Now is the time to submit proposals for special sessions or workshops for the 1997 Alaska Chapter Annual Meeting, November 18-21, in Juneau. The meeting’s theme is "From the Mountains to the Sea: Linked Ecosystems." Topics already proposed include management and ecology of headwater streams, coastwide chinook salmon assessment, stream and fish abundance surveys, and research and management in ground fisheries. The deadline for special sessions and workshops is May 30. Abstracts for contributed papers will be accepted through September 30. Submit proposals and abstracts to M. D. Bryant, PNW Research Station, 2770 Sherwood Ln 2A, Juneau 99801 or e-mail at mbryant@ptialaska.net.
In 1996, NMFS began studies to determine effects of fishing gear on seafloor habitats in Alaska waters. These studies respond to new provisions in the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act requiring the identification of adverse effects of fishing activities on essential fish habitat. The Act requires Fishery Management Councils and NMFS to "minimize to the extent practicable the adverse effects on essential fish habitat caused by fishing".
The 1996 research emphasized effects of bottom trawling. Most agree that bottom trawling alters the seafloor, but effects on stability and productivity of benthic communities are poorly known. Studies included 1) experimental trawling in the eastern Gulf of Alaska where a manned submersible and commercial trawler were used to quantify changes in the sea floor from "tire gear" used in the rockfish fishery, 2) comparative trawling in heavily fished and unfished areas of the Bering Sea, 3) retrospective analysis of commercial trawl data to describe trends in trawling activity, and 4) evaluation of laser line scan and hydroacoustic bottom-typing systems which may be useful in determining effects of fishing on bottom habitat.
A workshop was held in September 1996 at the NMFS Auke Bay Laboratory to review preliminary results and discuss approaches and priorities for further research. Proposed research for 1997 would continue the 1996 studies of trawling impacts and also examine effects of trawling on gorgonian corals in heavily fished areas in the Aleutian Islands and effects of scallop dredges on benthic habitat. Abstracts from this workshop are available from Jon Heifetz, NMFS Auke Bay Laboratory, 11305 Glacier Hwy, Juneau 99801 (jon.heifetz@noaa.gov).
The 1996 Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Management and Conservation Act contained important new provisions regarding "Essential Fish Habitat" (EFH). Currently, NMFS is in the process of developing guidelines, by regulation, to implement the EFH requirements of the Act. The proposed rule is expected to be published in the Federal Register in mid-April. For more information, call NMFS headquarters in Silver Spring, MD, at (301)713-2325, or NMFS Alaska Region in Juneau at 586-7235.
Discussions are currently underway among our Chapter, the AFS Western Division, North Pacific International Chapter, and University of Alaska Sea Grant for a co-hosted meeting and Lowell Wafefield Symposium in Anchorage in fall 1998. If you’re interested in being the Local Arrangements Chair, or serving on the Local Arrangements or Program Committee for this meeting, please call me at 586-7585 or e-mail cindy.hartmann@noaa.gov.
It has warmed up to -10 F, snow is still piled high, but the sun has returned and spring is in the air. There is a bustle as staff order supplies, ready gear, and plan their field season. I look forward to getting back out on the water.
Chapter affairs hummed along at a steady pace during the last quarter. The EXCOM welcomed a new non-voting member, David Wiswar (USFWS) to assist the Secretary-Treasurer in his secretarial duties. We thank David for volunteering for this post. The EXCOM voted to support Cal-Neva Chapter’s request for help in hosting the AFS Annual Meeting in Monterey by donating $100 and assorted Alaska Chapter T-shirts and pins. Thanks to generous donations and successful raffles, our Cultural Diversity account is now sufficiently funded to award a travel grant to attend the Chapter’s 1997 annual meeting in Juneau. Cultural Diversity chair Joe Sullivan will work with the Cultural Diversity Committee and EXCOM to solicit applicants and finalize criteria for evaluating applications for the travel award.
In other news, the editors are making steady progress on the Key to Fishes of Alaska and are on schedule to complete it by November 1998. The Proceedings of the Fish Ecology in Arctic North America Symposium have gone to the printer, and 500 volumes will be available for distribution in April 1997. The Environmental Concerns Committee has been following the progress of HB4, an act which could eliminate protection on most of Alaska’s anadromous streams. I was pleased to attend a meeting of the Student Unit, organized by the Unit’s President Klaus Wuttig, at which Ken Alt gave a presentation on sheefish of Alaska. Lastly, the Chapter’s EXCOM, Alaska Sea Grant, and officers of the North Pacific International Chapter are continuing to discuss jointly sponsored meetings. Some interesting ideas have been suggested, and I look forward to sharing more details with you in the summer Oncorhynchus.
As a special interest group promoting wise use and management of fisheries and related habitat, Chapter representatives are periodically solicited to participate in "workgroup sessions” hosted by other special interest groups or government agencies, ostensibly to shape policy involving fisheries. These invitations are opportunities for informative exchange, allowing AFS to clarify and articulate positions. While interest-group influence and persuasion play “indispensable roles in policy making” (Lindblom and Woodhouse 1993, The Policy-Making Process), theory sometimes falls flat in the face of reality, and the Chapter is left to grapple with workgroup conclusions or results which are ignored or selectively used by the workgroup sponsor. Two recent workgroups attended by Chapter representatives have had these disappointing outcomes. The Chapter needs to ensure that we use our time effectively, that our position statements make it to the political arena unbiased, and that we maintain our reputation as a creditable professional society.
