SEWARD PENINSULA SUBSISTENCE RAC MEETING 10/23/2019 SEWARD PENINSULA RAC MEETING 2 SEWARD PENINSULA FEDERAL SUBSISTENCE REGIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL MEETING PUBLIC MEETING VOLUME II Nome Mini-Convention Center Nome, Alaska October 23, 2019 9:27 a.m. Members Present: Louis Green, Chairman Deahl Katchatag Ronald Kirk Leland Oyoumick Charles Saccheus Elmer Seetot Regional Council Coordinator - Karen Deatherage Recorded and transcribed by: Computer Matrix Court Reporters, LLC 135 Christensen Drive, Suite 2 Anchorage, AK 99501 907-227-5312; [email protected] Computer Matrix, LLC Phone: 907-243-0668 135 Christensen Dr., Ste. 2., Anch. AK 99501 Fax: 907-243-1473 SEWARD PENINSULA SUBSISTENCE RAC MEETING 10/23/2019 SEWARD PENINSULA RAC MEETING 2 Page 137 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 3 (Nome, Alaska - 10/23/2019) 4 5 (On record) 6 7 CHAIRMAN GREEN: So I'm going to call 8 the meeting back to order. 9 10 MR. SEETOT: 9:27. 11 12 CHAIRMAN GREEN: 9:28 -- 9:27. We're 13 going to go around the room here because there's new 14 folks who may be on the line, and there's some new 15 folks in the room here in Nome. So we're going to have 16 introductions and everybody sitting out there in the 17 seating section can come to the mic and put your name 18 over the airwaves. 19 20 So we'll start with you folks, the guy 21 that just sat down first. 22 23 (Laughter) 24 25 CHAIRMAN GREEN: And then we'll go 26 around our table. 27 28 Thanks. 29 30 MR. STONE: Good morning, Council. My 31 name is Jared Stone. I'm a fisheries technician with 32 the Office of Subsistence Management. 33 34 MR. DUNKER: This is Bill Dunker, the 35 Unit 22 area biologist with Fish and Game based here in 36 Nome. 37 38 MR. ADKISSON: Ken Adkisson, Park 39 Service, Nome. 40 41 MR. GUSSEY: Good morning, Walker 42 Gussey. Anchorage Field Office, Ranger/Pilot. 43 44 MR. SEPI: Good morning. Bruce Sepi, 45 Bureau of Land Management, Anchorage Field Office. 46 47 MS. BRAEM: Good morning, I'm Nikki 48 Braem. I'm with the National Park Service in Nome. 49 50 Computer Matrix, LLC Phone: 907-243-0668 135 Christensen Dr., Ste. 2., Anch. AK 99501 Fax: 907-243-1473 SEWARD PENINSULA SUBSISTENCE RAC MEETING 10/23/2019 SEWARD PENINSULA RAC MEETING 2 Page 138 1 MS. MIKOW: Good morning, I'm Beth 2 Mikow with ADF&G, Division of Subsistence. 3 4 MR. SPARKS: Good morning. Tom Sparks, 5 Anchorage Field Office, Bureau of Land Management. 6 7 MS. GERMAIN: Good morning. Sarah 8 Germain, Fish and Game assistant area wildlife 9 biologist. 10 11 MS, HUGHES: Letty Hughes, wildlife 12 biologist for Bering LandBridge here in Nome. 13 14 MS. WORKER: Good morning. I'm Suzanne 15 Worker with the Office of Subsistence Management. 16 17 MS. KLOSTERMAN: Good morning. I'm 18 Megan Klosterman, wildlife biologist with the Office of 19 Subsistence Management. 20 21 MS. VOORHEES: Hannah Voorhees. I'm an 22 anthropologist with the Office of Subsistence 23 Management. 24 25 CHAIRMAN GREEN: And there's folks on 26 the phone, yes, Tina. 27 28 REPORTER: Yes. 29 30 CHAIRMAN GREEN: If you could let us 31 know who you are. 32 33 REPORTER: On line. Ron, are you 34 there? 35 36 MR. BURCH: Good morning. This is Mark 37 Burch with the Department of Fish and Game. 38 39 REPORTER: Ron, are you there. 40 41 MR. KIRK: Yes. Good morning, Mr. 42 Chair. Ron Kirk. 43 44 CHAIRMAN GREEN: Good morning, Ron. 45 Anybody else on the phone. 46 47 (No comments) 48 49 CHAIRMAN GREEN: In the room. 50 Computer Matrix, LLC Phone: 907-243-0668 135 Christensen Dr., Ste. 2., Anch. AK 99501 Fax: 907-243-1473 SEWARD PENINSULA SUBSISTENCE RAC MEETING 10/23/2019 SEWARD PENINSULA RAC MEETING 2 Page 139 1 (No comments) 2 3 CHAIRMAN GREEN: Clarence. 4 5 MR. SACCHEUS: Charles Saccheus 6 representing Elim, Alaska. 7 8 MR. KATCHATAG: Deahl Katchatag, 9 Unalakleet. 10 11 MR. OYOUMICK: Leland Oyoumick, 12 Unalakleet, Alaska. 13 14 MR. SEETOT: (In Native) aka Elmer 15 Seetot, Jr., Brevig Mission. 16 17 CHAIRMAN GREEN: Louis Green, Nome, 18 Pilgrim Hot Springs, Kuzitrin River and -- yeah, I'm 19 kidding. 20 21 (Laughter) 22 23 CHAIRMAN GREEN: On and on. I learned 24 it from you Elmer. 25 26 (Laughter) 27 28 CHAIRMAN GREEN: Okay. So this 29 morning's business, we're supposed to start off here 30 with the 2020 Fisheries Resource Monitoring Program, 31 but I'm going to ask if there's any -- should I ask for 32 public now or after these reports -- probably..... 33 34 MS. DEATHERAGE: Thank you, Mr. Chair. 35 My recommendation is that you go ahead and open the 36 floor for any tribal or public comments. 