Legislature(2009 - 2010)BARNES 124
02/10/2009 10:00 AM House FISHERIES
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Southeast Alaska Herring Management Issues | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON FISHERIES
February 10, 2009
10:09 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Bryce Edgmon, Chair
Representative Craig Johnson
Representative Wes Keller
Representative Charisse Millett
Representative Cathy Engstrom Munoz
Representative Robert L. "Bob" Buch
Representative Scott Kawasaki
MEMBERS ABSENT
All members present
OTHER LEGISLATORS PRESENT
Representative Peggy Wilson
Representative Bill Thomas
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
SOUTHEAST ALASKA HERRING MANAGEMENT ISSUES:
-KETCHIKAN HERRING ACTION COMMITTEE
-SITKA TRIBE
-ALASKA DEPARTMENT OF FISH & GAME
- HEARD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to record
WITNESS REGISTER
ANDY RAUWOLF, Representative
Ketchikan Herring Action Group
Ketchikan, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified during the hearing on Southeast
Alaska herring management issues.
THOMAS THORNTON, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Portland State University
Portland, Oregon
Senior Research Fellow
Environmental Change Institute
Oxford University
Oxford, England
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified during the hearing on Southeast
Alaska Herring management issues.
EVELYN BROWN, Ph.D.
Flying Fish Ltd.
Husum, Washington
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified during the hearing on Southeast
Alaska herring management issues.
VINCENT PATRICK, Ph.D.
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified during the hearing on Southeast
Alaska herring management issues.
MIKE MILLER, Council Member
Sitka Tribe of Alaska
Sitka, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified during the hearing on Southeast
Alaska herring management issues.
CLARENCE JACKSON, Director
Sealaska Corporation
Kake, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified during the hearing on Southeast
Alaska herring management issues.
CHIP TREINEN, Representative
Sitka Herring Association
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified during the hearing on Southeast
Alaska herring management issues.
KYLE HEBERT, Biologist
Division of Commercial Fisheries
Alaska Department of Fish & Game
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified during the hearing on Southeast
Alaska Herring management issues.
JOHN HILSINGER, Director
Division of Commercial Fisheries
Alaska Department of Fish & Game
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified during the hearing on Southeast
Alaska herring management issues.
ACTION NARRATIVE
10:09:17 AM
CHAIR BRYCE EDGMON called the House Special Committee on
Fisheries meeting to order at 10:09 a.m. Representatives
Edgmon, Munoz, Buch, Millett, Kawasaki, Johnson, and Keller were
present at the call to order. Representatives Wilson and Thomas
were also present.
^SOUTHEAST ALASKA HERRING MANAGEMENT ISSUES
10:10:26 AM
CHAIR EDGMON introduced the herring fishery topic, stating that
the fisheries management model in Alaska is regarded as one of
the best in the world because it relies on science as well as
input from the general public. He urged a constructive exchange
of information at today's hearing.
10:11:44 AM
ANDY RAUWOLF, Representative, Ketchikan Area Herring Action
Group, paraphrased from the following prepared statement
[original punctuation provided, but some formatting changes
included]:
Thank you each for allowing us the opportunity to
testify on the issue of depleted herring stocks
throughout Southeast Alaska and other parts of the
State.
This issue is of grave concern to thousands of
residents in our coastal communities. Scientists
agree that along with Washington State and British
Columbia, the entire ecosystem of Southeast Alaskan
waters is dependent on the health of local herring
stocks.
During the 1980s, many of us began to be concerned
about local stocks targeted in unregulated bait
fisheries and early sac roe fisheries that were not
recovering. Our concerns grew when the large stock in
Lynn Canal crashed in 1983 and did not recover. Later
on in the 1980s, a pilot who owned a lodge near Kah
Shakes expressed concern that what was once twenty
miles of spawning grounds along the Kah Shakes shore
was getting steadily smaller each year under pressure
from the gillnet fishery. Letters were sent to
politicians and meetings were held with ADF&G and
assurances were given that the herring stocks were
being well managed. After the crash of the historic
Kah Shakes stock in 1990, we formed an organization
called the Herring Coalition. By this time, it was
apparent to everyone that herring populations were not
recovering under ADF&G's management plan.
In 1993, we joined with the Annette Island Reserve in
a law suit in an effort to prevent the state from
targeting a herring stock that was also being targeted
by the Reserve that had moved just outside the Annette
Island boundary. This action was settled with the
Reserve when the state offered them fishing
jurisdiction over a disputed island not related to the
case. Locals could not afford to continue the lawsuit
on their own. Kah Shakes did not recover.
Since 1993, citizens not related to this fishery have
participated in advisory committees and submitted
numerous proposals to the Board of Fish in an effort
to raise the level of conservation of our herring
stocks. Although the mission of fish and game is
supposed to be to "protect, maintain, and improve the
fisheries" and the Board's main role is supposed to be
"to conserve and develop" fisheries resources,
conservative herring proposals submitted by the public
have been largely ignored. The "public participation"
that ADF&G encourages on the surface only works well
when the public involved is a commercial interest and
is in agreement with the department. The Board of
Fish has proven to be dysfunctional, with many of
board members being stakeholders in the fisheries
after being appointed by the governor following a
heavy lobbying effort financed by the industry.
Stakeholders rarely if ever vote to reduce a fishery.
The system has been broken for years. Fish and Game
has failed to achieve the third goal in its mission
statement which is to "increase public knowledge and
confidence that wild populations of fish and wildlife
are responsibly managed." In the case of herring
management, there is no public confidence unless you
are a herring fisherman. In the case of the Kah
Shakes fishery, four of the seven board members that
we were asking to adopt more conservative measures
were herring permit holders. All these measures
failed unanimously, and herring were depleted from Kah
Shakes the following year.
Our herring stocks are but a fraction of historic
levels. As a result, species that depend on them are
showing signs of stress. There are now both fewer and
smaller halibut and king salmon in recent consecutive
years, and the problem is getting progressively worse.
