Alaskans are all too familiar with radical groups funded by out-of-state interests seeking to shut down sustainable resource development. A predictable cast of characters — including billionaire activists and extreme environmental groups — are now working to destroy a large segment of the Alaska seafood industry. This campaign to ban trawling — a sustainable fishing method responsible for a substantial majority of fishery landings in the Alaska Region and nationally —poses a direct threat to Alaska’s coastal economy, seafood sector and way of life.
If you enjoy wild seafood — fish sandwiches or shrimp; fish sticks or scallops; fish tacos or rockfish — you are enjoying seafood caught by “trawl” or “dredge” fishing gears that touch the seafloor. It’s true that these fishing methods, like every farm, aquaculture facility and fishing operation on the planet, impact the environment. But, what’s also true is that the impacts of trawl fishing in Alaska are continually monitored to ensure long-term ecosystem health.
Few food production methods anywhere in the world are more sustainable and well-regulated than fisheries in the Alaska region, a fact we should all be proud of. Fishery scientists and managers use a clear, science-based process to decide where and when fishing can happen and how many fish can be caught. This results in sustainable Alaska fisheries — fisheries that support tens of thousands of jobs and many coastal communities — producing billions of seafood meals every year to feed people in America and around the world.
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The recent commentary authored for the Alaska Beacon by Heather Sauyaq Jean Gordon and David Bayes is the latest effort to demonize sustainable trawl fisheries. Like other attacks on our sector, the commentary comes from a vocal few that play fast and loose with the facts.
First, let’s talk about bycatch. The authors’ claim that trawl fisheries have “high bycatch rates” is flat out wrong. The Alaska pollock fishery, for example, is recognized by the National Marine Fisheries Service as “one of the cleanest in terms of incidental catch of other species (less than 1 percent).” By way of contrast, the fixed-gear halibut and sablefish fisheries championed by Linda Behnken — one of the commentary’s co-signatories — have bycatch rates at least 28 times higher than the Alaska pollock fishery, with discard rates ranging from 28.5% to 48%.
We weren’t surprised to see the inaccuracies in the piece. Trawl critics constantly misrepresent bycatch data. For example, jellyfish — nearly 40% of the 1% bycatch in the pollock fishery — are deliberately grouped with other species in reported bycatch totals. In reality, less than 10% of trawl bycatch is made up of halibut, salmon and crab species, with pollock representing the largest component of total trawl bycatch.The dead halibut thrown overboard by the Gulf of Alaska IFQ halibut fishery exceeds the total halibut bycatch mortality from the entire Gulf of Alaska trawl fleet.
Let’s talk about monitoring. Alaska trawl fisheries lead the world in using independent observers and electronic monitoring to ensure full transparency. Across all Alaska Region trawl fisheries, 94% of the total catch was independently observed in 2023. Furthermore, Alaska’s pollock catcher vessels are implementing the largest Electronic Monitoring program in the United States, which will push North Pacific trawl vessel monitoring even higher, to almost 100%. Among the fleet that Linda Behnken represents, by contrast, just 23% of total 2023 harvests were observed by either electronic or human monitoring and there has been resistance to monitoring expansion.
Let’s talk about habitat. The emotive claim that trawl gear “scrapes the ocean’s bottom” implies permanent ecosystem harm. In reality, the Bering Sea floor is constantly subject to tidal and storm disturbance, and any additional impacts of trawling have consistently been found by experts to be “temporary and minimal”. Areas that have been regularly fished with trawl gear for decades remain some of the most diverse and productive fishing grounds on Earth.
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David Bayes, a charter fisherman and a co-author of the recent commentary, has regularly attacked our region’s sustainable trawl fisheries. The Facebook page he founded often features posts that wish death or harm toward our fellow captains and crew, our boats and our processing plants. Other posts spew hateful, personal and vengeful attacks against anyone who dares to speak up and correct misinformation about trawling or Alaska pollock. Alaskans deserve better than this.
In October, Mr. Bayes attended a meeting of billionaire environmental funders that showcased a clear anti-fishing agenda. Panels like “Bycatch: Building Power Around Alaska’s Newest Four-Letter Word” revealed a roadmap for shutting down Alaskan fisheries. Oceans 5, a key sponsor of the meeting, pools money from billionaire activists to fund campaigns displacing harvesters from their traditional fishing grounds. Their main goal? Establishing Marine Protected Areas that ban all fishing activity. If Bayes’s activist allies succeed in shutting down Alaska’s trawl fisheries, don’t think they’ll stop there. Other fisheries — and even sport fishing — could be next in their crosshairs.
We take pride in harvesting Alaska pollock and other groundfish, contributing to Alaska’s rich fishing heritage, coastal communities, and economy. Alaskans deserve honest discussions about fisheries, which often require complex trade-offs. As warming oceans — not trawl fleets — affect certain salmon and crab stocks, making informed decisions is extremely challenging. We welcome fair debates grounded in truth, transparency, and facts that can help sustain all Alaskan fisheries.
Sam Wright is a lifelong Alaskan born and raised in Homer. He has fished for over 30 years for crab, flatfish, Pacific cod and other species in the Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands and Gulf of Alaska.
Dan Carney is an Alaskan, homesteader, farmer, fisherman, 43-year Bering Sea survivor.
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Jason Chandler was born in Kodiak and is a lifelong resident. He has participated in multiple fisheries over more than 30 years and is now owner/operator of his family’s trawl vessel.
