SEAGO Monthly Newsletter
February 9, 2010

SEAGO’s primary focus in January has been on critical halibut issues, Pacific Salmon Treaty initiatives, our annual membership drive, and rollout of the highly successful Save Sportfishing Alaska program.

In this Newsletter

• Halibut Issues - Multiple issues have been active including:

  • IMPORTANT – issuance of permit applications for the Limited Entry (Moratorium) Program, revised implementation date, and the SEAGO buy/sell exchange.

  • 2010 season still in jeopardy - NPFMC call for increased restrictions on charter operators in 2010.

  • Catch Sharing Plan revised implementation date and SEAGO actions to make improvements to the plan.

  • SEAGO announcement of its halibut strategy for both short and long term solutions.

• Pacific Salmon Treaty Mitigation Fund Allocation - This is a key program designed to compensate stakeholders who participated in the 15% king salmon catch reductions. Initial recommendations have been put on the table at stakeholders meetings.
  

• SEAGO 2010 Membership Drive - SEAGO defends your interests every day speaking out with the voice of reason. We work hard to support charter and lodge owners but it takes time, money, and dedication. Please join us today - it’s never been more urgent.

• Save Alaska Sportfishing Program - This program adds the voice of 100,000 anglers who visit Southeast Alaska each year to the many issues we face. Since its introduction in December, signups have been far greater than anticipated showing our customers’ willingness to speak out on your behalf. With less than an hour’s effort you can have your customers speaking out on key issues. Read below for an easy, step-by-step way for you to get your clients involved.

• Board of Fisheries Update - SEAGO attended the combined BOF/NPFMC December ‘09 meeting in Anchorage. The BOF has also published a list of proposals to be considered at the State wide meeting next March. More than 20 proposals are designed to penalize sportfishing.

• News from Around the Web - SEAGO’s pick of articles from the Internet that matter to you.

We want to hear from you - Thanks for taking the time to read through our monthly newsletters. SEAGO works hard to keep you up-to-date on key issues affecting charter and lodge owners. As always, we sincerely appreciate your feedback and comments.

Halibut Issues

IMPORTANT Moratorium Information - The permit application process is currently underway. You should have already received your application information from NMFS via US mail. Please note that the application period is February 4 - April 5, 2010 and late applications will be denied. Additional application information can be found here and here.

SEAGO will offer a free Moratorium permit buy/sell information exchange forum to assist charter operators who want to purchase or sell permits once they are issued. We will have this up and running in early February. In addition, the final ruling is complex and will require significant clarification. SEAGO will offer an open exchange for questions and answers.

While the application process is currently underway, actual enforcement of the Moratorium has been delayed until 2011, see announcement here.

NMFS has forecast a significant impact (more than 40% of businesses who operated in 2008 will not qualify) from this program and recently updated their Environmental Assessment/Regulatory Impact Review here. 

SEAGO Announces its Halibut Management Plan – In January, we announced a two part plan designed to address both short term 2010 issues and longer term initiatives designed to improve implementation of the catch sharing plan. For more detail, see our recent announcement here. We have begun to solicit broad industry support and input and will report ongoing progress in upcoming newsletters and special reports.

Your 2010 season is still at risk - We have been effectively painted into a corner of being ‘bad guys’ consistently over our quota (even though not true the perception is otherwise). The situation is getting worse:

• Last December a vitriolic discussion started at the Anchorage NPFMC mtg which led to a letter from NPFMC to NMFS asking for further charter restrictions. We saw this letter for the first time at the IPHC mtg. We wrote to NMFS in early January here with a recommendation to leave regulations unchanged for the 2010 season.

• In an unusual manner, both the IPHC and the Canadian delegation voted in favor of the IPHC call to hold us to GHL of 788,000 pounds in 2010 – We argued and lost the “it’s a domestic allocation issue and not appropriate for the IPHC” argument, and the Canadians also voted against us when historically they usually abstain in US-only matters. We also pointed out the inconsistent action taken where the IPHC granted a 2.0M commercial fishing upward adjustment to the fishery CEY that is four times greater than our projected GHL overage if the rules are unchanged.

• NMFS has written back (Jan 26, 2010) to NPFMC saying they aren’t going to take any action against us this year but would work with NPFMC to come up with plans.

• So that leaves the ball in the NPFMC court right now to impose additional restrictions at their February Portland meeting or at the April meeting. Of course with a 10 to 1 delegation, we can already guess the outcome.

SEAGO wrote to NPFMC on February 1, 2010 with recommendations and commenting on the impact of their potential actions. We will continue to speak out for no additional regulation changes in 2010.

Catch Sharing Plan – In a recent communication, NMFS has indicated a potential revised implementation date of 2012 for this program.

SEAGO Board members and management recently met with NPFMC representatives and it appears that there is very little motivation to change any details. If this plan is implemented as currently written, your clients will be subjected to a one fish bag limit forever and face additional size limitations and in-season closures for the foreseeable future.

The catch sharing plan, if implemented the way it is currently written will have a profound economic impact on communities throughout Southeast Alaska where we live and work. While catch share plans are the stated tool for fisheries management being promoted nationally by NOAA, we believe that a "commercial fishing oriented management plan" does not fit well with our sport fishing business models. As a result SEAGO believes the catch sharing plan can be improved to benefit of all involved and would like to see changes in the plan and additional fisheries management tools implemented. We have taken a pragmatic approach and developed recommendations for improvement here.

