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National: President Trump Delivers 3rd State of the Union Address; Alaska Senators Respond - Tonight President Donald J. Trump delivered his third State of the Union address laying out his vision for our country saying the agenda he lays out is not a Republican agenda or a Democrat agenda but an agenda of the American people.

Listen to President Trump's address and listen to the responses from Alaska U.S. Senators Murkowski and Sullivan to the president's address. - More...
Tuesday PM - February 04, 2020

Alaska: U.S. Senate Sets Final Impeachment Vote for Feb. 5th - This week U.S. Senators have been making their cases on the floor of the Senate before the final vote scheduled for Wednesday.

With the final vote in President Donald Trump's impeachment trial set for tomorrow, U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) spoke on the Senate floor Monday making her case for acquittal: - More...
Tuesday PM - February 04, 2020

Fish Factor: Not Well-known About Alaska Commercial Fisheries By LAINE WELCH - Alaska gets a good return on investment from its commercial fisheries. 

 And surprise! Commercial fisheries expertise also sustains Alaska’s subsistence and most of the personal use fisheries. 

“This is probably not well-known,” said Sam Rabung, director of the commercial fisheries division for the Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game, at a presentation last week to the House Fisheries Committee.

 “Data collected by our division is shared across all divisions within the department as much as possible,” he explained to lawmakers. “We also share the cost of projects and facilities with other divisions. We work as a team. So that investment also carries over to other user groups.”

Rabung pointed out that the commercial fishing industry is the largest private sector employer in Alaska, putting almost 60,000 people to work annually. 

“It contributes about $172 million directly in taxes, fees and self-assessments to state, local and federal governments, and contributes an annual average of about $5.6 billion in economic output to the Alaska economy,” he added.

Of the $172 million in taxes, 43% ($73 million) goes to state coffers, 30% ($51 million) to local governments; 23% ($40 million) funds salmon hatchery management, and 5% ($8 million) goes to the federal government. 

Rabung pointed out that the division’s main charge is sustaining the revenue-generating fisheries long into the future - and that takes good science.

“Most of our budget is used on research, which is another word for assessment tools,” he told the committee. “We assess the stocks to see if there is a harvestable surplus. If we can’t do that work, we can’t open a fishery and say we’re managing sustainably and we revert to being more conservative. We may have less openings or lower guideline harvest levels or in some cases, we might just close the fisheries altogether. We set the bar very high as far as sustainability.” 

Louise Stutes (R-Kodiak), fisheries committee chair, stressed that few state investments return as much to the state operating budget.

“When the budget for ADF&G is cut, that directly affects the resulting revenue to the state by affecting the ability to fully prosecute the fisheries that might be involved in the budget reductions,” Stutes said. “My goal in this hearing was to make it clear that Alaska’s commercial fisheries do indeed pay their own way. Investments in our commercial fisheries lead directly to fishing opportunities for Alaskans, great returns to the general fund, and produce benefits in spades for our state economy. We should be looking at targeted increases to the department’s budget.”

Targeted reductions: 

The commercial fisheries division operates on a nearly $67 million budget, of which $36 million comes from state general funds. Governor Dunleavy’s proposed budget for FY2021 calls for a nearly $1 million reduction.

Here are targeted programs across the state at this early stage in the budget process, provided by United Fishermen of Alaska. 

Crab lovers in Southeast Alaska could go without if funding (-$315.6) is eliminated for tracking the region’s red king crab population. 

 “A lot of people don't recognize that those stock assessments help evaluate if the personal use fishery can open. So without that assessment, there will be no personal use fisheries for red king crab in Southeast Alaska,” said Frances Leach, UFA executive director.  - More...
Tuesday PM - February 04, 2020

New thalattosaur species discovered in Southeast Alaska
Gunakadeit, a sea monster of Tlingit legend,
brings good fortune to those who see it.
Artwork by Robert Mills ©2020

Southeast Alaska: New thalattosaur species discovered in Southeast Alaska Edited By MARY KAUFFMAN - Scientists at the University of Alaska Fairbanks have identified a new species of thalattosaur, a marine reptile that lived more than 200 million years ago. The new species has been given a Tlingit name Gunakadeit joseeae after a sea monster of Tlingit legend that brings good fortune to those who see it. The naming of the new species is thought to be first time a Tlingit name has been given to a fossil.

