Message

Steller Sea Lion Mitigation Committee, January 26-28, 2010 | 8:30 a.m. AFSC

http://fakr.noaa.gov/npfmc/cmteemtg.htm

Board of Fisheries to Meet for Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim Finfish in Fairbanks, January 26-31, 2010

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council Aleutian Islands Fishery

Ecosystem Plan Team will meet in Seattle, WA, January 27–28, 2010

7600 Sand Point Way, NE, Seattle, WA. Building 4. NMML Conference Room, Room 2049. Agenda

Observer Advisory Committee meeting: January 29, 2010, 8:30 am - 5 pm. Alaska Fisheries Science

Center, 7600 Sand Point Way, NE, Seattle, WA. Building 4, Traynor Conference Room. Agenda

**************************************************************************************

Alaska/Pacific Coast

Fish Board to look at king salmon crisis on Yukon River

ADN, January 24th, 2010

DECLINE: Smaller and fewer fish at the point where action needed. FAIRBANKS -- Problems

with Yukon River king salmon will be the big issue this week when the Alaska Board of Fisheries

meets in Fairbanks.

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/rural/story/1108567.html

Pollock donations top $10 million in 10 years

The BRISTOL BAY TIMES, January 22, 2010

A group of Pollock-fishing companies have donated more than $10 million to the University of

Alaska Fairbanks School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences during the last decade.

http://www.thebristolbaytimes.com/article/1003pollock_donations_top_10_million_in_10_years

Subsistence board OKs $5.5 million for assessments

The Bristol Bay Times, January 22, 2010

The Federal Subsistence Board met Jan. 12-14 in Anchorage. During its Jan. 13 meeting, the board c

onsidered the funding for projects on the Fisheries Resource Monitoring Plan, and it approved $5.5

million for the 2010 plan.

http://www.thebristolbaytimes.com/article/1003subsistence_board_oks_55_million_for_assessments

Groups seek citizen oversight of trans-Alaska oil pipeline

ADN, January 24th, 2010

CITIZENS: Advocates fear spill in salmon-rich copper river tributaries.Environmentalists, fishermen

and others in the Copper River region are spearheading a new effort to boost citizen monitoring of

the trans-Alaska oil pipeline.

http://www.adn.com/money/industries/oil/story/1108573.html

Alaska's largest glacier's slow-mo surge

The Dutch Harbor Fisherman, January 22, 2010

"What in the world is Bering doing?" a woman asked when she looked at Chris Larsen's photograph

of the buckled back of Alaska's largest glacier. "The cracking-up is new on the glacier," Larsen said.

"There's a lot more crevasses and a lot more elevation increases where there should be thinning."

http://www.thedutchharborfisherman.com/article/1003alaskas_largest_glaciers_slow-mo_surge

Shell faces legal fight over Arctic wells

The Guardian, January 24, 2010

Royal Dutch Shell's controversial plans to drill for billions of barrels of oil in the Arctic's environmentally

sensitive frozen waters face a potentially damaging legal challenge. An alliance of conservation and Alaskan

indigenous groups has filed a legal claim to prevent Shell drilling for oil this year in the Arctic Ocean's Chukchi Sea.

Two years ago, Shell paid $2.1bn (£1.3bn) to the US government for 275 oil leases there.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jan/24/shell-challenged-on-alaska-drilling

Alaska Legislator wants to overturn subsistance priority for fisheries in favor of all public users

SEAFOOD.COM NEWS [Laws for the sea] by Bob Tkacz - Jan 25, 2010 - After picking a fight with the commercial fishing industry late last year, Rep. Bill Stoltze (R-Chugiak) appears ready to take on the Native community with HB 266. Pefiled Jan. 8, the bill directs the Board of Fisheries to give personal use fisheries a priority over all other fisheries when low stock returns require catch restrictions. Current law gives subsistence harvests the top priority. At an Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute meeting in October, Stoltze, cochairman of the House Finance Committee, announced that he probably would not be allow any commercial fisheries bills to move out of the committee. HB 266 was referred to the House Special Committee on Fisheries and House Resources. Stoltze is refusing to be interviewed on the bill or any other subjects.

NOAA Fisheries:

Fishery in the Eastern Aleutian Island District and Bering Sea Subarea of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands.

NMFS Opens Directed Fishing for Atka Mackerel for Vessels Participating in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Trawl Limited Access

Picture This: NOAA, Google Join Forces to Visualize Scientific Data

NOAA, January 25, 2010

NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research and Google have signed a cooperative research and development agreement outlining how they will work together to create state-of-the-art visualizations of scientific data to illustrate how our planet works.

http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2010/20100125_google.html

National

Press release:

Vitter Introduces Seafood Safety Bill

Press release Sen. Vitter, January 21, 2010

(Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Sen. David Vitter this week introduced a bill to enhance the safety of seafood imported into the United States. The bill builds upon previous legislation authored by Vitter that prevents the admission into the United States of all seafood products that do not comply with requirements established under the Federal Food, Cosmetic and Drug Act.

http://vitter.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressRoom.PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=51b2d282-ae09-6965-ff76-ac021f2c32e5

International

Russian hopes to open 800 fish & chips kiosks in Moscow and St Petersburg

SEAFOOD.COM NEWS [Web India] - January 25, 2010 - After Ronald McDonald and pizzas, another fast-food fad is gearing up to take Russia by storm - fish and chips. The nation's Government is encouraging people to eat more seafood, and in order to save the struggling fishing industry, it is also backing a planned chain of chip shops called Okean, reports The Times. Alexander Ivanov, who owns a fish-processing factory in Murmansk, on Russia's northern coast, will open 300 street kiosks in St Petersburg and up to 500 in Moscow before expanding into Siberia. And in order to compete with McDonald's and other fast-food rivals, cod and chips would sell for about 2.50 pounds. 'Fish, as a fast food, doesn't exist in Russia so we are opening a completely new market. I really like English fish and chips and I'm sure it will be really attractive for Russians,' he told The Times. He added: 'We set up a fish-and-chip kiosk at a trade exhibition in Moscow and the lines of customers were as long as those we used to see outside Lenin's tomb during Soviet times. 'It's important that people can be patriotic and buy high-quality healthy Russian fish.' Last year, the Federal Fisheries Agency had used a campaign to urge Russians to buy more fish.

Nancy Diaz