The Chuitna strip mine, so called because it removes wetlands and overlay, would be the largest coal mine in Alaska. Plans by developer PacRim of Delaware call for the removal of 11 miles of Middle Creek, an important salmon spawning stream. PacRim claims it will be able to restore the stream after 25 years of strip mining. Sullivan agreed that reclamation of areas subjected to strip coal mining is possible.
Deputy DNR Commissioner Ed Fogels said the citizens' petition would have halted the permitting process.
"We decided there is simply not enough evidence to say there is no way you can reclaim the land and we were not about to pull the plug on this thorough environmental impact process. And that is the appropriate place to make these decisions as to whether reclamation can be done properly and in accordance with the law," he told the Alaska Public Radio Network.
United Fishermen of Alaska, the nation's largest commercial fishing trade group, was disappointed with the denial of the petition.
"UFA has commented in opposition to the mine and in support of the petition for unsuitable lands, and we remain skeptical of the idea that large sections of salmon streams hosting five species of salmon could be removed and then successfully replaced," said Mark Vinsel, UFA director.
Fogels said an environmental impact statement should be out for public review in about nine months and final decisions will be made only after a new round of public meetings.
"No way is this petition decision giving the green light to the mine. We still have a long way to go," Fogels said.
Meanwhile, Cook InletKeeper's Bob Shavelson cautions that permitting the Chuitna mine will set a dangerous precedent.
"Because it is going to be the first time in state history that we are going to mine through 11 miles of a salmon stream," Shavelson said. "If they can do it here in Cook Inlet, they are going to be able to do it anywhere in the state. Gov. Parnell has said repeatedly that he would not trade one resource for another. He has gone back on that promise to Alaskans."
Crab dip
Kodiak crabbers were disappointed when harvests below 1 million pounds were announced for the Tanner crab fishery that starts in January. For several years Tanners have been trending upward because of strong annual reproduction and survival. Kodiak's take last season was 1.4 million pounds, and crabbers and fishery managers expected a higher catch for 2012. But annual trawl surveys are showing a diminished resource.
"During the fishery, we heard reports of a fair number of crab that were just under legal size and we saw those same crab in the survey," said Nick Sagalkin, a fishery manager for Fish and Game in Kodiak. "The expectation was that they would molt and be available for this next year's fishery but that crab didn't materialize. It was a little unexpected."
Sagalkin said the lack of legal crab (only mature male crabs of about 2.5 pounds can be retained for market) was fairly widespread.
"We saw it throughout the Kodiak area, along the Alaska Peninsula and at Chignik. So whatever happened, it occurred throughout the Gulf," he said.
In all, the westward fisheries will yield about 3.3 million pounds of Tanner crab, down by more than 1 million pounds from last season.
The Kodiak district crab harvest is 900,000 pounds. The Alaska Peninsula fisheries also took a cut to 1.6 million pounds, down from 2.3 million. At Chignik, Tanner catches got a slight boost to 700,000 pounds. Last season, 70 boats dropped pots for Tanners around Kodiak, 53 along the Alaska Peninsula and 16 at Chignik. Crab prices averaged $2.40 to $2.50 a pound at the docks and are likely to be higher in 2012.
Fast crab
Crabbers took more than half of the 7.8 million-pound red king crab harvest in the first 10 days of the Bristol Bay fishery. The base price is a record $9 a pound and will go higher after post-season sales adjustments.
Salmon sales sizzle
Wild salmon was a hot commodity all summer. Alaska's total salmon catch of 172 million was 2 percent higher than in 2010 but the first wholesale value (not including roe) topped $540 million, an increase of more than 5 percent. The Alaska Department of Revenue's latest Salmon Price Report covers sales volumes and prices for the busy May-September sales season. Market expert Ken Talley provided a snapshot of trends and highlights during that four months:
Salmon sellers made a big push to get fresh fish to customers this summer and gained nearly a 10 percent market share, while frozen sales tumbled by more than 7 percent. For headed and gutted salmon, the industry mainstay, fresh production increased nearly 6 percent while the frozen H&G salmon pack dipped by 9.5 percent.
Customer-friendly salmon fillets continued to make big gains. Alaska production was up nearly 26 percent and approached 20 million pounds. More than 6 million pounds of salmon fillets went out fresh this summer, a gain of more than 30 percent.
Alaska chinook salmon saw a big average price jump to $10.76 a pound for fresh fillets this summer, on reduced production of 32,000 pounds. Fresh also was the name of the game for coho salmon. Wholesale prices increased from $3.02 a pound to $3.40 a pound for fresh headed and gutted cohos on a drop in volume of nearly 40 percent.
Talley said that for the first time in recent memory, fresh and frozen pink salmon wholesaled for virtually the same price this summer, both at about $1.45 a pound.
Chums saw gains in prices for headed and gutted fresh and frozen, along with fresh fillets, while prices for frozen fillets fell as volume went up.
For sockeye salmon, fresh prices for both H&G and fillets dropped slightly this summer on higher production.
Fewer than 30,000 cases of canned sockeye were put up this summer, down more than 63 percent from last year. That pushed prices to a whopping $151 a tall case, compared to $113 last summer. For pinks, case prices dropped slightly to about $78 on gains of nearly half a million cases, a 62 percent increase in production.
Get Smart Gear
The international Smart Gear competition rewards new gear ideas that help fishermen retain their target catches while letting marine mammals, turtles, birds or small fish swim away. The contest, which the World Wildlife Fund began in 2005, set a record this year.
"We received 74 entries, the second-highest number (80 in 2006), but from 31 different countries, and that is the highest we have ever had," said Mike Osmond, the fund's project director.
The competition attracted one entry from Alaska.
" It did quite well, I can tell you that, but that is all I can say at the moment," Osmond said.
The Smart Gear competition awards a $30,000 grand prize, two runner-up prizes of $10,000 each and a regional $7,500 award for gear that reduces tuna bycatch.
Long after the contest ends, WWF continues to work with the innovators to get their ideas to work on the fishing grounds.
"At present, around 45 percent of the ideas are out there on the water," Osmond said.
The 2009 winning gear from Australia was a stern-mounted, underwater-baited hook that reduces seabird bycatch. And because it minimizes drag, it is the most fuel-efficient method of delivering baited hooks at required depths.
In 2007, Rhode Island's "Eliminator" took home the top prize; it's a high-rise modified trawl net that takes advantage of fish behavior to allow cod bycatch to escape.
Smart Gear winners will be announced Nov. 17 at Pacific Marine Expo in Seattle. Find the website online at www.smartgear.org.
Laine Welch is a Kodiak-based fisheries journalist. Her Fish Radio programs can be heard on stations around the state. Her column appears Sundays in the Daily News. This material is protected by copyright. For information on reprinting or placing on your website or newsletter, contact msfish@alaska.com.
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