Socioeconomic Impacts of Crab Rationalization on the Aleutian East Borough Communities of False Pass, Akutan, and King Cove

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1 Socioeconomic Impacts of Crab Rationalization on the Aleutian East Borough Communities of False Pass, Akutan, and King Cove Dr. Marie Lowe Dr. Gunnar Knapp Assistant Professor of Anthropology Professor of Economics Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) University of Alaska, Anchorage In consultation with: Dr. Steve Langdon, Professor of Anthropology, University of Alaska, Anchorage

2 Anchorage Daily News, Sept. 11, 2006 Families are leaving False Pass One reason: Rules designed to make the crabbing industry more efficient put many locals out of work

3 Outline Overview of Crab Rationalization Purpose of Study Overview of Study Communities Historical Fishery Participation Direct Impacts Community Perceptions of Rationalization Effects Conclusions

4 Outline Overview of Crab Rationalization Purpose of Study Overview of Study Communities Historical Fishery Participation Direct Impacts Community Perceptions of Rationalization Effects Conclusions

5 What is Crab Rationalization? The Crab Rationalization Program allocates BSAI crab resources among harvesters, processors, and coastal communities. (NOAA Fisheries)

6 Outline Overview of Crab Rationalization Purpose of Study Overview of Study Communities Historical Fishery Participation Direct Impacts Community Perceptions of Rationalization Effects Conclusions

7 ISER Study Commissioned by AEB & King Cove Undertaken January-August 2006 Final Report to be Completed in October 2006 Goal: Analyze initial and potential future socioeconomic impacts of BSAI crab rationalization on study communities

8 The study focuses on communityspecific impacts, it does not: Examine changes in efficiency for harvesters or processors. Analyze general economic effects of crab rationalization on crab markets or exvessel prices paid to crab fishermen. Determine whether or not the fishery is safer or ecologically sound

9 Major study goals: Describe direct impacts of crab rationalization on study communities (jobs, income, etc.) in first year. Discuss potential indirect impacts drawn from ethnographic field study conducted in each community. Contextualize crab rationalization within the range of restricted access management plans coastal Alaskan communities encounter.

10 Methodology Literature review including extensive examination of historical community ethnographies Analysis of federal and state data for crab fisheries Community Fieldwork: Structured interviews with key informants from each community who are involved in the fishing industry Unstructured interviews with plant managers and an outside crab boat owner/skipper Informal conversations with residents Informal conversations with processing workers Focus group interviews with community youth Participant observation at community events, gatherings, workplaces and homes

11 Outline Overview of Crab Rationalization Purpose of Study Overview of Study Communities Historical Fishery Participation Direct Impacts Community Perceptions of Rationalization Effects Conclusions

12 False Pass, Akutan and King Cove Differ greatly in their demography, economies, and in their relationships to the processing industry.

13 Study Communities False Pass Estimated Resident Population: 35-44

14 False Pass 3 residents hold 15 permits for halibut, herring, groundfish, salmon, bairdi crab 11 CFEC registered vessels, avg length 31.1 (not necessarily FP residents) CDQ Community PPSF processor burned in 1981; APICDA is building a small processor in the community

15 Akutan Estimated Resident Population: 80

16 Akutan 8 residents hold 11 registered permits for halibut, sablefish and groundfish (jig) 7 registered vessels: one 32, one 28, one 24, four skiffs CDQ Community Trident Seafoods has the largest processing operation in North America based in Akutan. It is a multi-species processor.

17 King Cove Estimated Resident Population: 493

18 King Cove 58 residents hold 119 registered permits in 2006 for halibut, herring, dungeness crab, king crab, bairdi crab, cod, octopi/squid, and salmon. The majority of community participation in fisheries is by crewmen. 75 registered vessels; avg length 30.3 Non-CDQ Community PPSF operates a multi-species processor in King Cove

19 Outline Overview of Crab Rationalization Purpose of Study Overview of Study Communities Historical Fishery Participation Direct Impacts Community Perceptions of Rationalization Effects Conclusions

20 All three communities have long historical participation in BSAI crab fisheries. Buddy Bendixen, age 80, King Cove, Pioneered BSAI Crab Fisheries in 1950s

21 Historically, King Cove residents have held permits in many different crab fisheries. The majority of these permits have been in fisheries other than the major rationalized crab fisheries but opportunities to participate in these fisheries have declined over time. King Cove: Number of Permit Holders, by Crab Fishery Note: each line in the graph represents a different type of permit. Bristol Bay King Crab Fisheries Bering Sea Tanner Crab Fisheries All Other Crab Fisheries

22 King Cove residents have historically participated in local crab fisheries when they were open. Opportunity and Participation: Alaska Peninsula Tanner Crab Fishery 4,500,000 4,000,000 3,500,000 3,000,000 2,500,000 2,000,000 1,500,000 1,000, , Total pounds landed in fishery Permits fished by King Cove residents Total landings in fishery (all participants) Permits fished by King Cove residents

23 If Aleutians East Borough fishermen have the means to participate in a fishery, they will. Traditionally, residents of BSAI communities take advantage of any local economic opportunity they can.