Fifty-three percent of the diet of halibut and sixty-
two percent of the diet of king salmon is herring
according to research by the Canadian dept. of
fisheries. Last year's winter king salmon fishery
decreased by 53 ½% over the previous year. This might
not be a cause for alarm were it not for the fact that
king salmon are now listed as endangered in
Washington, Oregon, and California. The fish from
Washington spend a large part of their life cycle
feeding in OUR waters. The herring stock in Puget
Sound has crashed. The anchovy stocks that salmon fed
on in California and Oregon were over-fished and
crashed years ago. Prior to the crash of the New
England Cod fisheries, Atlantic herring stocks
crashed. The crash of the New England Cod fisheries
put 20,000 people out of work. According to figures
recently released by the Environmental Defense Fund,
about 72,000 jobs have been lost because of dwindling
salmon stocks in the Pacific Northwest alone.
Orca whales are now listed as endangered in Puget
Sound and in southern British Columbia, and are listed
as threatened right on our doorstep in northern
British Columbia. Scientific studies show that the
problem is starvation! The main diet of Orcas is
Chinook salmon. The main diet of Chinook salmon is
herring! Scientists in Puget Sound are connecting
these dots. We need to connect the same dots if we
are going to head off a similar disaster here in
Alaskan waters.
Since the sac roe fishery began, the humpback whale
population has increased from less than 300, to about
4,000 whales migrating in just Southeast Alaska each
year due to a federal recovery program. Fish and Game
data shows that "Humpback whales in Alaska feed
principally on herring, other small fish, and schools
of krill." Each adult humpback consumes between 800
and 3,500 pounds of feed daily. Their total
consumption of feed is between 3,200,000 and
14,000,000 lbs. daily. The steady decline observed in
the herring population seems to correspond with the
increase in the humpback whale population. Did the
feds take this into consideration? We doubt it, and
neither does ADF&G.
Had ADF&G and the Board of Fish listened to the
public's concerns years ago, our fisheries resources
would be much healthier than they are today. Instead,
we are faced with the possibility of a federal take
over of our fisheries. As we speak, the National
Marine Fisheries Service is considering listing
Southeast Alaska's herring stocks as threatened or
endangered. This could be a catastrophe for our
coastal communities. As Representative Paul Seaton
said, this could affect mining, logging, and municipal
wastewater discharge standards to the detriment of our
economies at a cost of millions of dollars and a loss
of hundreds of jobs in industries already suffering
from heavy-handed environmental restrictions. This
threat is real and we cannot afford to ignore it.
In spite of all of this, the Alaska Department of Fish
and Game is planning on yet another consecutive RECORD
harvest of one of the last great herring stocks left
anywhere in the world, near Sitka Sound this spring.
The value of this fishery is less than 2% of the
overall value of combined fisheries in the state and
is providing a supplementary income for the 52 permit
holders who participate in these other fisheries.
With the prices of herring roe falling, and herring
stocks depleted throughout the world does this make
any sense?
To illustrate why this is a bad idea, and how this
problem can possibly be fixed, I yield the floor to my
colleagues [Dr. Thornton, Dr. Brown, Dr. Patrick, and
Mike Miller].
10:22:19 AM
DR. THOMAS THORNTON, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Anthropology,
Portland State University, Portland, Oregon; Senior Research
Fellow, Environmental Change Institute, Oxford University,
paraphrased from the following prepared statement [original
punctuation provided]:
I am pleased to have the opportunity to report on an
ongoing research project undertaken by me and several
colleagues (beginning in 2007, to be completed in
2009), entitled "Herring Synthesis: Documenting and
Modeling Herring Spawning Areas within Socio-
Ecological Systems over Time in the Southeastern Gulf
of Alaska." This project, funded by the North Pacific
Research Board, was conceived in response to numerous
comments and concerns I have documented about the
status of herring in Southeast Alaska during the
course of my anthropological research in the region
over the past 20 years. The aim of the project is to
better understand broad trends in the ecology of
herring in Southeast Alaska by synthesizing historical
and local sources of knowledge not widely consulted by
fisheries managers at present in order to improve our
collective understanding and management of these
precious fish stocks.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
1) Background: Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) is a
foundation and bellwether species for North Pacific
marine ecosystems but productive spawning areas (and
times) in Southeast Alaska are limited and historical
population of dynamics and ecology of the species are
not well understood.
Communities with local and traditional knowledge (LTK)
of herring fisheries claim that historical stocks were
larger and spawning areas more numerous earlier in
their lifetimes.
While shifts in stocks and spawning have been
documented since 1980, no synthesis of the deeper
archaeological, historical, and ethno-ecological
records on herring spawning areas has been carried
out.
The lack of deep historical knowledge in fisheries
management is [a] growing issue of concern. As marine
biologist Callum Roberts puts it in his recent book
The Unnatural History of the Sea (2007:xiv-xv): "A
collective amnesia surrounds changes that happened
more than a few decades ago, as hardly anyone reads
old books or reports." This in turn can lead to a
problem of "shifting environmental baselines" in
management in which "we come to accept the degraded
condition of the sea as normal. Those charged with
looking after the oceans set themselves un-ambitious
management targets that simply attempt to arrest
declines, rather than rebuild to the richer and more
productive states that existed in the past. If we are
to break out of this spiral of diminishing returns and
diminished expectations of the sea, then it is vital
that we gain a clearer picture of how things have
changed and what has been lost."
Our objective is to synthesize existing
archaeological, ethnological, historical and
biological records with data from interviews (60+)
with herring fishers with significant long-term
observations and local and traditional knowledge (LTK)
of herring populations to build a historical and
spatial database to: 1) identify the extent of
historic and prehistoric herring spawning and massing
areas; 2) link changes in herring spawn extent and
intensity to environmental and human factors in the
socio-ecological system; and 3) identify sensitive
areas for protection and potential restoration of
herring spawning.
2) Key hypotheses for the project include: 1.
Present herring stocks, even in highly productive
areas such as Sitka Sound, are essentially being
managed in a "depleted status," representing a
fraction of their historical abundance and
distribution; 2. Significant long-term impacts to
Southeast herring stocks distribution and abundance
have been anthropogenic, in particular over-
exploitation of the species by commercial herring
fisheries in the last century (e.g., for herring
reduction plants), but also disturbance,
contamination, and degradation of critical spawning
habitats; 3. Human dependence on herring as a food
resource evolved through interactions with key
spawning areas with abundant substrates for egg
deposition (such as macrocystis kelp, rockweed, and
eelgrass), with which many aboriginal settlements are
associated, and was later enhanced through the
development of engineered marinescapes (e.g.,
placement of hemlock boughs in intertidal areas),
techniques for conserving herring stocks by regulating
human harvests and disturbances to critical spawning
habitat, and by the development of new technologies
(such as the herring rake) for capturing whole herring
in quantity.
