and Alaskan fishermen. ^ Doug Vincent-Lang is the commissioner of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.