ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The Alaska Army National Guard’s 208th Construction Management Team held a change of command and deployment ceremony on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson Nov. 14.

The unit will deploy seven Soldiers in December to support the Department of Defense’s Central Command in Kuwait and will be responsible for various large-scale construction projects. These technical experts will oversee the construction of buildings, roads and other key infrastructure across CENTCOM’s area of responsibility.

This fourth AKARNG deployment this year highlights the Guard’s role in the federal mission here and around the globe, aiding in domestic border security, troop movement across the Middle East, construction management and security operations.

Sgt. Lester Tuazon, a horizontal construction engineer assigned to surveying and materials testing, said he was excited to help with construction projects abroad. He honed his skills this year when the 208th CMT worked in Cordova, Alaska, as part of Innovative Readiness Training.

The IRT mission provides real-world training for service members and units to prepare them for their wartime missions while supporting the needs of America’s underserved communities. In Cordova, the unit assisted in a new road project to support access to the Shepard Point Marine Tribal Transportation Oil Spill and Marine Casualty Response Facility.

“I’m looking forward to deploying, seeing a new culture and doing my job,“ Tuazon said. “I love being a surveyor. It’s kind of like hiking with a giant stick that helps you map out the land. You get to come in before all the chaos of moving dirt and acquire information about the land before everything else happens.”

Despite the small size of the unit, the 208th CMT will bring a wealth of experience to its foreign partners and allies.

Sgt. 1st Class Corina Barrera, an AKARNG member since 2013, hails from a legacy of construction in her family. Her father owned a construction company when she was growing up, and her mother was part of the operator’s union. Both parents instilled a love for working with equipment and problem-solving at a young age.

Today, Barrera works as a heavy equipment operator in her full-time civilian job and has spent the past two winters working in Antarctica. She has worked in construction on six continents and has deployed to Romania and Poland with the Guard. This will be her first Guard deployment in an engineering capacity.

“One thing I love about traveling to other countries is they have a unique way of doing things that I always learn from,” Barerra said. “I’ve spent a lot of time moving dirt as an equipment operator, but this deployment will give me a chance to see these projects with a big-picture perspective.”

Capt. Trey Caram, who assumed command of the 208th CMT from Capt. Joshua Wangeman during the ceremony, will lead the unit on its deployment.

“I’m excited about seeing all the cool things we’re able to do over there and executing what we’re trained for,” Caram said.

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A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit that sought to overturn new halibut bycatch limits on deep-sea trawlers that fish in federal waters off Alaska.

The lawsuit was filed by Groundfish Forum Inc., a Seattle-based trawl trade group, after the North Pacific Fishery Management Council passed a rule that reduces halibut bycatch limits for many trawlers when there are fewer halibut in Alaska waters.

The National Marine Fisheries Service, in charge of implementing the rule, moved to dismiss the lawsuit, and U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason ruled in favor of the agency on Nov. 8. Undercurrent News, a trade publication, first reported on the ruling.

The lawsuit has been a major issue in fishing communities across the Gulf of Alaska. Some of those communities joined the federal government in defense, as did various fishing and conservation organizations.

U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, and Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, filed a friend-of-the-court brief in favor of the defense, saying that they believe the federal government appropriately implemented fisheries law.

“The (North Pacific) Council has followed the processes and done the work that Congress intended,” they wrote.

The state of Alaska also filed a brief in support of the defense, calling the rule “a well-considered decision rooted in the principles of sustainability, equity and fairness among competing users and long-term conservation.”

At the core of the lawsuit was an argument about whether bycatch — fish caught while pursuing a different target species — amount to an allocation of fishing privileges, akin to the way some fishers are subject to an annual catch quota while pursuing a specific species.

The plaintiffs argued that bycatch restrictions should be considered an allocation issue. That position was opposed by attorneys representing the federal government.

Under current rules, setting allocations is a longer and more intricate process than setting bycatch rules.

Ruling in the forum’s favor “would make it more difficult for NMFS to be able to issue rules that would prevent overfishing, and it would make it more difficult for NMFS to issue rules that would minimize bycatch, especially rules that would be able to do so in an expeditious way,” attorney Erika Furlong, representing NMFS, told Gleason in an October court hearing.

Gleason declined to rule on the core question but said that the rulemaking process was “fair and equitable” and “reasonably calculated to promote conservation,” whether or not it was an allocation of fishing privileges.

Gleason also ruled against the plaintiffs’ claims that the rule violated the National Environmental Policy Act and the Administrative Procedures Act.