'Eye in sky' on SE fishermen next?

Increasingly, commercial fishing boat movements in Alaska's federal waters are being tracked by satellite on a daily basis by federal law enforcement.

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The goal: to monitor compliance with fishing closures and no-entry zones designed to protect critical habitat - such as deep-sea corals - and the fish eaten by Western Alaska's threatened Steller sea lions.

In 2005, 30 cases were resolved using the new tracking devices, according to National Marine Fisheries Service law enforcement agents.

Now, some small-boat fishermen in Southeast Alaska are wondering if the so-called "eye in the sky" is going to be trained on them next.

"It's going to be up for discussion ... . It will be very important for longliners in Southeast to pay attention," said Jeff Passer, Juneau-based special agent in charge for the National Marine Fisheries Service' regional Office for Law Enforcement.

The National Marine Fisheries Service's vessel monitoring system program - called VMS - now only applies to federally permitted commercial fishing vessels over 60 feet in length. It also only applies to boats that use bottom-contact gear, such as dredges and pots, to harvest crab and groundfish in the Aleutians and other parts of Western Alaska.

Fishing permit holders already subject to the rule must install and operate satellite tracking devices - costing about $2,000 - on their boats. In the past, fishermen have been reimbursed for the cost of the units, which allow the Coast Guard and National Marine Fisheries Service law enforcement agents to track their vessels on computers in real time.

"It's kind of like having your phone bugged," said Linda Behnken, a Sitka longliner and executive director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen's Association.

Behnken is one of a number of Southeast Alaskans weighing in against any future expansion of the VMS program to small commercial fishing boats, particularly the longliners who venture off the Southeast Alaska coast into federal waters.

Such expansion is possible. The National Marine Fisheries Service is producing a comprehensive analysis of vessel tracking for all boats with federal commercial fishing permits. "It's going to look at costs and benefits under several scenarios," said Sheela McLean, spokeswoman for the NMFS regional headquarters in Juneau.

The analysis will be presented at the North Pacific Fishery Management Council's October meeting in Dutch Harbor, with possible action taken at the next council meeting in December in Anchorage.

Few if any Southeast Alaska fishermen will be able to attend the Dutch Harbor meeting, Behnken said, citing the high cost of travel.

For Behnken, vessel tracking for longliners seems unnecessary. She said longliners traditionally do not fish the areas in the Gulf of Alaska that are now designated as "essential fish habitat," and are subject to special protection from damaging fishing gear under federal law.

Further, Behnken said, submarine surveys show that longliners are not ripping up coral in the habitat areas.

Some longliners in Juneau also worry that the federal government is getting a little too intrusive. "It kind of feels like 'guilty until you are proven innocent,'" said Greg Bowen, a longline crewman on the Juneau-based Seaview.

"We rank that up there with an ankle bracelet," chimed in fellow crewman Glen Galloway.

Southeast Alaska's longline fleet is already being watched by aircraft, Bowen said. "You don't dare do anything. You could lose your boat," he said.

The longline fleet is one of the last Alaska commercial fishing gear groups with federal permits to be considered for vessel tracking.

North Pacific council chair Stephanie Madsen said that some other regional fishery councils in the United States already require vessel tracking on every fishing vessel in federal waters.

"We need to have those discussions ... so we fully understand the cost to the industry," Madsen said.

• Elizabeth Bluemink can be reach at elizabeth.bluemink@juneauempire.com.