37 38 Thank you. 39 40 CHAIRMAN GREEN: All right, I had that 41 in the right order. Okay. So for public or tribal 42 comments on non-agenda items, I'll take anybody on the 43 phone. 44 45 (No comments) 46 47 CHAIRMAN GREEN: It doesn't sound like 48 anybody's on the phone, anybody in the room -- no. 49 50 Computer Matrix, LLC Phone: 907-243-0668 135 Christensen Dr., Ste. 2., Anch. AK 99501 Fax: 907-243-1473 SEWARD PENINSULA SUBSISTENCE RAC MEETING 10/23/2019 SEWARD PENINSULA RAC MEETING 2 Page 140 1 Moving on. 2 3 Now, we can go to this Fisheries 4 Resource Monitoring Program, who's up. Okay, Mr. 5 Stone. We're going to watch a movie. 6 7 (Pause) 8 9 MR. STONE: Hello, Mr. Chair and 10 members of the Council. For the record my name is 11 Jared Stone and I'm a fisheries technician with the 12 Office of Subsistence Management. My goal today is to 13 present you with a brief overview of the Fisheries 14 Resource Monitoring Program and some of its 15 accomplishments to date. I'll review the funding 16 process, your regional overview, and finish up by 17 requesting Council comments on the projects submitted 18 for the northern region during the 2020 call for 19 proposals. 20 21 This is not an action item and there's 22 no motion necessary for the process. 23 24 The Fisheries Resource Monitoring 25 Program materials begin on Page 230 of your Council 26 books. I'll give you a minute to find those materials. 27 28 (Pause) 29 30 CHAIRMAN GREEN: Go ahead. 31 32 MR. STONE: The Fisheries Resource 33 Monitoring Program is a multi-disciplinary 34 collaborative effort that enhances subsistence 35 fisheries research and provides necessary information 36 for the management of subsistence fisheries on Federal 37 public lands in Alaska. The program encourages 38 partnerships between tribes, rural organizations, 39 universities, and Federal and State Agencies. In 40 addition, it encourages interdisciplinary approaches to 41 conducting research and addressing issues. 42 43 The Office of Subsistence Management 44 administers the Monitoring Program. The program has 45 the intent of advancing projects of strategic 46 importance to the Federal Subsistence Management 47 Program and coordinating information sharing of ongoing 48 and new subsistence research efforts. 49 50 Computer Matrix, LLC Phone: 907-243-0668 135 Christensen Dr., Ste. 2., Anch. AK 99501 Fax: 907-243-1473 SEWARD PENINSULA SUBSISTENCE RAC MEETING 10/23/2019 SEWARD PENINSULA RAC MEETING 2 Page 141 1 Since its inception in 2000, the 2 Monitoring Program has funded more than 450 projects 3 statewide, with a total allocation exceeding $120 4 million. The figures on this slide demonstrate both 5 the allocation of funds and the number of projects 6 funded through the Monitoring Program by the 7 organizations principal investigator. Although not 8 displayed here, some of these funds have been used by 9 the principal investigator organization to subcontract 10 with research partners such as communities, tribes, and 11 other research organizations. 12 13 This slide shows the guideline 14 allocation of funds by region. While this provides an 15 initial target for planning of allocations, they are 16 often adjusted as needed to ensure that quality 17 projects are funded. 18 19 Next, I'll jump into how the funding 20 process actually works. The program divides the state 21 into six regions. These regions correspond to Federal 22 subsistence fisheries areas that generally hold stock, 23 harvest, and community issues in common. 24 25 During the first step of the process 26 the Regional Advisory Councils, with support from OSM 27 State and Federal and State fishery and land managers, 28 ensure that the Monitoring Program focuses on the 29 highest priority subsistence fishery information needs 30 for each region. Councils ensure issues of local 31 concern and knowledge gaps related to subsistence 32 fisheries are identified for priority information need 33 development. Ideally, principal investigators work 34 closely with the Councils in order to develop strong 35 proposals that are responsive to those needs. The 36 Office of Subsistence Management provides technical 37 assistance as needed. 38 39 The second step is requesting new 40 project proposals, which the program does every two 41 years. Submissions must be complete, on time, and 42 address the five criteria outlined in the notice of 43 funding opportunity in order to be competitive. The 44 criteria are strategic priority, technical scientific 45 merit, investigator ability and resources, partnership 46 and capacity building, and cost benefit of the project.