3) Preliminary results:
Our interviews have documented numerous herring
spawning areas not previously identified in state and
territorial management records (see Maps 1 & 2,
compiled by Jamie Herbert). These spawning areas are
represented by the green lines on the accompanying
draft maps. Some of these sites still may be viable
for herring spawning, and some local fishers report
having experimented with transplanting herring spawn
to historically productive areas in order to
revitalize stocks.
In addition we have been able to verify the spawning
areas identified in state and observations about the
qualities and changing status of these spawning areas
(black dots and red triangles). Most of the green
areas and many of the yellow ones are/were not major
spawning areas. (Note: not all data has been
entered/vetted in GIS)
The interviews we have analyzed to date reveal a
complex picture of herring stocks (in light of the
first two hypotheses above), with many areas of
historical spawning observed to be in decline or even
barren, but some also displaying rebounding or
cyclical trends. It is not clear to what extent
decreasing numbers of herring in one spawning area may
represent a shift to other areas.
Sitka stocks are recognized as a uniquely large and
relatively stable in producing quality spawn for
subsistence, but other smaller stocks are also highly
valued by local communities for subsistence and
personal uses as well as their foundational role in
supporting the marine ecosystem.
Integration of LTK observations and select historical
and environmental data layers in Geographic
Information Systems (GIS) mapping is being carried to
analyze potential causal factor[s] contributing to
changes in contemporary herring stocks, including
anthropogenic impacts (e.g., fishing habitat
degradation), as hypothesized, but also non-
anthropogenic ones, such as marine mammal and salmon
predation and climate change. In most communities,
multiple factors are cited as contributing to changes
in local herring stocks.
There are not estimates of herring biomass in the pre-
and early commercial fishing eras. However,
historical analysis of the fisheries conducted by
Fritz [F]unk for our project shows a long period of
more-or-less constant catch, ranging from 4,000 to
10,000 tons, from 1880 through 1918, when only one
herring reduction plant operated at Kilisnoo, near
Angoon. With intensive capitalization in the early
1920s, there followed 3 waves of "boom-and-bust",
where peak catches exceeded 40,000 tons annually. By
the 1940s, the paucity of herring during the bust
cycles attracted federal regulators, and quotas were
enacted to preserve herring for other uses (food,
bait, prey for other species). Note that the quotas
always lag the catch in the declining phase of each
cycle. Fishermen are first unable to find enough fish
to catch the quota, then the quota is lowered in the
subsequent year. There was no stock assessment
focused on abundance estimation, so quotas merely
reflected fishing experience from the prior year. The
number of operating plants peak[ed] in 1928; as the
efficiency of factory processes and vessels increased,
fewer plants, fishermen, and vessels could attain the
same production as in the earlier, more labor-
intensive era. The last plant closed in the mid
1960s. Overall fishing impacts associated with these
plants were concentrated in central Southeast Alaska,
especially South Baranof Island, Frederick Sound and
Chatham Strait.
As of January 2009, records from 228 archaeological
sites have been reviewed by colleagues Madonna Moss,
Virginia Butler, and J. Tait Elder. Only 25 of these
sites were excavated and studied using methods
appropriate for documenting small-bodied herring. Of
this sub-set, 21 (84%) contain herring bones, which
highlights the consistent use of the fish in the past.
The earliest herring remains are about 8,000
radiocarbon years old and from the Chuck Lake Site
(49-CRG-237) on Heceta Island. Most of the records
date to the last 4,000 years. Many long-standing
Native community settlements appear to be associated
with important historical herring stocks. We are
assessing patterns in herring use over time and space,
comparing them with known cultural changes in
settlement patterns, social organization, and
technology, as well as environmental forces (e.g.,
changing climate, sea-level changes).
Our project website, contains additional details on
the progress and results of our research.
4) Preliminary conclusions:
Better historical and local understanding of herring
populations and their role in marine ecosystems is
critical for assessing the long-term trends and health
of these stocks and other species that rely on them
for food. A precautionary principle toward management
may be called for until broad-based historical-
ecological studies assess the overall health and
trends of herring stocks in southeast Alaska and
adjacent waters.
Our research in the communities of Angoon, Craig,
Hoonah, Juneau, Kake, Ketchikan-Saxman, Klawock, and
Sitka is not comprehensive for the region, but
indicates the value of local and traditional
knowledge, combined with broader historical ecological
enquiry, for assessing key herring impacts,
relationships, and trends over time. Our data show
that many herring spawning areas have declined
resulting in increasing fragmentation and
vulnerability of remaining stocks.
Herring have shown vulnerability and resilience since
the advent of commercial exploitation more than a
century ago; however, many local residents in
communities with historically significant stocks are
concerned about their present status. They are acting
in their own ways to conserve them, including
"reseeding" historical spawning areas. However, a
broader, ecosystem-level strategy is needed to balance
herring stocks.
10:35:21 AM
EVELYN BROWN, Ph.D., Flying Fish Ltd., said she spent over 10
years with the Alaska Department of Fish & Game (ADF&G), with
much of her latter years in Prince William Sound as a herring
biologist. She was the principle investigator for damage
assessment studies on herring after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil
spill. She subsequently received her Ph.D. from the University
of Alaska Fairbanks. Her Ph.D. dissertation was entitled,
"Stock Structure and Environmental Effects on Year Class
Formation and Population Trends of Pacific Herring in Prince
William Sound, Alaska".
DR. BROWN reported that in the early 1900s, [the Southeast
Alaska] herring complex was huge and harvests were massive at
over 100,000 tons [slide 2 of her PowerPoint presentation].
Fishermen often reported huge juvenile schools in bays and
passes and the locations of these juvenile schools were used as
harbingers for where to fish the next year, she related.
Historically, herring harvest occurred all down the coast of
Baranof Island, up into [Sitka Sound], and all the way over to
Ketchikan. She stressed that it was a complex of herring, not
bunches of little populations.
DR. BROWN explained that during this time, marine mammals were
way down from commercial whaling. Sea birds, seals, and eagles
were hunted and there were massive harvests of salmon. This
cleaning out of herring predators may have allowed the stock to
grow this large, she said. In addition, the Japanese and
Koreans were fishing with 10-mile-long gill nets, catching tons
of juvenile sharks that preyed on salmon and herring. The
removal of predator species simplified the dynamics that
controlled herring and man became the main predator and removal
source for juvenile and adult herring during those days. By
World War II, herring populations were reduced and the herring
industry and markets began to collapse.
