Trawler industry representative Anne Vanderhoeven has been reappointed to a seat on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC), chosen by U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo over three other nominees from Washington Gov. Jay Inslee.
Officials with the NPFMC declined comment on July 30, on grounds that the official announcement had not yet been made, but word of the appointment was already widespread and attracting criticism from conservation groups.
Vanderhoeven, who has also served on several of the federal council’s committees, is the director of government affairs for Arctic Storm Management Group, whose four vessels catch pollock and whiting in the Bering Sea.
The trawler sector of the commercial fisheries industry has long been represented on the federal fisheries council. They have for years been in conflict with residents of Yukon and Kuskokwim River communities and conservation groups, who want the council to reduce the amount of bycatch chum and king salmon legally caught by the trawlers.
Inslee had submitted four names for consideration, with Vanderhoeven at the bottom of the stake. His first choice was attorney and conservation advocate Becca Robbins Gisclair, the senior director for Ocean Conservancy, an environmental advocacy entity. Gisclair is also a domestic advisor for the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission and the Bering Sea Fishery Advisory Body and has worked for several Alaska organizations as a natural resources advisor. She lives on Coast Salish lands in Bellingham, Washington.
Inslee’s second choice was Jamie Goen, executive director of the Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers, the trade group representing carb harvesters. She worked for NOAA Fisheries for 15 years and as part of the leadership team at the International Pacific Halibut Commission.
Elaine Harvey, Watershed Department Manager for the Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission, a tribal coordinating body comprised of the four Tribes of the Columbia Basin, was Inslee’s third choice. Before that she worked with the Department of Natural Resources of the Yakama Nation.
The environmental entity SalmonState and Laureli Ivanoff, executive director of Native Peoples Action, said they were disappointed in Raimondo’s decision.
“We were hoping a strong, independent, conservation-minded voice would be added to the Council,” said SalmonState executive director Tim Bristol. “Instead, we get pro-trawl business as usual. This decision makes it hard to have faith in a fair and balanced Council process moving forward.”
“This decision is not just a disappointment, but a gut punch to Alaska’s Indigenous who rely upon the Council for the continuation of a way of life that has remained central to who we are,” Ivanoff said.