Information about the Catch Sharing Plan can be found here: http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/npfmc/current_issues/halibut_issues
/CHIPFinal_supp1008.pdf and
http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/npfmc/current_issues/halibut_issues
/HalibutCSPmotion1008.pdf

International Pacific Halibut Commission Annual Meeting - The annual IPHC meeting took place in Seattle on January 26-29. SEAGO represented charter operators in Southeast and spoke out against GHL allocation limits, the halibut tag issue, and an attempt to change the definition of bag/possession limits. We think all who attended would agree that the IPHC meeting was not good for us. The key outcome was a recommendation to limit the guided sport catch to 788,000 lbs for Area 2C, down another 40% from last year. This will effectively limit us to less than one fish per day or worse. The official IPHC announcement is here.

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SEAGO Participates in Pacific Salmon Treaty Mitigation Fund Utilization

As a result of the 2008 Pacific Salmon Treaty negotiations (treaty effective 2009-2018), mitigation money was promised to Alaska and Canada as part of the agreement. $7.5 million in mitigation money for Alaska was approved as part of the FY2010 Federal budget. A stakeholder panel was formed to make recommendations to the Governor’s Fish Cabinet regarding the best use of the money. Details of this taskforce are presented in the posted document here.  The panel includes four commercial troller representatives, SEAGO President Tom Ohaus, SEAGO Vice-President Russell Thomas, one additional resident sport fishing representative, and a representative from SE Conference and another representative from the native communities. The group met in January and determined their recommendations would include money going to the following areas: Enhancement, infrastructure development, marketing, and direct payments to the commercial troll fleet. The group will meet again in February and March to make specific recommendations regarding the amounts of money in each category and restrictions that should be included to ensure the money actual mitigates the loss resulting from the 2008 Treaty deal.

The panel is advisory and their recommendations must be ultimately approved by the Governor.

Initial funding secured in the pending federal budget would be appropriated by the Alaska Legislature in the spring of 2010 and available for expenditure after completion of the state budget process (likely after July 1, 2010).

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SEAGO 2010 Membership - Your financial support is much appreciated!\

The SEAGO annual membership drive is currently underway. Over the past year our organization has built a strong track record of accomplishment and promises to increase our effectiveness even more in 2010.

 “We tackled issues at the Board of Fisheries, at the Alaska legislature, and with the various federal agencies, and we are getting results”, says John Blair, Executive Director. “SEAGO has worked very hard to solidify our standing in sportfishing matters, and I think all would agree that we have proven to be dedicated, persistent, and most of all, respected for taking a professional approach to our problem solving. In a sentence, SEAGO speaks with the voice of reason.”

The Bar Has Been Raised
With the Alaska fishing industry approaching $5B in size, key players are now playing hard ball. Gone are the days when we could just sit on the sidelines and hope that things would just work out on their own. The world is run by those who show up; it’s that simple. If we don’t show up, if we don’t make our views known to regulators in a professional and well researched manner, they will assume that we can easily adapt to ever increasing restrictions.

And the playing field has become much larger - This year we need to fight across multiple fronts on your behalf: at the Board of Fisheries, the Alaska legislature, and with the federal government in Washington DC.  Our counterparts are very well organized, have literally raised $millions to promote their message, and have introduced legislation and regulations harmful to sportfishing in Southeast.

Please Sign Up Now
It is time consuming and very expensive to speak out on behalf of sportfishing and we need your financial contribution to continue. We fully understand the difficult economy and have created an installment payment plan, a 'pay what you can afford' approach, and more.   

• For detail information about our accomplishments, 2010 plans, and registration info, read the membership package, or
• If you already know all the great things SEAGO does to support guides and lodge owners, just open the registration form and instructions.

Investing a couple of minutes of your time now will ensure that you have a voice of reason representing you throughout the year. And because there is strength in numbers, ask a friend to join too!

SouthEast Alaska Guides Organization Dedication, Accomplishment, and the Voice of Reason

Thanks in advance for your continued support of SEAGO. If you have any questions in advance, please contact John Blair at john@seagoalaska.org

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Save Alaska Sportfishing Campaign

SEAGO is building a coalition with recreational anglers to make our combined voice more effective.  More information is here and here.

We are engaging our customers in the upcoming fight for our halibut rights and during the current AK legislative session so time is of the essence. The more people we can get on board in the next two months, the more strongly our voice will be heard.

We have developed a multipoint communication program to get your customers involved. It’s easy to implement, doesn’t cost you anything, and angler feedback shows that it enhances your reputation with your clients. Please contact John Blair, john@seagoalaska.org  right away for details.

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SEAGO wrote to the Board of Fisheries in January with a recommendation for improving the BOF management process. A copy of the letter is here.

The BOF has published a list of proposals to be considered at the State wide meeting next March which includes twenty nine proposals that will require our intervention. You can download a copy here: http://www.boards.adfg.state.ak.us/fishinfo/meetinfo/2009-2010/state-props.pdf.  Please write to john@seagoalaska.org  with comments/suggestions.

The BOF meeting schedule for 2010 is here: http://www.boards.adfg.state.ak.us/fishinfo/meetinfo/fcal.php.  SEAGO is planning to attend all meetings to represent Southeast sportfishing issues.

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News from Around the Web

SEAGO searches the Internet for articles that have relevance to Alaska sportfishing. Please forward any interesting articles you find to John Blair john@seagoalaska.org  and we will publish them in our next newsletter. Note that some of the links are time sensitive and may be non-functional by the time you receive this newsletter; we apologize in advance.

Finally, please understand that SEAGO does not necessarily agree the contents of any of these articles.  

Here are some recent stories we found around the internet:

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