The new species, Gunakadeit joseeae, is the most complete thalattosaur ever found in North America and has given paleontologists new insights about the thalattosaurs’ family tree, according to a paper published today in the journal Scientific Reports. Scientists found the fossil near Kake in Southeast Alaska in 2011.

Thalattosaurs were marine reptiles that lived more than 200 million years ago, during the mid to late Triassic Period, when their distant relatives - dinosaurs - were first emerging. They grew to lengths of up to 3-4 meters (118-157 inches or 9-13 feet) and lived in equatorial oceans worldwide until they died out near the end of the Triassic.

“When you find a new species, one of the things you want to do is tell people where you think it fits in the family tree,” said Patrick Druckenmiller, the paper’s lead author and director and earth sciences curator at the University of Alaska Museum of the North. “We decided to start from scratch on the family tree.”

Prior to the discovery of Gunakadeit joseeae, it had been two decades since scientists had thoroughly updated thalattosaur interrelationships, Druckenmiller said. The process of re-examining a prehistoric animal’s family tree involves analyzing dozens and dozens of detailed anatomical features from fossil specimens worldwide, then using computers to analyze the information to see how the different species could be related.

Druckenmiller said he and collaborator Neil Kelley from Vanderbilt University were surprised when they identified where Gunakadeit joseeae landed.

“It was so specialized and weird, we thought it might be out at the furthest branches of the tree,” he said. Instead it’s a relatively primitive type of thalattosaur that survived late into the existence of the group.

“Thalattosaurs were among the first groups of land-dwelling reptiles to readapt to life in the ocean,” Kelley said. “They thrived for tens of millions of years, but their fossils are relatively rare so this new specimen helps fill an important gap in the story of their evolution and eventual extinction.”

That the fossil was found at all is a remarkable. It was located in rocks in the intertidal zone. The site is normally underwater all but a few days a year. In Southeast Alaska, when extreme low tides hit, people head to the beaches to explore. That’s exactly what Jim Baichtal, a geologist with the U.S. Forest Service’s Tongass National Forest, was doing on May 18, 2011, when low tides of -3.7 feet were predicted. - More...
Tuesday PM - February 04, 2020

Ketchikan: AFA APPOINTS NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR; Brings Extensive Experience in Public Policy & Alaska Issues - The Alaska Forest Association (AFA) Board announced the appointment of Tessa Axelson as the organization’s Executive Director. AFA is a non-profit industry trade association dedicated to advancing, restoring, promoting and maintaining a healthy, viable forest products industry in Alaska.

“As we embark on our 63rd year of operations, we are pleased to appoint Tessa as AFA’s new Executive Director. Tessa has an array of executive management, external affairs, facilitation, public policy, contract oversight, and program management expertise that will reinvigorate AFA, identify new opportunities, and promote engaged relationships with our stakeholders and program partners,” said AFA Board President Mr. Bert Burkhart.

Axelson comes to this position after having worked over 20 years in a variety of sectors in Alaska, including 15 years at the Denali Commission, a federal agency created by the late Senator Ted Stevens, where she served in various capacities, including Director of Programs. - More...
Tuesday PM - February 04,2020

Scientists listen to whales, walruses, and seals in a changing Arctic seascape
A herd of walrus, one of the focal species of a recently completed acoustic study of marine mammals in the northern Bering Sea.
Photo Credit: Maxim Chakilev - One time use only

Alaska: Scientists listen to whales, walruses, and seals in a changing Arctic seascape; Multi-year, year-round acoustic study in northern Bering Sea records more than 30,000 whale, walrus, and seal calls - A year-round acoustic study of marine mammals in the northern Bering Sea is providing scientists with a valuable snapshot of an Arctic world already under drastic pressure from climate change, according to WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society), Columbia University, Southall Environmental Associates, and the University of Washington. 