DR. BROWN noted that when the roe markets were developed in the
1970s, the herring population was at low levels and an order of
magnitude smaller than what it was earlier in the century. The
ADF&G stock assessment and monitoring began in earnest in the
late 1970s, she related. Thus, the frame of reference used
today in management does not include the early years - today's
measuring stick began with a depleted stock.
10:39:53 AM
DR. BROWN, in response to Chair Edgmon, explained that the frame
of reference is from the historic fisheries at the turn of the
century, the traditional knowledge from the late 1800s and the
early 1900s when the reduction years started. She said the
point she is making is that ADF&G's frame of reference starts in
the 1970s with a depleted stock.
DR. BROWN continued with her presentation, pointed out that
today's setting is much more complex [slide 3]. The herring
population is a fraction of what it was and many of the
localized spawning areas have disappeared, she said. This is
called stock contraction. Marine mammal, sea bird, and shark
populations have recovered, and along with enhanced salmon
production there is an order of magnitude higher predation
pressure on the herring stocks than there was at the turn of the
century, and especially since the 1980s. Humans must now share
the herring harvest with this host of other predator species.
Humpbacks have recently been observed feeding on juvenile
herring, she added, which is a change from adult herring.
DR. BROWN said climate change adds yet another twist. It will
affect herring from the bottom up because it changes ocean
conditions and plankton production, and it will affect herring
from the top down with new predators moving into Alaska waters,
such as tuna and whiting. Climate change will also affect
herring from within because the changed ocean conditions put
stress on the fish and diseases occur, which is already being
seen in Prince William Sound, Puget Sound, and British Columbia.
DR. BROWN contended that grassroots management within the Alaska
Department of Fish & Game has been systematically gutted with
less money for assessments and research. The department has
been forced to rely more and more on model outputs and these
models are often based on a single population level index. The
department is not equipped to adapt to the complex system
dynamics and is instead forced to modify basic herring biology,
such as the maturation rate, to make the data fit the expected
shape of the model. Forecasted populations can be easily
manipulated by using different indices and different maturity
schedules, and by changing fecundity rates and mortality rates.
However, fecundity has been measured only four times since the
1970s, she said, and mortality is never measured despite being
an important piece of the model.
10:43:12 AM
DR. BROWN, in response to Chair Edgmon, defined fecundity as the
number of eggs produced by a female, generally expressed as eggs
per gram. This is important because the number of eggs counted
during spawn deposition surveys is used to say how many herring
produced those eggs. Yet, this is measured only rarely, she
reiterated. The rate changes and it can change on the scale of
10 or 20 percent. Mortality is never measured, so modeling is
being done without validation, which is irresponsible, she said.
DR. BROWN related that Dr. Vincent Patrick conducted an analysis
which found that a different population number can result by
using different indices in the same ADF&G model. Dr. Vincent
came up with a lower number, but the number being used by ADF&G
is the higher number. She further related that work she and Dr.
Patrick have done has shown that the herring population occurs
in two stable states - low or high - and not anything in
between. There are dynamics that keep the population at one
level or the other. She predicted that Sitka is about ready to
be pushed to the low and like Prince William Sound it will take
years and years for the population to come back. She said that
she and Dr. Patrick feel that ADF&G's high number is very
dangerous and the Southeast population is at extremely high risk
for a collapse. Given the current predation pressure which
includes the commercial harvest, the predation dynamics will
keep the stock trapped at low density once it collapses. She
added that she and Dr. Patrick also believe the fishery can
change the herring distribution and affect spawning behavior.
10:44:50 AM
REPRESENTATIVE THOMAS asked how Dr. Brown can say that Sitka
Sound's herring population will go down like it has in Prince
William Sound when there has been no oil spill in Sitka Sound.
DR. BROWN replied that before the oil spill and just afterwards,
the dynamics in Prince William and Sitka Sound operated
similarly. The age structures are often similar when the two
areas recruit together, she explained, and the bounds within
which the two population go high and low are very similar.
There are no other two populations in the entire state that
appear to cohere together. The spill knocked Prince William
Sound down, but the experts say the oil impact is gone. So, the
key question is, "Why is the stock still low in Prince William
Sound?" There has been no successful recruitment in Prince
William Sound since 1992. She said her point is that if Sitka
Sound goes down, it will probably stay down.
10:46:16 AM
REPRESENTATIVE THOMAS noted that his district includes Prince
William Sound and his constituents would probably argue with the
statement that the oil is no longer there.
DR. BROWN responded that she was the injury person on herring
and her studies were closed down in 1993 because the only impact
being seen was on reproduction. There were political issues
involved as well, she added.
REPRESENTATIVE THOMAS said he would like to know what those
political issues were. After 20 years, sample bottles are still
coming back with oil in them, he reported.
DR. BROWN answered that she and Dr. Vince Patrick have worked
hard trying to show how the long-term damage affected the
herring in Prince William Sound. However, they got nowhere
because the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) kept saying
the oil was not there.
10:47:42 AM
REPRESENTATIVE THOMAS still questioned the oil spill disaster in
Prince William Sound could be compared with Sitka Sound.
DR. BROWN agreed, but said comparison can be made to other
populations of herring that declined. For example, in the Gulf
of Maine it took 25 years to get recruitment back. She
explained that the predator-prey dynamic is that the herring
must replace themselves at a greater rate than they are predated
upon. In order to have successful year classes the herring must
swamp the predators. But, if the herring are down at low
levels, they cannot break out of that. This predator-prey
dynamic applies to all species, not just herring. Barring the
oil spill, she said the only reason she brought up Prince
William Sound is because those two populations can be used as
measuring sticks against each other because they are so similar.
In further response, she clarified that she is talking about
similarities between the two prior to the oil spill. Because
the stocks were coherent, scientists know that there are forcing
mechanisms, such as climate, that are similar for both systems.
This similarity can therefore be used to study how the oil spill
affected the dynamics of Prince William Sound.
