Times they are a
changin'--It was February 2004 and Governor Murkowski wanted
to make an impression on the Conference of Alaskans. So he sent his
budget director to roll out a nightmare-scenario "B" budget for the
next fiscal year under which Alaska raised no new revenues, and saw
no change in oil prices. The fiscal gap was tremendous and
necessitated, in Murkowski's eyes, $527 million in cuts, including
such drastic steps as eliminating funds for school buses, closing
some Pioneer's Homes, making colossal cuts to Medicaid, cutting
ferry service by half, cutting criminal prosecutions 6 percent (1 in
20 cases go free), and  eliminating the Department
of Labor, veterans' services, and Power Cost Equalization. (All of
this, remember, came after cuts to the longevity bonus, senior
services, social service grants, drug and alcohol treatment, and
tens of millions in new taxes he pushed through in 2003.) Since
then, the price of oil has climbed into the stratosphere and stayed
there. Instead of doom 'n gloom, the budget Murkowski will unveil
next week is widely expected to include $5 million more for
children's mental health, $7.1 million for substance abuse and FAS
prevention, $1 million in new social service grants, and around $62
million for schools (with more the following year).
91 years and
counting--Ever since the federal government spent $40,000 to
build a house for Alaska's governor,  the
occupants have held a 'y'all come' open house in December. It is one
of Juneau's oldest and best-loved holiday traditions. This year, as
usual, the staff at the residence and local volunteers pulled out
all the stops, baking more than 16,000 holiday cookies, 1,200 slices
of assorted breads, 2,640 tarts, and 6,000 pieces of homemade
candies which served the 2,010 visitors to the residence.
Switcheroos--Cliff
Stone, a longtime legislative staffer who put in many  years working for his old hometown of Kodiak is leaving
legislative service this month - sort of. Cliff will make the jump
to the Department of Public Safety, where he will serve as
legislative liaison. At (roughly) the same time, Heather Brakes is
rumored to be leaving the governor's office, where she bird-dogs
DPS, to return to legislative work for Sen. Gene
Therriault.
Good news, bad
news--Only Alaska and Wyoming did not issue fish consumption
advisories in 2003. That's the good news for us. The bad news for
everyone else is that the warnings covered 35 percent of the lake
acres and 24 percent of the river miles in the lower 48. The
consumption warnings also encompassed 75 percent of the nation's
coastal waters.
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Fish farm moguls in British Columbia are now officially corporados.
An auditors general report issued this fall from B.C. and a separate fall report from the Canadian federal government present a stark picture of  corporate abuse and a culture of secrecy. The same problems are occurring in New Brunswick, according to an auditors general report from the right hand coast of Canada.
Among the findings: more than half the salmon farms operate their business outside their leaseholds, illegally using public waters; a third of them operate without proper water use licenses; 30 percent operate with inadequate sewage treatment; another 30 percent are out of compliance with fuel storage regs; 15 percent don't have adequate net cage inspection records; and 14 percent produce more than their legal limits of salmon.
That's what is provable.
These findings are important to Alaska because we are capturing more and more escaped farmed salmon in our ecosystems and because there are plans in British Columbia to allow fish farming as far north as Prince Rupert. Those farms will be just about smack up against our southern border.
 The Canadian findings also are important because Alaska's harvesters and processors of wild salmon are competing in world markets. The outlaw, on-the-cheap practices by B.C. farmed salmon corporations allow them to produce their competing salmon protein at more competitive prices in domestic and foreign marketplaces.
But beyond the market advantages that come with cutting legal corners when producing B.C. farmed salmon, there are environmental issues that also can have a profound effect on the economics of the wild salmon industry in both British Columbia and Alaska. B.C.'s auditor general noted in his report that the "province's ability to manage the risks associated with the interaction between wild salmon and aquaculture are still hindered by significant gaps and uncertainty in knowledge." That's just another way of saying their aquaculture policy is the policy equivalent of the MIR space station. They need to take the wobble out of it.
The B.C. auditor general also notes scientists want more information on several high-risk concerns. They want to know more about the source, extent and relationships of disease transfer between wild and farmed stocks. They want to know more about freshwater habitat behavior of escaped Atlantic salmon and their ability to spawn and colonize. Finally, scientists want to know more about the cumulative effects of aquaculture on the marine environment including impacts on wild salmon.
And, if they don't know the answers to these questions, there is significant risk to the viability of wild salmon that our fish harvesters, and theirs, depend on for their livelihood.
The B.C. auditor general's concerns, raised in his October report, are echoed by Canada's commissioner of the environment, Johanne Gelinas. She says Fisheries and Oceans Canada (the federal ministry aka DFO) has not done enough to identify disease risks to the wild salmon population from salmon raised in fish farms. Many scientists, she notes, have said and  continue to say that the DFO is conflicted by being both a promoter of salmon aquaculture as well as aquaculture regulator and advocate for wild salmon. (The same charges now are being leveled at our federal National Marine Fisheries administrators in Washington, D.C. Our D.C. fish overlords are promoting offshore aquaculture and plan to submit legislation allowing at-sea net cages to the next Congress. Our governor, to his credit, has challenged that notion.)
At this point it is worth reiterating that Canada's lack of control over their burgeoning aquaculture industry isn't just a theoretical problem for Alaska. Even if we disregard the market difficulties caused when their fish produced by illegally cutting corners compete with our fish, we have to acknowledge their escaped farmed fish are being caught in increasing numbers in Alaska's waters and have been observed in Alaska's streams. So the  dangers to wild salmon populations are not confined to just Canadian wild salmon and dangers to our wild stocks increase significantly if B.C. allows fish farms to move further up the coast and closer to Alaska.
The Canadian record for Atlantic salmon aquaculture also does not inspire confidence in plans underway in B.C. for farming of black cod. In fact their foray into black cod aquaculture, they've issued 47 black cod farming licenses, is best described as reckless given their dismal record with salmon. Our governor recognizes this and, again to his credit, has protested the planned black cod farms in an Oct. 15 letter to B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell.
I hope the premier listens. At best their industrial salmon aquaculture program can only be described as a fixer-upper. Before expanding that industry north toward our borders, they best start fixing. And they ought not do anything with black cod 'til they prove they can do salmon'if they can prove it. |