Authors of the new study in the journal Marine Mammal Science conducted a 4-year acoustic monitoring project to determine how seasons, sea surface temperature, and sea ice influence the presence, distribution, and movements of five species of endemic Arctic marine mammals. It is the first study to conduct year-round acoustic monitoring for marine mammals off St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea. 

"The data gathered during the study will serve as an important baseline for future monitoring of the effects of climate change, subsequent sea ice changes, and expected increases in shipping on the distribution of the region's marine mammals," said Emily Chou, WCS scientist and lead author of the study.

The scientists conducted the study between 2012 and 2016 with a focus on five species of Arctic marine mammal: bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus), beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas), walrus (Odobenus rosmarus), bearded seals (Erignathus barbatus), and ribbon seals (Histriophoca fasciata).

With the support of local indigenous hunters and fishermen, the scientists deployed archival acoustic recorders in three locations in the northern Bering Sea. "Working with local residents to deploy and retrieve equipment was an important part of our effort to keep the work as locally-based as possible," said co-author Martin Robards. 

Two of the recorders (attached to flotation devices and anchored to the seafloor with weights) were deployed off the northern shore of St. Lawrence Island, specifically near the Native villages of Savoonga and Gambell. The third recorder was placed in the Bering Strait, a 36-mile wide gap between the Russian Far East and Alaska that serves as the migratory pathway for thousands of marine mammals moving between the Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean. 

"Acoustic monitoring is the most effective means of determining the seasonal presence of these species in these challenging Arctic areas, given the unpredictable weather conditions and variable daylight and ice conditions," said Brandon Southall, a co-author on the study. "It can also be used to measure variability in ocean noise from both natural and human sources, such as shipping, and how they may affect the behavior and well-being of marine mammals." - More...
Tuesday PM - February 04, 2020

TOM PURCELL: THE D.C. DISORDER THAT’S SADDER THAN SAD - Maybe Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is bringing me down – or not.

Overcast winter weather triggers SAD. Lack of exposure to sunlight can cause higher levels of melatonin and lower levels of serotonin in the brain, which can cause depression-like symptoms.

But then again, maybe it’s the news – and not SAD – that’s triggering my listlessness.

According to The Washington Post, the latest Congressional Budget Office estimates show the federal deficit “reached $1 trillion in 2019, for the first time since the Great Recession, and, under current law will average $1.3 trillion through 2030.”

It gets worse: “Federal debt held by the public will grow from 81 percent of gross domestic product to a post-1946 record of 98 percent.”

Didn’t Republicans used to care about this spending stuff? Didn’t President Trump, as candidate Trump, promise to end the deficit in eight years?

This gets me so down, all I want to do is curl up in a blanket and sip hot toddies by a roaring fireplace.

Regardless of who’s president, Democrat or Republican, America has been on a serious spending spree.

Consider: When George W. Bush assumed office, the national debt was $5.7 trillion. He nearly doubled it in eight years to about $11 trillion.

President Obama added nearly $9 trillion to our debt load during his eight years in office.

President Trump is on track to add another $5 trillion to our debt during his first term.

Sure, I get it – partly. Entitlement-program spending continues to grow faster than revenue.

Some blame Republican tax cuts for reducing revenue, though overall tax receipts have increased and are higher than ever. - More...
Tuesday PM - February 04, 2020

Political Cartoon: Iowa State of Confusion
By Dave Whamond ©2020, Canada, PoliticalCartoons.com
Distributed to paid subscribers for publication by Cagle Cartoons, Inc.