10:50:16 AM
DR. BROWN returned to her presentation and reviewed what
Southeast Alaska would look like without herring [slide 4]. She
said the impacts of a collapsed stock would extend beyond the
direct impacts on commercial and subsistence herring
stakeholders. These impacts would include lower average salmon
sizes, which is already happening, and ultimately decreased
marine survival, as well as reduced size of halibut and other
herring fish predators. At-risk marine mammal populations would
be created. The sport charter industry and wildlife watching
tourism would be impacted. Jeopardy for marine mammals and
subsistence harvest could result in a federal take-over [of
fisheries] and research, she warned. The niches once occupied
by herring would open up to non-commercial species like sand
lance and juvenile pollock, thus changing the community
structure. Herring populations would remain low for years to
come due to the "trap" dynamics. The state would have huge
expenditures due to environmental impact studies and response to
lawsuits. The bottom line is increased economic hardships on
local communities and zero income to the state, she said.
10:52:30 AM
DR. BROWN moved to slide 5 and identified the key questions and
data needs that she thinks should be looked at: herring stock
structure; effects of scale of fishery and predation on herring
distribution and spawning behavior; herring recruitment; and
modeling. Modeling is something that ADF&G can work on, she
said. However, stock structure is something that has never been
done. "Every other herring population in the world has a stock
model," she pointed out. "Why doesn't Alaska?" Every other
managed population of herring has spatial stock conservation in
order to conserve the diversity of spawning area, but not
Alaska. She said a main research question is whether the
spawning distribution of the herring is being altered because
the scale of fishing and whale feeding is now approaching the
same scale as the herring population.
10:54:01 AM
DR. BROWN recommended a reduction in quota for this next year as
one thing that could be done under a short-term action plan to
help fix the problem [slide 6]. There should be a workshop to
discuss the issues because there have been problems with
accessing [ADF&G's] data. There needs to be a bigger research
budget for ADF&G so the department can deal with the complexity.
She offered her opinion that ADF&G needs to be re-organized to
make things happen.
DR. BROWN said a long-term action plan would include changing
ADF&G's position from adversarial to cooperative, where the
department works with local people and groups [slide 7]. The
transparency of ADF&G's data sharing could be improved and made
similar to what is done in Canada. The missions of ADF&G and
the Board of Fisheries should be returned to conservation and
away from harvest maximization, she said. There should be
conservation of local spawning areas as is done in every other
management plan in the world. A co-management structure could
be established using Canadian models. "Everybody seems to spend
all their money defending themselves right now, and it's not
productive," she said. Once the stock is recovered, research
quotas from the fishery can be used to pay for the assessment
programs so that the research is free to the state government.
10:55:11 AM
REPRESENTATIVE MUNOZ asked how many sac roe and gillnet permits
for herring are working in the Sitka Sound fishery.
DR. BROWN answered that there are 51 sac roe permits.
10:56:27 AM
REPRESENTATIVE THOMAS inquired which entities would be involved
in co-management.
DR. BROWN replied that in Canada the fate of the herring
fisheries is decided by a committee comprised of stakeholders,
such as herring fishermen, subsistence users, environmental
groups, and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the Canadian
equivalent of ADF&G. This arrangement gives socio-economics a
voice, she said. For example, one year the fish were small and
the price low, so the committee decided not to fish and instead
banked the fish for the next year. This is something that could
not have been done by ADF&G, she added.
10:57:25 AM
REPRESENTATIVE THOMAS commented that assessing [a research fee]
on the sport charter fleet, as suggested on slide 7 of Dr.
Brown's presentation, would be next to impossible.
DR. BROWN responded that to fish in Alaska she must buy a
license. Where does this money go, she asked.
REPRESENTATIVE THOMAS countered that assessing the sport fleet
itself will never happen.
10:58:04 AM
REPRESENTATIVE MUNOZ asked what the effect has been on herring
biomass in Sitka Sound since measurement began in the 1970s.
DR. BROWN noted that she has graphs she can show later on, but
the biomass has vacillated between the two states of low and
high. At the moment, the biomass is high. This has been
determined by the spawn deposition as well as by flying.
However, there is an increasing space between those indices, she
said. No one actually goes out there with acoustics to measure
the stock size, so there are real problems with the assessment.
10:59:17 AM
VINCENT PATRICK, Ph.D. began by noting that he has worked on
fisheries issues since the 1990s, beginning with the Prince
William Sound Science Center. He helped start the Prince
William Sound Fisheries Research Applications and Planning, a
loose coalition that worked to bring some of the research that
was done on the spill to applications to the fisheries. Most
recently he has been working in Southeast Alaska with Dr. Brown
and Mr. Rauwolf.
DR. PATRICK directed his discussion away from Sitka Sound and
back to the larger Southeast Alaska issue. Today's issue is not
new, he said. It is part of Alaska's history and success story
and it was pre-statehood. Statehood was all about fisheries and
their recovery. He recited the following from Governor Egan's
first statement to the First Alaska State Legislature in January
1960:
On January 1 of this year, Alaska Department of Fish &
Game was handed the depleted remnants of what was once
a rich and prolific fishery. On these ruins of a once
great resource, the department must rebuild. Our gain
is that we can profit by studying the destructive
practices, mistakes, and omissions of the past. In
studying the history of the declines of the salmon
runs, the actual reasons are often found to be changes
in the environment of the salmon due to natural and
unnatural manmade conditions. By profiting from the
mistakes of the past, by cooperation of all parties,
it should be possible to have new industries and still
maintain our fisheries.
DR. PATRICK specified that the key part of rebuilding the salmon
fisheries was optimal escapement management - a perspective on
the early life cycle of salmon that went into the management
strategy. He said it is legendary that [former ADF&G
commissioner], Wally Noerenberg, personally walked the streams
in Prince William Sound to map out the habitat needed for
optimal escapement. Who is our Egan today and who is our Wally
Noerenberg today for herring, asked Dr. Patrick.
DR. PATRICK stressed that the herring resource was stronger at
statehood, and even during the period of the reduction fishery,
than it is today. The legacy of statehood for herring has not
been fulfilled like it was for salmon, he continued, and the
same type of reconstruction mindset is needed today to restore
the herring stock. This is not about whose quota is going to be
cut back, he stressed, but about rebuilding the herring stock to
what it was historically.