Kiley Thomson is a 32-year resident of Sand Point who fishes for salmon, crab, pollock and cod in the Gulf of Alaska. He is president of the Peninsula Fishermen’s Coalition and the Area M Seiners Association organizations, representing small vessels in Alaska groundfish and salmon fisheries respectively.
To the editor: I fully agree with David Helvarg’s concern that Alaska is both a climate victim and a perpetrator. But he did not mention two necessary actions for timely mitigation of climate change.
First, we need more nuclear power, the only non-warming energy source that can quickly meet the scale of our demand without undue habitat destruction.
Second, existing fossil fuel plants must scale back their operations and global-warming emissions as renewables scale up. Such renewables include California desert solar power, recently and surprisingly characterized as producing surplus energy.
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Yes, these two steps will raise the cost of power. But will we or won’t we take the necessary actions to save our only spaceship and its precious inhabitants, whether polar bears in Alaska or Joshua trees in the California desert?
J. Philip Barnes, San Pedro
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To the editor: One has to wonder just how “green” Eland or any other solar farm truly is. (“L.A.’s massive new solar farm is cheap and impressive. More, please,” column, Dec. 5)
First is the issue of habitat destruction (even if the land in question was an alfalfa field at one time). Then there’s the question of what happens to all these wonderful solar panels and batteries once they’ve passed their life span (ditto for windmill blades).
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I’m probably not alone in wishing we’d spend as much on conserving energy as creating it.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – University of Alaska Anchorage held their commencement for the fall class of 2024 on Saturday.
Over 650 graduate and undergraduate students were recognized at the ceremony, which was held at the Alaska Airlines Center on UAA’s campus. The ceremony recognized students who graduated in the summer or fall of 2024, from each of the University’s five colleges.
“Since UAA is not like a traditional university, we have a lot of older students and students who are coming back for education for the second time,” said student speaker Iqlas Dubed. “I just want to remind the students that education is a lifetime, and you don’t have to conform to anyone else definition of success.”
U.S. Circuit and former Alaska Supreme Court Judge Morgan Christen was the guest commencement speaker for the ceremony.
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The University also recognized two honorary degree recipients in the ceremony, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Kyle Hopkins and Alaska author Heather Lende. Both received their honorary doctorates at an earlier ceremony on Wednesday.
See a spelling or grammar error? Report it to web@ktuu.com
Pipes lead to cooling fans, at right, at the Cook Inlet Natural Gas Storage Alaska facility on Monday, July 1, 2024 in Kenai. The facility takes natural gas from producers, including Hilcorp, and stores the gas underground in a depleted gas field until it is needed by its customers, which include Enstar and Chugach Electric. (Loren Holmes / ADN)
As we approach the new year, there continues to be significant discussion on natural gas supply for Southcentral Alaska utilities. In 2022, Hilcorp Alaska informed the utilities it will not extend gas contracts beyond their current expiration dates. These dates vary for each utility, with Chugach Electric Association Inc.’s contract with Hilcorp set to expire on March 31, 2028.
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Chugach is a member-owned, not-for-profit electric cooperative, and we are working to diversify our generation mix. The good news for Chugach members is that we currently meet approximately 60% of our gas requirements through our two-thirds working interest ownership in the Beluga River Unit (BRU) gas field. The remaining 40% comes from our contract with Hilcorp, who is the operator and other working interest owner in the field.
We need a bridging fuel supply for the 40% of our natural gas that comes from our Hilcorp contract, and that fuel is imported liquefied natural gas. We are working with other Alaska utilities and companies to identify the best LNG solution and confidential negotiations with potential partners and suppliers are ongoing, with decisions expected soon.
With those efforts underway, Chugach is ready for the new year and the cold weather it will bring. We have the natural gas we need to serve our members, and we stand ready to work with others. You may remember earlier this year, during the January/February cold snap, two of five wells at the Cook Inlet Natural Gas Storage Alaska (CINGSA) storage facility were down, which reduced gas deliverability to local utilities. Located on the Kenai Peninsula, CINGSA is Alaska’s first and only commercial natural gas storage utility. With two wells restricted, electric utilities were asked to use less natural gas to ensure there was enough available for heating purposes. Because electric utilities have the option to supplement our thermal generation with renewable generation like hydro, solar and wind to generate electricity, we worked together to solve the short-term natural gas deliverability issue.
Additionally, we have been working on other fronts to ensure available natural gas. Chugach has co-invested in 15 new wells at BRU with Hilcorp, and five more wells are planned for 2025. We currently contract for 2.1 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of gas storage service with CINGSA and we are evaluating the feasibility of adding up to 20 Bcf of gas storage at the BRU. Efforts are being made to optimize investment in the gas field.
In October, we commissioned a 40-megawatt, two-hour Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), owned 75% by Chugach and 25% by Matanuska Electric Association Inc. The BESS is expected to reduce Chugach’s annual gas use by about 5%. Additionally, the BESS is already proving to be a useful tool by providing contingency reserves, which allows the system to respond instantly to changing grid conditions, increasing reliability and providing greater operational efficiencies.
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As the state’s largest electric utility, Chugach’s priority is providing safe, affordable and reliable power to our more than 91,000 members. The future of energy in our state will include more renewable energy, increased storage of natural gas, more battery storage, new gas from the Cook Inlet Basin, imported LNG, and potentially gas from the North Slope. We are considering all options as our focus is both short and long-term energy security. We recognize our obligation to ensure that our members and the communities we serve have reliable power both today and well into the future.
Arthur Miller is CEO of Chugach Electric Association. Mark Wiggin is the chair of Chugach’s board of directors.
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