24 In every fishery group, the number of individuals holding permits has been declining since the 1990s or earlier. King Cove: Number of Permit Holders, by Fishery Group All Fisheries Combined Salmon 80 Sablefish 60 Halibut 40 Other Groundfish 20 Herring Crab

25 In recent years for the currently rationalized fisheries, fishermen have participated as crew rather than as permit or boat owners. Ignaty Philemonoff, age 37, Akutan, 9 Year History on Crab Vessel, F/V Northwind (Seattle), that Leased Out Its Quota in

26 Outline Overview of Crab Rationalization Purpose of Study Overview of Study Communities Historical Fishery Participation Direct Impacts Community Perceptions of Rationalization Effects Conclusions

27 Direct Impacts of Crab Rationalization Loss of crab fishing crew jobs Fewer boats delivering crab Lower sales for support businesses

28 Estimated Direct Impacts of Crab Rationalization (Changes from to ) Community King Cove Loss of 20 crab fishing jobs Estimated impacts 66% drop in households participating in fishery (18 to 6) 79% drop in boats delivering crab to King Cove (65 to 14) Akutan About $1 million loss in income for five support businesses (pot storage, moorage, trucking, filters, bar) Loss of 4 fishing jobs False Pass About $10,000 decline in sales for dive service business No effect on fishing jobs About $30,000 decline in sales for pot storage business

29 Outline Overview of Crab Rationalization Purpose of Study Overview of Study Communities Historical Fishery Participation Direct Impacts Community Perceptions of Rationalization Effects Conclusions

30 AEB Fishermen Mean Perceptions of Management Plans 1=Extremely Helpful 2=Helpful 3=Neutral 4=Harmful 5=Extremely Harmful 5 4 Rating 3 2 King Cove/FP Akutan 1 0 Salmon LE IFQ Pollock Co- Ops-P Pollock Co- Ops-C Management Plan CrabRat CDQ-P CDQ-C GOA King Cove/FP n=15 Akutan n=7

31 It didn t do anything for the guys that actually do the work. All these boat owners ended up with this quota and it was built by guys like myself; guys that were on deck all those years they didn t get anything out it. Those quotas were built on their sweat and blood and they never gave us a damn thing I have been on the Bering Sea for 30 years; I have more dead friends than live ones. Ones that are left should have got something out of this. I would gladly give my quota back if they would re-do the whole thing and give the crewmen something. In a bureaucracy that isn t going to happen. Rob Trumble, age 49, King Cove, Awarded Captain s Shares but doesn t have enough to fish them.

32 It was put together by a group of too many special interests which captured the fishery for themselves it had nothing to do with the people that participated. They keep saying it was the boat owners and the processors because they had so much invested but not one boat owner would ve made a dime if they didn t have skippers and crews everyday that they were out there they were just as valuable they were more valuable than the engine of the boat really. If you didn t have a crew, you never caught a crab. I don t know one boat out there that went out without a crew member. Or a hired skipper! A boat just cannot go without a skipper and crew. It s just high-powered interest groups that set aside a gold mine for themselves. Ken Mack, age 46, King Cove, 27 years crab fishing history

33 AEB FISHERMEN INTERPRETATION OF ALLOCATION PIE Crew 28% Boat Owner 57% Skipper 15%

34 In all three communities, residents indicated that the most important effects might be associated with a restriction on their option to participate in the crab fisheries in the future.

35 Outline Overview of Crab Rationalization Purpose of Study Overview of Study Communities Historical Fishery Participation Direct Impacts Community Perceptions of Rationalization Effects Conclusions

36 Preliminary Conclusions False Pass and Akutan experienced fewer negative impacts from crab rationalization than King Cove. This is primarily due to their small populations and fleets as well as their participation in the CDQ program.

37 AEB community participation in crab fisheries has been primarily in vessel crews and in fishery support industries. The crab rationalization program reduced the fleet and excluded crew fishing history. This impacted jobs, support industry income and community resident share in the fishery. Potential long term impacts of the program contextualized within other forms of restricted access in fisheries include the absence of entrylevel participation especially for the younger generation in these communities.

38 Traditionally, residents of the Alaska Peninsula and Aleutian Islands have had to employ opportunistic economic strategies to survive in their home communities. This flexibility in combination fishing diminishes with increasing restricted access in Alaska s fisheries.