I consulted Dr. Daniel Decker, Human Dimensions Research Unit, Dept. of Natural Resources, Cornell University, regarding problems with stakeholder workgroups. He assured me that others have shared these experiences. As it turns out, he is writing a book commissioned by The Wildlife Society and is at the very point of addressing this topic in his manuscript. By considering the following advice when we receive the next workgroup invitation, hopefully the Chapter can avert inappropriate use of workgroups and diminish skepticism about participating in a worthwhile policy-making process.
Best wishes to you all in the coming field season.
Duties of the Secretary/Treasurer position have increased to the point where the workload is too much for one person. The EXCOM is proposing to split the duties into two separate elected positions--a Secretary and a Treasurer--thereby increasing the voting members of EXCOM by one. Currently, the voting members include the Past President, President, President-Elect, Vice President, Secretary/Treasurer, and Student Unit President. For the short term, the problem has been solved by asking a volunteer to serve as a non-voting secretary (graciously filled by David Wiswar), freeing Al Bingham to concentrate on duties of Treasurer. As a long-term solution, I propose we create a new EXCOM position. This would require a change in the Chapter Bylaws, which requires a two-thirds majority vote. I am, therefore, soliciting comments about this proposal from the membership in this issue of Oncorhynchus.
Check your mailing label. For non-institutional members, the number at the right of the top line tells if you’re paid up. The first two digits are National dues; the second two are Chapter dues. The "year" is the year "paid through," and was updated in August. Those with 9500 or 9595 (currently 54 members) will be dropped after this newsletter. We would like to keep you on the list, and the Membership Chair will be contacting you. Contact Alan Johnson if the information is incorrect.
As of September, the Chapter had 435 members, including 334 active, 53 life, 9 retired, and 39 student members. Another 18 AFS members residing outside Alaska pay Chapter dues and receive the newsletter, and 29 institutions, offices, and fisheries newsletters receive complimentary copies of the newsletter.
Dr. Jud Monroe held his technical writing workshop for the Chapter again February 24-28 in Anchorage. The course was attended by 31 people and was well received. Jud Monroe has 20 years experience in technical writing, and he has taught writing workshops throughout the United States, including several classes for the Alaska Chapter. Participants brought draft papers and reports on which they were working and received individual help finalizing and polishing the manuscripts. We hope to bring Dr. Monroe back again in 1998.
Two other workshops will be held in Anchorage next fall. One will be a 2.5-day workshop on "Natural Resources Communication" by Dr. Jon Hopper, designed to help natural resource professionals communicate more effectively with general and technical audiences, especially via slide shows. The other will be two concurrent 5-day training sessions on beginning and advanced SAS. E-mail me at PatH@fishgame.state.ak.us or look in the next Oncorhynchus for more information.
The Environmental Concerns Committee (ECC) continues to monitor several pieces of legislation, including HB4 sponsored by Reps. Kelly, Mulder, and Vezey. This bill, "An act relating to permits issued by the Department of Fish and Game for activities in anadromous streams...", would eliminate the existing requirement that developers obtain permits from ADF&G when working in anadromous fish streams, except on streams that are "economically significant." This bill pplies to public lands and would affect most anadromous fish streams in the state. The ECC is concerned because HB4 would transfer habitat protection and oversight from ADF&G, where much of the state's fisheries and habitat expertise resides, to the Department of Natural Resources, which is more concerned with resource development. In addition, the term "economically significant" is poorly defined. Presently, HB4 is moving slowly, and the ECC will continue to monitor the situation.
In addition to HB4, the Committee and the EXCOM continue to monitor proposed legislation to fund wide-scale logging of beetle-infested public lands on the Kenai Peninsula, including the Anchorage Hillside and Chugach State Park. Past-President Dana Schmidt represented the Chapter at the recent Spruce Bark Beetle Infestation Workshop in Anchorage in January. This workshop featured presentations and interpretations of beetle infestations, and a general conclusion was that these infestations currently do not constitute an "environmental emergency." The Chapter remains concerned that wide-scale logging will have a greater impact on the aquatic resources than if beetle-infested forests remain unharvested. In particular, the Chapter encourages studies comparing logged and unlogged watersheds with dense beetle infestations before expanding logging activities to all beetle-infested public lands.
Dear Editor:
In response to Kathleen Menke’s letter to the editor in the Winter 1997 issue regarding Red
Lake sockeye, I hope that members of the Alaska Chapter will continue to deliberate on funding
of such projects. Last year, a biologist from the Red Lake project gave a seminar at the
University of Alaska, Southeast. His numbers showed that mortality incurred by out-migrating
smolts and adults returning to Red Lake through the dams of the Columbia Basin gave virtually
no chance of recovering a sustainable stock without continued human intervention. Only with
considerable changes in management of the dams is there any hope, but the human need for
hydroelectric power in the Pacific Northwest continues to outweigh the recovery of salmon.
Holding distant fisheries ransom to stocks such as Red Lake will not save these stocks.
Such actions will reduce fishing opportunities on healthy stocks for those who do not benefit
from the hydroelectric power of the dams, but do nothing to improve the health of the stock at
risk. I agree that we should not write off salmon stocks because they are beyond our borders
or their numbers are small, but this stock will not recover with one dollar or one million
dollars more for research and management at Red Lake without changes in habitat conditions
downstream.
Mark Stopha
Alaska AFS
Letters Policy: