Ketchikan: "Very High" Fire Danger; No Burn Permits, Open Burning Discouraged - In a joint release Friday from the Ketchikan Area Fire Chiefs, including North Tongass Fire Department, South Tongass Fire Department, and Ketchikan Fire Department.  Due to the recent run of warm weather with no precipitation, effective immediately and until further notice no burn permits will be issued and open burning of any kind is highly discouraged. - More... Monday PM - July 30, 2018 Photo of the Month Ketchikan: Cruise Ship Schedule 2018(pdf) Courtesy Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska - claalaska.com Ketchikan: Public Meetings Ketchikan: Upcoming Events Historical Ketchikan June Allen Dave Kiffer Louise B. Harrington Ketchikan Weather Ketchikan's Forecast Weather History July 2018 Ketchikan's Historic Weather Nat Weather Service KTN Ketchikan Tides & Currents Sunrise - Sunset Ketchikan Search the News Ketchikan Alaska

FISH FACTOR: Global Survey on Gender Equality in Seafood Industry Released By LAINE WELCH - Alaska appears to be an exception in terms of gender parity at all levels of its seafood industry.

Women comprise roughly half of the world’s seafood industry work force, yet a report released last week revealed that 61 percent of women around the globe feel they face unfair gender biases from slime lines to businesses to company boardrooms. The women’s overall responses cited biases in recruitment and hiring, in working conditions and inflexible scheduling. 

The findings were based on 700 responses gathered in an online survey from September through December of last year.  Thirty percent of the respondents were men; 27 percent of the total responses came from North America.   

In my view, Alaska doesn’t fit the picture. 

Based on “empirical evidence” spanning 30 years as a fisheries writer, I always have encountered women at all levels of seafood harvesting and processing, business, management, education and research, as agency heads and commissioners and in top directorships in industry trade groups and organizations. While women may be outnumbered by men in the state’s seafood industry overall, they are highly visible and valued throughout the workforce hierarchy. 

Maybe Alaska’s small population levels the playing field and smart, talented women are not so easily overlooked.  But that’s clearly not the case elsewhere.  

 In the survey, 33 percent of women said they have faced discrimination at work, 49 percent said there are unequal opportunities for men and women; 12 percent of women cited sexual harassment.            

One striking finding of the gender equality in the seafood industry report was that women and men have very different perceptions of the problem - fewer than half of the men said that they believe women face biases throughout the industry.

“Less than one men in 10 consider women are facing discrimination.  It is important to see that men and women do not share the same diagnosis. If it is not shared, things cannot change,” said Marie Catherine Montfort, report co-author and CEO of the international group Women in the Seafood Industry (WIS).

Many women said they are not given incentives to join the seafood industry, especially at school levels. 

An interesting view shared by 80 percent of both genders was that the industry holds little appeal for women. - More...
Monday PM - July 30, 2018

Alaska: Murkowski Questions Administration on Impacts of Seafood Tariffs - After the Trump administration announced $12 billion in aid for farmers last week, Senator Murkowski encouraged President Trump to take a broader view of the impacts his administration’s trade policy is having on various sectors, such as the seafood and energy industries, and reminded the President that trade assistance is no substitute for trade itself.

During a Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) Appropriations Subcommittee hearing held recently, U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) questioned Ambassador Robert E. Lighthizer, U.S. Trade Representative, on the administration’s plans to ensure our trade policy allows seafood producers to thrive, citing China’s recently announced 25 percent tariff on American seafood imports.

“It has clearly rattled my state. Our seafood industry is the number one private industry in terms of the jobs and the economic opportunity it brings. Last year with our salmon exports about 40 percent of our salmon went to China over the last 5 years, it’s been about a half of our salmon has been exported to China. And it’s not just the salmon. With Cod, 54% of our Cod [exports] last year went to China. So this is very, very significant to us,” said Senator Murkowski.

Murkowski said,  “We’re still trying to figure out exactly what this means not only to our fishermen, but to the processors, the logistics industry – all aspects of the seafood supply chain. And then the 10 percent retaliatory tariffs that were announced just last month put even more pressure on our seafood processors because many of our fish and shellfish that are harvested in the state are then processed in China before reimporting back to the US for domestic distribution. So, in many ways were looking at this and it is in effect, imposing a 10 percent tax on our own seafood. Which is just a tough one to reconcile.” - More...
Monday PM - July 30, 2018

Ketchikan: Alaska Forest Association Members Overwhelmingly Support Congressman Young for Alaska - The Alaska Forest Association (AFA) on Friday announced that its Board of Directors has voted to endorse Congressman Don Young (R-AK) in his reelection to the U.S. House of Representatives. If reelected, this will be Young's 24th term.

Friday's AFA endorsement highlights Young’s continuous fight – as a senior member of the House Natural Resources Committee – for the interests of the working men and women in the Alaska forest industry. Congressman Young was in Ketchikan on Friday and was present for the endorsement announcement.

“Congressman Young has always been a champion for the workers in the woods and in the mills. We can always count on him to fight hard to protect and create jobs in in the forest industry in Alaska. He is fighting now to prevent the US Forest Service from instituting an ill-advised, major change in timber management in Southeast Alaska which could lead to the closure of the only remaining midsized mill in the State,” said Bert Burkhart, President of AFA.

"And he has long supported the AFA’s legislation to establish a State Forest managed and owned by the State of Alaska. Don believes this is the only way to save the remaining industry and promote a recovery of the forest jobs in the State,” said Owen Graham, Executive Director of the AFA.

"I have always felt that it takes a strong economy to provide the quality education and healthy communities we all want for our families. That’s why my focus in the House has always been on economic development and good paying jobs for Alaskans. I am grateful for the strong show of support from the Alaska Forest Association and from its members throughout the State," said Congressman Daon Young. - More...
Monday PM - July 30, 2018

Fisheries: Vessel tracking exposes the dark side of trading at sea - First ever large-scale analysis of fishing vessel interactions exposes the potential extent of the unmanaged exchange of goods at sea, raising global concerns over illegal fishing and human rights abuses. The study, published in Frontiers in Marine Science, brings transparency to trading at sea. It provides the first ever public view of the extent to which these exchanges could be occurring and exposes the need for a global collaboration to improve fisheries management.

"The practice of transshipment -- refrigerated cargo vessels meeting with fishing boats at sea to exchange seafood, crew, fuel or supplies -- is common in many fisheries as it enables fishing vessels to remain at sea while their catch is taken to market," says Dr Nathan Miller of SkyTruth, USA, who led the study. "However, it lacks uniform regulation and transparent data. This hinders sustainable fisheries management as it makes it very difficult to monitor the amount of marine life being taken from the sea."

The lack of consistent regulation enables illegally caught fish to enter the market. It also creates the opportunity for other illegal activities relating to drugs and even people. 

"Some human rights abuses have been associated with transshipment. By allowing fishing vessels to remain at sea for months or even years at a time, captains are able to keep their crew at sea indefinitely, resulting in de facto slavery," say Miller. 

The outcomes associated with this poor regulation motivated the researchers from Google, Skytruth and Global Fishing Watch. They wanted to create a transparent and publicly available way of identifying and sharing transshipment behaviors on a global scale. 

To do this, the team analyzed over 30 billion vessel tracking signals to identify potential transshipment encounters. This included refrigerated cargo vessels loitering at sea long enough to receive a transshipment, or two vessels in close proximity long enough to transfer catch, crew or supplies.

"Our research is unique in its scale, but also in that we use a big data technology platform and satellite tracking data to provide the first public view of the potential extent of global transshipment," says Miller.

Analysis of the data showed that transshipment activities occur on a global scale, yet some areas had particularly high activity.  - More...
Monday PM - July 30, 2018

JOE GUZZARDI: Earth Overshoot Day Offers Sustainability Lessons - August 1 will mark Earth Overshoot Day, the day that worldwide humanity will, in only seven months, have taken more resources from the Earth than can be replenished within a single year. During a calendar year, the globe's 7.6 billion residents consume through overfishing and overharvesting forests more than Earth can replace and emit more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than ecosystems can absorb, about 1.7 Earth equivalents as measured in natural resources.

With 328 million people, the United States ranks third behind China and its 1.4 billion people and India with 1.2 billion in total population. Within seven years, India's inhabitants will exceed China's. Nigeria, currently the world's seventh largest country, is growing the most rapidly and is expected to surpass the U.S. by 2050. The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs projects that the unsustainable global population will reach, unless immediate behavioral changes to slow the current growth pattern occur, 9.8 billion in 2050, and 11.2 billion in 2100.

But the challenges that Overshoot Day highlights are daunting. The group of 47 least developed countries (LDCs) has a high fertility level, 4.3 births per woman in the 2010 to 2015 period. As a result, the populations of those 47 countries have grown rapidly, 2.4 percent. Although some slowing is anticipated over the coming decades, the combined population of the LDCs, roughly one billion in 2017, is projected to increase by 33 percent between 2017 and 2030, and to reach 1.9 billion persons in 2050. Africa will also experience high population growth rates. Between 2017 and 2050, 26 African countries are expected to double their populations. - More...
Monday PM - July 30, 20-18

DICK POLMAN: Lots of Tips on How to Live Sanely in Trumplandia - The pollsters at Pew recently reported that 68 percent of Americans are suffering from news exhaustion, and that jibes with what I witness on an anecdotal basis. I don't presume to everyone, but many of you probably agree that conversations with friends these days are sometimes strained. The dialogue often goes something like this:

"We've gotta talk about Trump and everything that's going on."

"I'm so sick of it. Must we?"

"How can we not?"

"Can't we talk about something else?"

Sure we can. But we're also well aware (or we certainly should be) that democracy at home and the western peacekeeping alliance abroad are under unprecedented attack by destructive forces in Washington and Moscow. With each passing week, the challenge facing each of us becomes more urgent: What's the best way to remain vigilant and still lead a sane life? What's the best way to balance obligations to self, friends, and family with the obligations of citizenship? Is it possible to monitor the avalanche of news without going nuts? How can we best calibrate these factors in year two of Trumplandia? - More...
Monday PM - July 30, 2018

JEFF LUND: Summer reading - There’s a single hammer pounding on a roof around the cove. Every couple of hours a plane banks and lines up for final approach into the Klawock airport. The lone hemlock that stands in front of the yard sways with dignity unlike the alders and their dry leaves that are noisy in the wind. 

There are eagles. Of the few clouds, there’s one that looks like a grayling. Another that’s an elk hair caddis and then there are thin, white ones that aren’t much of anything except for what they are supposed to be. 

This is why I find it hard to read during the summer. Too many simple distractions. 

A few nights ago, around a campfire in which everything from proper sticks for S’mores to the importance of historical context when reading literature was discussed, I admitted my problem with reading.  - More...
Monday PM - July 30, 2018