DR. PATRICK further specified that despite the many best efforts
for salmon in the 1960s, something else was needed in management
because the salmon stocks went down again in the 1970s. Thus
began salmon hatcheries. It took a special push to get the
hatcheries off the ground, and that was done by Governor Jay
Hammond with the [Private Non-Profit Hatchery Act of 1974]. A
Jay Hammond is needed for herring recovery today, he opined.
The sustainable side of salmon must now be addressed. The
salmon is the veneer, and the under-structure is what the salmon
feed on.
DR. PATRICK noted that in addition to salmon recovery, the
[Private Non-Profit Hatchery Act] brought historical precedents
that are relevant to today - regional associations, private non-
profit hatcheries, the Fisheries Rehabilitation and Enhancement
Division (FRED) within the ADF&G, and regional planning teams.
These precedents are also applicable to kicking off a herring
recovery, and it is time to look at this as a recovery problem.
The target and the roadmap of what that recovery would look like
were provided by Dr. Thornton, he said. Contemporary modifiers
are needed - it is not just looking back at history because
changes have occurred, such as marine mammal populations and
climate. The tools for recovery are at hand and include the
history since statehood, the science and technology since
statehood, a strong Alaska Department of Fish & Game, grassroots
organizations, and the sac roe fishermen.
DR. PATRICK said the reason for coming before the committee, and
not the Alaska Board of Fisheries or the Alaska Department of
Fish & Game, is because a new Governor Egan or Hammond is needed
to bring herring recovery forward. He said he is happy that
legislation is currently being drafted that would help provide
for herring recovery. The issue at hand is more than just the
fishery, he emphasized. It is food security. The issue is also
the survival of Alaska's communities. A generation ago these
fisheries were the underpinning of survival in Alaska
communities, but not today.
11:10:26 AM
MIKE MILLER, Council Member, Sitka Tribe of Alaska, said that a
dire situation is occurring in Sitka. This subsistence issue is
also occurring across Alaska because the herring roe, collected
on branches, finds its way around the state. He noted that he
is a subsistence herring egg harvester with the Sitka tribe and
that in three out of the last four years, subsistence harvesters
took roughly 60 percent of the amount recognized by the state as
minimally successful. These recent harvests are about 20
percent of the 2004 harvest, he reported. A concern exists that
Sitka may be "the canary in the coal mine" regarding subsistence
needs. If subsistence needs are not being met, then the
question of why needs to be answered.
MR. MILLER related that various perceptions exist around the
state and some people do not believe there is a herring problem
and do not understand what subsistence is. This is also an
economic concern for Sitka's tribal households because the most
often reported income is $12,500, he said. It is not a matter
of getting jobs to augment or replace subsistence needs by going
to the store to buy Wonder Bread. There is the cultural
importance of subsistence. The state's perception of the
herring issue is different than the tribe's. The tribe believes
it is definitely a crisis mode - this is not just one year of
failure, it is three out of the last four. Yet, he related, at
the most recent regional advisory council meeting, the state's
only comment was that there is no new information. To
subsistence users, this is a scary thing to hear after another
complete failure of the harvest. Therefore, the tribe is
concerned about the state's perception of what is going on and
whether anyone is listening to the tribe's wisdom.
MR. MILLER posed the question, "Who should you listen to in
defining if there is a problem with subsistence?" He suggested
listening to the subsistence users coming before the legislature
at great expense to make their case. The system is failing
subsistence users, he said, and Sitka is just one example. The
Sitka tribe has not only had to convey that there is a
subsistence issue, but it has also had to prove that the problem
is real. It has had to conduct herring research and find
solutions on its own. The tribe has been asked to prove that
any solutions it offers will absolutely work and will not
negatively impact commercial fisheries. The Sitka Tribe has
spent in excess of $1 million on herring issues to protect
herring subsistence, of which $75,000 was spent to help ADF&G
conduct surveys. The tribe is asking for the legislature's
assistance in fixing this serious issue. Progress has not been
made and the burden to prove the need remains unheard.
11:17:44 AM
MR. MILLER addressed what happens when subsistence opportunities
are prevented. Food is an essential part of both Native and
non-Native culture in the rural communities, he pointed out.
The whole social structure is compromised when subsistence
harvest is reduced. Daily life, physical health, and mental
health of the people are negatively affected, and addressing
these subsequent problems results in expense to the state.
MR. MILLER said a solution has not been discovered, and that is
why the tribe is asking the legislature to delegate authority to
the Alaska Department of Fish & Game for the tribe to provide
some direction on how to progress. At present, the system is
failing. The department is failing to protect the herring egg
harvest in Sitka, which means the legislative body is also
failing to protect subsistence opportunity. He allowed that he
and other subsistence representatives are failing as well to
protect subsistence opportunities.
MR. MILLER, in response to Representative Buch, explained that
the primary method for subsistence herring egg harvest in Sitka
is thousands of years old and occurs in the exact same places in
Sitka Sound. Small hemlock trees are felled and the branches
are anchored by rocks in the intertidal areas where they then
receive the herring spawn. In response to several more
questions, Mr. Miller said people used to walk out at low tide
to put out the branches, but now boats must be used and this is
limited to mostly small skiffs that can be brought ashore for
collecting the branches. He said he thinks that during last
year's harvest in March 2008, the price for boat fuel was about
$4 per gallon for gas and in the mid-$3 range for diesel. The
harvest occurs in a very short window around the end of March,
he added.
11:23:06 AM
REPRESENTATIVE THOMAS inquired whether a complete shut down as
recommended by some scientists would include the subsistence
harvest.
MR. MILLER answered that the tribe would not support closure of
the subsistence fishery. The amount of eggs gathered on the
branches is very minimal in the equivalent amount of tons of
fish. Even in the highest years the equivalent of fish is less
than 500 tons, he said. So, the tribe believes the subsistence
harvest has minimal impact.
11:24:14 AM
REPRESENTATIVE THOMAS understood that theft of subsistence
branches is now a problem. He commented that in the three years
he has been on the House Finance Committee's Fish & Game
Subcommittee, no funding has been requested for herring research
in Southeast Alaska. He said the subcommittee has never opposed
enhancement projects and development. He urged that funding
requests be submitted through ADF&G so the legislature can work
with the tribe and others.
