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April 17, 2014

 

capital Today's Congressional Action:   

The House and Senate are not in session.

 

 

Media 

     

Breeding Group for Bird Flu. We all know that, despite its trendy image, Iceland is a hotbed (no pun intended) of some pretty toxic stuff. If it isn't the country's banks throwing global markets into turmoil, its volcanoes are wreaking havoc on air traffic or global weather patterns. Now, though, a group of Icelandic scientists, together with colleagues from the US, have concluded that the island may be a crucible for bird flu. The research, published in the scientific journal Plos One, involved studies of 1,000 wild birds caught in Iceland. Arctic Journal

 

Biologists Seek Citizens' Help to Solve Mystery of the Disappearing Rusty Blackbirds. A species of bird now flying north to summer breeding grounds in the boreal forests of Alaska and Canada has fallen on hard times, and biologists are asking the public to help figure out why. The rusty blackbird population, once huge across North America, has decreased dramatically since 1966, with drops estimated to range between 85 and 99 percent. Total population figures are vague, 158,000 to 2 million, according to biologists. But the decline is unmistakable, and it has earned the bird a "vulnerable" listing from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and a spot on Audubon Alaska's Red List of troubled species. Alaska Dispatch

 

Nunavut Fuel Spills Down, But Accidents Still Happen. Reports show that about 26,400 gallons of oil spill every year in Canada's eastern Arctic territory of Nunavut, with the highest number of spills in its capital city of Iqaluit. Since the territory was created in 1999, more than 264,000 gallons of oil and gas have been spilled in Nunavut, according to the Hazardous Materials Spill Database. Alaska Dispatch

 

Steller Seal Feds Give Go-Ahead to New Steller Sea Lion Management. Fishers targeting Atka mackerel, Pacific cod and pollock in the western Aleutians will likely have additional harvest opportunity next year. The National Marine Fisheries Service announced April 2 that the North Pacific Fishery Management Council's preferred management measures to protect the western distinct population segment of Steller sea lions in the western Aleutian Islands would not cause jeopardy or adverse modification to the sea lion habitat. Alaska Journal of Commerce

 

Senate Fisheries Act Draft Begins Circulating. The newest version of the Magnuson-Stevens Act out for discussion adds subsistence users and Tribal governments to the fisheries management law and has the potential to create new Community Development Quota in the Arctic, but it has not yet been made widely available to the public for review. The act passed in 1976, which was last reauthorized in 2006 and is up for renewal this year, regulates most fisheries in American federal waters from 3 to 200 miles offshore, and authorizes the eight regional fishery management councils. Peninsula Clarion

 

Treadwell: Arctic Security Should be National Priority. Lt. Governor Mead Treadwell delivered the keynote address yesterday at the Arctic Collaborative Workshop in Fairbanks. Treadwell discussed five reasons why Arctic national security should be a national priority: energy development and security, shipping opportunities and safety, assessing and mitigating changes in climate and fisheries, attaining land access and territorial claims, and promoting the Arctic's strategic position for military cooperation. MarineLink

 

National Organization Documents Cancer in Inuit Communities. Health statistics reveal that cancer deaths are rising among Inuit, but too little is known about the state of cancer control in northern Canada. The Canadian Partnership Against Cancer promises to change that, starting with a report released this month that provides baseline information on charting progress in the fight against the disease. Nunatsiaq Online

Legislative Actionfutureevents  

 

No Arctic legislation was formally considered yesterday.

Future Events

 

AAAS Forum on S & T Policy, May 1, 2014. (Washington, DC) The American Association for the Advancement of Science will host a forum on science and technology policy. On May 1, AAAS will host a breakout session on US Leadership in the Arctic Council: International Science Cooperation. Presenters include executive director of the US Arctic Research Commission John Farrell.

