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Conflict avoidance under scrutiny AEWC complains about unclear process for plan of cooperation development, wants to ensure dialogue with North Slope communities Alan Bailey Petroleum News
As well as mandating the protection of marine mammals, the Marine Mammals Protection Act, or MMPA, includes a provision designed to ensure the availability of marine mammal resources for subsistence hunting: Traditional communities on Alaska’s North Slope depend on subsistence resources such as bowhead whales as prime sources of food and as an essential component of the traditional subsistence culture of the Arctic.
It became evident during the National Marine Fisheries Service’s annual Arctic Open Water Meeting held March 6-8 that there are some issues regarding how this aspect of the MMPA is implemented.
To meet the requirements of the MMPA, the National Marine Fisheries Service, or NMFS, the agency that administers the protection of whales, porpoises and seals, has regulations requiring a company to provide NMFS with a plan of cooperation, or POC, with subsistence hunters when applying for an authorization for the accidental disturbance of marine mammals during offshore operations. As an alternative to a plan of cooperation, a company can submit evidence of measures taken to minimize impacts on subsistence hunting.
The regulations spell out requirements for a plan of cooperation, including the need for a schedule of meetings with impacted communities.
Conflict avoidance agreement However, there has been a custom for many years for companies planning offshore work to negotiate what are termed conflict avoidance agreements, or CAAs, with subsistence hunters, in particular with hunters of bowhead whales. The negotiation of a CAA involves discussions with the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission and with whaling captains who are potentially impacted by an activity that a company has planned.
According to a draft environmental impact statement, or EIS, that NMFS has prepared for the impact of oil and gas activities in the Arctic Ocean, NMFS has for many years accepted the signing of a CAA as evidence that the requirements of a POC have been met. But in recent years some companies have been reluctant to sign CAAs, saying that the terms of a typical CAA go beyond what is required to avoid impacts on subsistence hunting, the draft EIS says. And the fact that a CAA tends to apply only to bowhead whale hunting leaves open the question of how to protect subsistence hunting for other animal species, the document says.
The Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission claims that, while the development of a CAA involves a well-understood process of dialogue, developed over many years, companies tend to develop POCs without adequate input from North Slope communities.
People do not see a process for community involvement during POC development, Harry Brower, vice chairman of the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission, told the NMFS representatives at the Open Water Meeting.
Johnny Aitken, director of the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission, characterizing the oil industry as a “visitor to the Arctic,” told the meeting that in his opinion meeting the minimum requirements of preparing a POC involves no discussions between the oil industry and the North Slope communities.
POC: broken process “With this type of process we can’t help the oil companies and the federal government to come up with mitigation measures that will avoid impacts to our hunting and our resources,” Aitken said. “This is a broken and exclusive process. It also divides communities and builds distrust between the whalers and the industry as it circumvents the necessity to sign the CAA.”
Jolie Harrison, incidental take team supervisor for NMFS Office of Protected Resources, told the meeting that NMFS has started evaluating the CAA and POC processes and is looking for ideas for improvement.
“We would like to develop an iterative, open and adaptive process that builds on things that have worked in the past and also makes it easier for everyone to implement,” Harrison said.
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