Biennial military training begins in the Gulf

Real time environmental monitoring urged during military exercise

Lt. Col. Tim Bobinski, of Alaskan Command/Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, discusses Northern Edge 17, a joint military training operation scheduled for the Gulf of Alaska May 1-12, 2017, with the Cordova City Council and the public on Dec. 7, in the Cordova Center. Photo by Cinthia Gibbens-Stimson/The Cordova Times

Just two weeks before the start of the Copper River commercial salmon fishery, biennial military training exercises are under way in the Gulf of Alaska, raising concerns among harvesters and other about potential adverse impact on the fishery.

NE 17 is one of a series of U.S. Pacific Command exercises this year to prepare joint forces to respond to crises in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region with sharpened tactical combat skills.

Military officials contend that environmental protection is an integral part of the exercise, and point to a lengthy environmental analysis of activities being conducted as part of NE 17.

They say they go to great lengths to minimize harm to the environment, and are proud of their environmental stewardship.

Several coastal communities don’t share that opinion, and have voiced their opinion in resolutions asking that the training be scheduled after most of the fishing has ended after mid-September.

That plea has the support of Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who is urging the Navy to give serious thought to conducting the Gulf of Alaska component of Northern Edge 2019 in the fall.

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“I have raised this issue with the outreach team and understand that this alternative is under consideration,” Murkowski said in a recently letter to commanders of the U.S. Pacific Command and U.S. Pacific Fleet. “It is important that your consideration of this alternative be transparent to the affected communities.”

Murkowski said some stakeholders are insisting that the Navy submit to an independent review of the impact of offshore exercise activities in the Pacific on fisheries by the National Academies, whose rigorous evidence based analysis is useful to constructive resolution of resource conflicts.

Meanwhile the senator urged the Navy to continue its outreach work with communities and stakeholders during and after Northern Edge 2017.

“If adverse environmental impacts are identified in the course of the exercise, it is important that they be immediately addressed,” she said. “An after action review with communities and stakeholders following the conclusion of the exercise, to include the satisfaction of stakeholders with the quality of the outreach, would also be in order,” she said.

In Anchorage meanwhile, marine conservation biologist Rick Steiner, citing an opinion from the National Marine Fisheries Service, said that species expected to be adversely impacted included several species of whales, Steller sea lions and several threatened runs of coho and chum salmon and steelhead trout. Steiner said the NMFS biological opinion failed, however, to consider potential interaction between ongoing impacts of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in the Gulf of Alaska, particularly lack of recovery of theAT1 killer whale pod, and potential impacts of NE17.

Steiner said it was also important to note that the NMFS biological opinion and the Navy’s environmental impact statement for the Gulf training exercises simply predict impact, based on existing scientific literature.

“Actual impacts of the exercise would need to be measured with a real time environmental monitoring program conducted during the exercise, but the Navy refused our request that it conduct such real-time monitoring studies,” he said.’

The Navy, Steiner said, should use third party monitors on ships to observe the mitigation measures and should conduct real time monitoring during the exercise.

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