Margaret Bauman
Margaret Bauman is a veteran Alaska journalist focused on covering fisheries and environmental issues. Bauman has been writing for The Cordova Times since 2010. You can reach her at fisheriesreporter@gmail.com.
Controversy heightens on future of refuge’s coastal plain
Release of the final environmental impact statement for oil and gas development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is garnering kudos from Alaska’s congressional delegation and protests from Neets’ąįį Gwich’in tribes who rely ANWR’s subsistence and cultural resources.
Coho harvests still coming from gillnet fishery
Coho harvests in Prince William Sound rose to 497,000 fish this week as drift gillnetters in the Coghill district made dozens of deliveries, and the Sound’s overall preliminary wild salmon deliveries hit 55.8 million fish.
NOAA declares unusual mortality event for ice seals
Heightened deaths of ice seals have prompted NOAA to declare an Unusual Mortality Event for bearded, ringed and spotted seals in the Bering and Chukchi seas. According to NOAA’s report the total includes 282 dead seals, with 119 stranded seals in 2018 and 163 in 2019.
Short-tailed Shearwater seabirds struggle to find enough food
Thousands of Short-tailed Shearwater seabirds have died in Alaska this summer of apparent starvation. They are likely victims of warming ocean temperatures that have impacted their ability to get enough food, say biologists with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Pebble project permit application changes spark outrage
A decision by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to consider without additional public input recent changes in a Clean Water Act Section 404 permit application for the proposed Pebble mine in Southwest Alaska is sparking controversy anew.
Crab plan team to study latest survey data
Eastern Bering Sea bottom trawl survey results will be the focus of discussion Sept. 16-20 in Seattle by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council’s crab plan team, which will set the overfishing level and acceptable biological catch for these fisheries.
New ballot initiative would reform SB 21
Debate over what is the real fair share for Alaska of oil extracted could come before voters at the ballot box in 2020 in the form of the Fair Share Act, proposed legislation that would reform Senate Bill 21.
Humpy catch ends, coho opener wait for rain
“We still haven’t gotten a lot of rain, so we’re tracking behind in escapement and the (coho) commercial harvest is below anticipated,” said Jeremy Botz, gillnet area management biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Cordova.
Legislators: Pebble mine could spark a cataclysmic mistake
Claims of Gov. Mike Dunleavy to a potential investor in the Pebble mine project that the state will actively help defend the project from “frivolous and scurrilous attacks” are drawing a sharp rebuttal from 20 Alaska legislators and the Bristol Bay Native Corp.
Rainfall offers relief as PWS humpy harvest climbs to 46M+
Long sought rain and cooling weather over the past week helped boost the Prince William Sound pink salmon harvest to 46,290,000 fish, and the area’s overall salmon catch to 54,525,000 fish.
