The Upper Lynn Canal Fish and Game Advisory Committee unanimously voted Wednesday to oppose a proposed federal rule that would designate 22,000 square nautical miles in Southeast Alaska as critical habitat for humpback whales. Locally, the designation would encompass Lynn Canal from Juneau to Haines, stopping at Battery Point on both the Chilkoot and Chilkat inlets, according to rough projections.
Lisa Manning, a spokesperson at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Office of Protected Resources, told the CVN Tuesday that critical habitat only affects federal actions, including federally managed fisheries, and said she does not expect a proposed designation to affect state-run fisheries.
Advisory committee member Stuart DeWitt, who brought the issue to the group, was skeptical that Southeast fisherman wouldn’t see any additional regulations. “NOAA thinks that the impacts to fisheries will be negligible, but I have a hard time believing that,” Dewitt said.
He added that the size of the proposed area in Southeast Alaska is disproportionate to the humpback whales that feed in it.
Humpback whales were listed as endangered species until late 2016. After that, NOAA later divided the species into 14 distinct population groups. Of those, NOAA identified two groups native to Central America and the Western North Pacific as endangered, and another from Mexico as threatened.
A portion of the estimated 2,800 Mexican humpbacks migrate to Southeast Alaska year-round, with highest densities in summer and fall to feed, which is why areas off the coast of Haines, Skagway, Hoonah, Juneau, Sitka, Petersburg, Wrangell and Ketchikan are included in the proposed critical habitat designation. Of 1,868 humpbacks originating in Mexico photo-identified for observation, 35 were found feeding in Northern British Columbia up into Southeast Alaska, compared to 97 in the Gulf of Alaska and 105 in California and Oregon, according to NOAA’s research, conducted from 2004 to 2006.
A critical habitat affects federal actions, such as permitting or applying for a grant, Manning said. “All activities that take place within critical habitat don’t suddenly become federalized simply because they take place within the critical habitat,” she said.
However, the designation would require federal approval on state, borough and private activity that already requires federal authorization and could affect marine life, such as Constantine’s upstream exploration at the Palmer Project, or harbor upgrades, Manning said.
Actions that would require