MR. MILLER agreed that theft of branches does occur and is
getting worse as people have more and more difficulty meeting
their basic needs. He noted that funding is an issue and that
the tribe will be coming to the subcommittee in this regard. It
is one of the reasons for being here as well, he added. He
explained that the tribe has tried to work with ADF&G
extensively since 2002 and has a Memorandum of Understanding
(MOU) with the department. The tribe has been telling the
department that there is a problem. He said he begged the
department in 2006 to provide some solution that he could take
back to the community, but no relief was received from the Board
of Fisheries. Therefore, the reason for being here today is to
promote working together on this.
11:27:23 AM
REPRESENTATIVE THOMAS acknowledged that continuity is lost when
administrations and division directors change. He urged the
tribe to come to the legislature with a funding proposal and to
follow up with the director of the Division of Commercial
Fisheries. He also urged the tribe to meet with the director of
the Division of Subsistence because that budget will soon be
coming before the subcommittee.
MR. MILLER responded that no progress toward a solution has been
made by the bickering back and forth that has occurred. The
tribe is encouraging change in how these issues are addressed.
The tribe was told by the Department of Law that the MOU was a
good document, but that it lacked the teeth necessary to make it
work. He said he presumes this would be the same situation with
the Division of Subsistence and that he hopes the Division of
Subsistence can get dedicated funding and the ability to enforce
subsistence priority. He urged the legislature to help promote
this.
11:30:08 AM
CLARENCE JACKSON, Director, Sealaska Corporation, noted that he
has been a herring egg collector since the 1960s. He recalled
his childhood summers fishing on board his grandparents' boat
beginning in 1938 when the herring stocks stretched from shore
to shore in Chatham Strait, from the northern tip of Kuiu Island
all the way to Baranof Island. It seemed like the water was
boiling with herring and the herring boats cleaned up as fast as
they could. Of course, the herring disappeared during his time
as a youth, he said. During the 1960s he opposed a bait fishery
that was proposed for the Kake area because that herring spawn
took care of the people in Kake. But an opening was held one
winter and since about 1965 there has not been another herring
spawn. He said he began transplanting herring eggs when he
started hauling eggs to give away, and now there are little
spawns.
MR. JACKSON explained that he sends boxes of herring eggs, a
prized food of his people, all over the country. He does not do
this for pay, but to help the people who have lived off this
food. He said he used to send anywhere from 100 to 160 boxes of
eggs, but because the herring stock has gone so low he had to
reduce the number of boxes to 40 two years ago, as well as
reduce the weight of each box from 55 pounds to 30 pounds He
said even this amount is a struggle to come by and it seems to
him that the stock is having a problem. Instead of herring
boiling the water as far as the eye can see, he now has to
travel a long way to find a patch of herring. Before the people
of Kake had power boats, they would move to Port Houghton to put
up herring eggs, he related. Further, his great-grandfather
used to say that food is money and when there is food put up
there is no problem. This is still true today, he stressed.
MR. JACKSON maintained that the solution is not to study this
situation to death. The solution is to start taking steps to
preserve the stock, to protect the herring that is there.
Despite his 35 years of transplanting 500 pounds of herring roe
annually, there is still not millions of herring in Kake. While
herring are coming back to Kake, the numbers are so small that a
spawn is hardly ever seen. This is of concern because the Kake
people are not going to give up something that is in their
culture, he said. While he is not necessarily opposed to
studies, Mr. Jackson said he is worried that studies will be
used to keep extending the status quo. The herring need to
"boil" in the water again, he declared.
11:42:09 AM
CHIP TREINEN, Representative, Sitka Herring Association, first
noted that he is a sac roe seine permit holder, so he has a
vested interest in this fishery. He reported that there are now
50 sac roe permit holders because one was eliminated. He
explained that the permits are for all of Southeast Alaska, not
just Sitka Sound, but the fishing has occurred in Sitka Sound in
recent years because the other stocks have been depressed.
Previous sac roe fisheries took place in Lynn and Behm canals,
but these stocks have not been fished for many years because
they have not been above the threshold limit. Thus, the
commercial fishermen cannot be blamed for any problem with the
stocks not coming back, he opined. Even so, commercial
fishermen are often the scapegoat for there being no herring in
a given area. Two-thirds of the permit holders are Alaskan
residents, and a little less than half of them live in
Southeast, he related. There are also some small bait fisheries
that occur on various stocks around the state. Those are stocks
that can handle the harvest without jeopardy to the health of
the stock.
MR. TREINEN pointed out that the Sitka fishery began in the
1970s in response to the development of the Japanese market.
The herring are caught in the spring for their roe, he said.
Prior fisheries were for reduction and industrial-type
activities, and the amount of herring taken in those fisheries
was an order of magnitude greater. However, at this point, the
guideline harvest level in Sitka will be about 15,000 tons, as
compared to the historical harvests of 100,000 tons. This
15,000 tons is based on ADF&G assessments that indicate there is
a large biomass available.
MR. TREINEN said the first-wholesale value of the Alaska
fishery, based on a box-frozen price, is about $23 million.
About one-third of that is the ex-vessel price to the fishermen,
which is split between the vessel owners, crews, permit holders,
pilots, and others assisting in the fishery. The remainder of
that value goes to processors, taxes, transportation, storage,
and fuel, and these are the things that drive the economic mix
of those Alaskan communities. If the fishery is eliminated, the
income will be lost. He said he thinks that to justify the
ADF&G expenditure there needs to be some commercial activity,
otherwise it becomes difficult to get funding to study those
fish.
MR. TREINEN noted that commercial herring fishermen have
specialized equipment - sonar, sounders, aerial support - that
help to assess the stocks. The fishermen therefore have
information that others would not normally be able to get.
Herring are notoriously difficult to predict and may move to new
spawning grounds, he said, but this does not mean there is no
longer any herring.
11:49:03 AM
MR. TREINEN said it is unclear as to why the Lynn Canal stock
has not recovered; however, whale populations in that area have
increased substantially. He related that herring fishermen
engaged in other Lynn Canal fisheries have reported substantial
herring biomasses. He offered his opinion that there are
herring around, but the assessment program is inadequate to
observe all of the herring stocks. The Sitka stocks are
prospering under ADF&G management, he maintained. A high
guideline harvest level is anticipated for the March 2009
season.
11:51:12 AM
CHAIR EDGMON surmised that Mr. Treinen is speaking from the
perspective of the Sitka sac roe fishery while the previous
testimony has been about all of Southeast Alaska.
