By Margaret Bauman
Alaska Journal of Commerce

President Barack Obama’s Ocean Policy Task Force, charged with preparing by mid-September a list of priorities for improving ocean stewardship, heard a full spectrum of ideas Aug. 21 in Anchorage from residents and developers whose future is tied to Alaska’s oceans.
For more than three hours, the task force, led by Nancy Sutley, the White House’s Council on Environmental Quality, listened to testimony from a cross-section of Alaskans, including resource developers, scientists, subsistence harvesters and commercial fishermen and other coastal residents.

Although the public hearing was scheduled to last just two hours, the session was extended the session for an additional 90 minutes, to include everyone waiting to give their three minutes of testimony.

Sutley arrived earlier in the week, accompanied by Jane Lubhenco, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; David Hayes, deputy secretary of the Interior Department; Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen; and Heather Zichal, deputy assistant to the president for energy and climate change.

In the days before the Anchorage hearing, the task force heard from residents of Nome, Barrow Shishmareff, Deadhorse and Fairbanks.

Scientific studies have shown that Alaska is warming at twice the rate of the rest of the United States and task force members wanted to see for themselves what was happening.

“Seeing it firsthand and seeing the consequences to people of the state of Alaska and to the resources they depend on has been a very powerful experience for many of us,” Lubchenco said during a media briefing prior to the public hearing.

To hear from residents of coastal Alaska and to see many of the changes underway flying over the land “really brings it home, makes it much more concrete,” she said.

“Many are anticipating a new Arctic gold rush eventually involving fishing, energy development, shipping and tourism,” she said. Still the challenge is to learn from past mistakes and to use the ocean’s resources wisely, she said.

Lubchenco applauded U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke’s approval on Aug. 20 of the Arctic Fishery Management Plan, which prohibits expansion of commercial fishing into the Arctic until more data is compiled about the region’s environment.

“This is not to say we can’t use the ocean,” she said. “We need to be able to use it, just not use it up.”

The task force’s actions are guided by a memorandum Obama issued June 12 to better meet the nation’s stewardship responsibilities for America’s oceans, coasts and the Great Lakes.

The task force recommendations to the president will include a national policy for the ocean, coasts and Great Lakes, a framework for policy coordination to improve ocean stewardship, an implementation strategy to meet objectives of the national policy, and a framework for coastal and marine spatial planning.

North Slope Borough Mayor Edward Itta, the first to testify, noted the potential access for resource development in the warming Arctic climate.

“There is increasing talk of arctic shipping lanes, expanded fisheries, new tourism opportunities and other competing uses,” Itta said. “In the midst of all these claims we are trying to preserve our traditional use of our land,” he said. “We are not afraid of change as Inupiat Eskimos. It has done a lot of good things for our people, but all of us know that change involves risk and the risk of some of these potential activities in the arctic are substantial. We just want to make sure that risks are controlled and mitigated as well as humanly possible.”

Myron Naneng, president of the Association of Village Council Presidents, which represents 56 villages in the Yukon Delta of Western Alaska, spoke of the dramatic impact the ocean has on village residents. Poor salmon returns make it difficult for residents to garner a sufficient subsistence harvest. He suggested that representatives of subsistence fisheries be included on any federal council dealing with fisheries issues.

Susan Childs, Alaska regulatory manager for Royal Dutch Shell, said the vast coastal waters should be available to the American people for multiple uses, including recreational and commercial.

Renewable energy will be an important component of the nation’s future energy mix, but a swift transition to renewable energy is highly unlikely, she said.

Marleanna Soto, speaking on behalf of the Resource Development Council for Alaska Inc., spoke in support of offshore oil and gas development. The council believes the outer continental shelf offshore of Alaska has huge potential oil and natural gas resources, which should be developed.

Shawn Dochtermann, representing the Crewman’s Association, asked the panel to address commercial fisheries catch share management programs which have privatized fisheries and resulted in lost jobs and lost income for many involved in crab fisheries in Alaska. Programs that have privatized crab and other fisheries do not serve as good examples of fisheries management and national policy, he said.

Mead Treadwell, chair of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission, urged that the panel pay attention to the needs of the Arctic Ocean and Bering Sea as those waters become more accessible.

“They continue to provide strategic amounts of energy and protein to the United States, they continue to provide basic subsistence to Alaska’s indigenous coastal residents, and they are some of the least known oceans on earth, with real research needs in both physical and biological oceanography, he said.

Margaret Bauman can be reached at