 

Alaska Policy Commission. May 6-7, 2014 (Anchorage, Alaska). The Alaska Arctic Policy Commission (AAPC) has more important work to do in 2014. The Commission will strive to gather public input and engage with Alaskan communities, state agencies, federal partners, and the international organizations working in the Arctic. In order to meet our goals AAPC will convene three in-person meetings over the course of 2014 and focus on implementation and final recommendations. The draft agenda is available here

 

International Congress of Arctic Social Sciences, May 22-24, 2014. ICASS is held every three years, bringing together people from all over the world to share ideas about social science research in the Arctic. ICASS VII, held in Akureyri in June 2011, attracted 450 participants from 30 different countries. ICASS VIII's theme is Northern Sustainabilities. By using the plural, ICASS underscores both that 'sustainability' has social, cultural, economic, political and environmental dimensions, and that definitions of the concept vary. Yet, while debating specific definitions, most would agree that working toward sustainable ways of living in the North and on approaches to sustainable engagement with the North, are critical both to the North's and to the world's future. Community sustainability in the North, whether for small settlements or large urban conglomerations, requires new models of food and energy security, and of access to employment, health care and social and cultural services for residents.

 

Arctic in the Athropocene. June 23-July 2, 2014 (Potsdam, Germany). Under the overarching theme "Arctic in the Anthropocene", this two-week interdisciplinary and interactive event will be the first in a series of Potsdam Summer Schools to be held annually. The goal is to bring together early-career scientists and young professionals from research departments, governmental and non-governmental agencies and organizations, as well as the private sector from all around the world. Participants will deal with global challenges and address urgent questions on how to shape sustainable futures in the Arctic and beyond from a scientific and socioeconomic point of view. 

 

Alaska Policy Commission. August 26-27, 2014 (Kotzebue-Nome, Alaska). The Alaska Arctic Policy Commission (AAPC) has more important work to do in 2014. The Commission will strive to gather public input and engage with Alaskan communities, state agencies, federal partners, and the international organizations working in the Arctic. In order to meet our goals AAPC will convene three in-person meetings over the course of 2014 and focus on implementation and final recommendations. 

 

Arctic Circle, October 31-November 2, 2014 (Reyjavik, Iceland).

The Arctic Circle is nonprofit and nonpartisan. Organizations, forums, think tanks, corporations and public associations around the world are invited to hold meetings within the Arctic Circle platform to advance their own missions and the broader goal of increasing collaborative decision-making without surrendering their institutional independence. The Arctic Circle will organize sessions on a variety of issues, such as: Sea ice melt and extreme weather; Polar law: treaties and agreements; The role and rights of indigenous peoples; Security in the Arctic; Shipping and transportation infrastructure; The prospects and risks of oil and gas drilling; Clean energy achievements and sustainable development; Arctic resources; Business cooperation in the Arctic; The role of Asian and European countries in the Arctic; Greenland in the new Arctic; Fisheries and ecosystem management; The science of ice: global research cooperation; Arctic tourism; The ice-dependent world: the Arctic and the Himalayas. 

 

Alaska Policy Commission. November 13-14, 2014 (Anchorage, Alaska). The Alaska Arctic Policy Commission (AAPC) has more important work to do in 2014. The Commission will strive to gather public input and engage with Alaskan communities, state agencies, federal partners, and the international organizations working in the Arctic. In order to meet our goals AAPC will convene three in-person meetings over the course of 2014 and focus on implementation and final recommendations. 

 

The Arctic Biodiversity Congress, December 2-4, 2014. (Trondheim, Norway). The Arctic Biodiversity Congress will present and discuss the main scientific findings of the ABA; facilitate inter-disciplinary discussion, action and status updates on the policy recommendations in the ABA; provide scientific, policy, management, NGO, academia, Indigenous peoples and industry audiences the opportunity to collaborate around the themes of the ABA; advise CAFF on national and international implementation of the ABA recommendations and on the development of an ABA Implementation Plan for the Arctic Council; highlight the work of CAFF and the Arctic Council on circumpolar biodiversity conservation and sustainable development; and, contribute to mainstreaming of biodiversity and ecosystem services, ensuring that the recommendations of the ABA are implemented by not just governments, but many organizations and people across disciplines.

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