MR. TREINEN replied that he was discussing the Lynn Canal
stocks. He added that the fleet respects the subsistence users
and has worked hard to assist them. The fleet often hears that
subsistence users want something done, but it cannot figure out
what the subsistence users want outside of destroying the
fleet's opportunities to harvest the herring stocks that are
available according to ADF&G.
11:52:09 AM
KYLE HEBERT, Biologist, Division of Commercial Fisheries, Alaska
Department of Fish & Game (ADF&G), condensed a 16-page overview
of the commercial herring program overseen by the department.
He began with a map showing the primary herring stocks in
Southeast Alaska [slide 3]. The red triangles depict the main
stocks actively monitored by the department each year and
generally indicate areas of commercial harvest, he explained.
Enough information is collected in these areas to estimate
population abundance. The black circles indicate areas that
have had smaller-scale fisheries or small amounts of spawn in
the past, and the department does not collect much information
on those. He pointed out that Annette Island is depicted on the
map because it is a significant spawning area; however, Annette
Island is not within the state's management authority and the
department receives minimal information on that stock.
MR. HEBERT displayed a graph of the herring harvests over the
past century [slide 4]. In the early years of the fishery,
which was mainly a reduction fishery, the management was fairly
passive and the harvests were high. Over the past couple of
decades [1980-2007], management has become more active and the
Board of Fisheries has established a management plan and has set
target harvest levels which are believed to be sustainable.
During this period of time the harvest levels have increased
because the population size has increased.
11:55:40 AM
MR. HEBERT reviewed the Southeast Alaska herring harvest by
fishery from 1980-2007 [slide 5]. Several fisheries have
developed over the past couple of decades, he explained. These
include a herring sac roe fishery with both purse seine and gill
net gear types, a bait fishery primarily by purse seine, and a
spawn-on-kelp fishery. The Sitka Sound sac roe fishery has been
the dominant fishery; however, in recent years the spawn-on-kelp
fishery has become a significant herring fishery. He displayed
a graph depicting the ex-vessel values of the entire Southeast
Alaska herring fishery from 1978-2008, and noted that the 2008
value was a record high of nearly $18 million [slide 6].
11:56:46 AM
MR. HEBERT discussed the herring management plan adopted by the
Board of Fisheries for Southeast Alaska, which has been in
regulation since 1994 [slide 7]. He reviewed four of the six
actions that the department is required to take under the plan:
1) identify and manage herring stocks based on spawning
locations, 2) establish minimum spawning biomass thresholds
below which fishing will not occur, 3) assess the biomass for
each stock prior to commercial fisheries, and 4) set a harvest
rate that is between 10 percent and 20 percent when the stocks
are above the threshold.
MR. HEBERT explained that the thresholds are a main element of
the management plan [slide 8]. No commercial harvest will be
allowed in an area where the forecast is below the threshold, he
said. Thresholds have two primary goals: 1) maintain adequate
spawning populations that are buffered against possible
recruitment failure, and 2) maintain adequate herring population
levels for the many predator species.
11:59:00 AM
CHAIR EDGMON summarized the information provided by the day's
speakers: Mr. Rauwolf said the state's harvest formula is
outdated, especially given the dramatic increase in humpback
whales; Dr. Thornton pointed out that ADF&G does not use
historical and traditional knowledge in its considerations; Dr.
Brown noted that predator-prey dynamics are overwhelming the
fishery, there is a lack of transparency from ADF&G, the
department needs a bigger budget and re-organization, and there
needs to be a return to conservation and away from harvest; Dr.
Patrick said a Jay Hammond is needed to bring the herring back
like what was done with salmon; Mr. Miller stressed that this is
the canary in the coal mine, the subsistence fisheries were a
failure these last 4 years, there is no new information from the
state, and the MOU with the state has no teeth; Mr. Jackson
explained why studies worry him; and Mr. Treinen maintained that
there is no overfishing of this very valuable fishery and that
the commercial fishermen do not want to be the scapegoat. Chair
Edgmon asked that ADF&G respond to this testimony.
12:00:31 PM
JOHN HILSINGER, Director, Division of Commercial Fisheries,
replied that the department does take this extremely seriously.
It spends all the resources it can muster to monitor and manage
the herring fisheries, he said. There is an extensive public
process through the Board of Fisheries and there are numerous
advisory committees in Southeast Alaska. The management is
pretty conservative with harvest rates between 10 and 20 percent
depending on the stock status. In addition, the thresholds are
set fairly conservatively. For example, in the Sitka Sound
fishery, the actual calculation of the threshold would be about
16,000 tons, but to be conservative the Board of Fisheries
increased that to 20,000 tons. He acknowledged that changes in
the environment have been noted, but it is unknown whether this
is part of overall global climate change or more localized
changes. The department has noticed that the herring are
spawning in different areas than they have historically and this
has been clearly seen in the Sitka Sound fishery. Management is
being adapted to meet the changes, he said. The department is
cognizant of the subsistence fishery and the state priority to
provide reasonable subsistence opportunity. Further, ADF&G does
seriously consider the need to communicate with all the user
groups, both commercial and subsistence.
12:03:30 PM
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON commented that he is looking forward to
Dr. Thornton's report because he finds the concept of managing
fish and game based on archeology, anthropology, and second-hand
stories an interesting approach. He said he does not see how
this type of science will translate into how to manage today's
problems at the Board of Fisheries meeting next month.
12:04:14 PM
REPRESENTATIVE MUNOZ requested that the Alaska Department of
Fish & Game address the comment that was made regarding the
herring decline in Prince William Sound being a harbinger of
what could happen in Sitka Sound.
MR. HILSINGER said the department will do that.
12:05:00 PM
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Special Committee on Fisheries meeting was adjourned at 12:05
p.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| BoardProposalsWithSignatures.PDF |
HFSH 2/10/2009 10:00:00 AM |
|
| Dr.EvelynBrownPresentation.PDF |
HFSH 2/10/2009 10:00:00 AM |
|
| SE AK Herring Fisheries--ADF&G Report to Leg.pdf |
HFSH 2/10/2009 10:00:00 AM |
|
| KtchHerringActionCommitteeRauwofTestimony.pdf |
HFSH 2/10/2009 10:00:00 AM |
|
| LettersAndStatements--1993-2008-2009.PDF |
HFSH 2/10/2009 10:00:00 AM |
|
| Dr.ThorntonTestimony.pdf |
HFSH 2/10/2009 10:00:00 AM |