You have a mountain to climb as you watch the bottom trawls take out our kings and chums with the Bering Sea bottom trawl fishery for pollock.
I know this is a touchy issue since all the CDQ groups are your constituency.
It was difficult for me as the founding CEO of BBEDC to see what the bottom fishery was doing to our kings and chums.
I couldn’t take it anymore so I resigned because there was not enough being done to stop bycatch that was destroying our kings, chums, halibut and so many other of our marine species. My protestations fell on deaf ears.
It is going to require all user groups to come to the table and talk this out because if we keep pointing fingers at each other – by the time we finish finger pointing, bickering and fighting, there won’t be a fishery for any of us to participate in.
Bycatch, climate, marine environment, sea ice, hatcheries, Area M intercept fishery, ocean acidification (result of climate change) – are all contributing factors. In addition, poor management practices by NPFMC is culpable as well.
Technology – artificial intelligence and machine learning can help us alleviate and / or address these problems, based on data. That may mean we likely all have to give something up and feel the pain of those decisions in order to ensure that we have fisheries for future generations.
No more finger pointing. This is a Subsistence people issue and our people need to work together to pressure NPFMC, NOAA, the state, the state legislature, and the federal US Congress which has oversight powers on this issue but are abrogating their legal responsibilities to push for mitigation, FULL USE of catches, and ELIMINATION of bycatch in our bottom trawl fishery.
Possible solution:
Draft legislation creating a Subsistence/ByCatch Task Force made up of a 12 member ByCatch Mitigation Task Force with 7 Subsistence Users, and the rest a CDQ person, and others in the mix who have a stake in any regulatory or legislative changes prosecuting the bottom fishing policies pushing FULL USE of catches, mitigating, and ELIMINATING bycatch in the Bering Sea bottom trawl fishery.
Time is of the essence. We cannot let this issue languish and we must TAKE POSITIVE ACTION in order to save our Bering Sea ecosystem and prevent it from crashing and becoming a dead sea.
Nels Anderson, Jr.
Native American USAF Veteran
Alaska National Guard saddened over tragic death of fellow Guardsman
The entire Alaska National Guard team is deeply saddened to learn of the death of Spc. Saria Hildabrand. Our most sincere condolences go out to her family and friends in the wake of this terrible tragedy.
Spc. Hildabrand officially joined the Alaska Army National Guard in April 2023 and was assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company,1st Battalion, 297th Infantry Regiment as a 68W, Combat Medic. Prior to transferring to the AKARNG, she served as a 13R, Field Artillery Firefinder Radar Operator, in the Utah Army National Guard. She enlisted in the UTARNG in May 2021.
Spc. Hildabrand took an oath to selflessly serve and defend not only the state of Alaska, but the entire nation, a commitment worthy of admiration and respect. Her untimely passing impacts everyone on the Alaska National Guard team. She will be sorely missed.
Alaska National Guard & Alaska Department of Military and Veterans Affairs
JBER, Alaska
