Features – Fishermens News

Regional Update: Mexico’s West Coast Fisheries

The Gulf of California, also known as the Sea of Cortez, is the body of water south of Southern California that separates Mexico’s Baja California peninsula from the country’s mainland. It’s one of the more productive and biodiverse marine ecoregions in the world and a bustling area for commercial fishing. And although there are plenty of legitimate, law-abiding anglers earning a living fishing in the waters, there’s also a number of bad actors who make money by illegally trafficking some fish species to sell them on the black market. In the U.S., much of the news disseminated about crime in Mexico focuses on land activity, the country’s cartels also have a hold on some of the illicit activity that occurs offshore. However, like with land-based crime, Mexican authorities are waged in a...

Spill Response: High-Tech Techniques Help More Efficient, Safer and Productive

Above the surface or underwater, oil and hazardous material spill response and recovery in marine environments is making strides, thanks to technological advances and equipment upgrades, resulting in safer and more efficient work. Autonomous systems are gaining traction, helping increase safety and productivity. Drones are helping make the job more efficient and practical. Skimmers, containment vessels and collection systems are showing promising improvements in both volume and recovery. Crane barges and other supporting craft utilized in responding to incidents are showing strength and maneuverability in recent case studies. Staying on top of technological advances goes hand in hand with responding to environmental incidents. To learn more about recent developments, Fishermen’s News r...

Trident Seafoods At 50: A Company with Humble Beginnings

Trident Seafoods Corp., the nation’s largest seafood company, is marking its 50th year in 2023, an industry giant spawned from the dreams of a young man whose first job in Alaska was shoveling shrimp for $1.47 an hour. The size and scope of Trident Seafoods today “was never our ambition,” said Chief Executive Officer Joe Bundrant, the son of company founder Chuck Bundrant. The elder Bundrant, a Tennessee farm boy, had heeded his parents’ advice to get a college education, but dropped out after a year and a half and headed for the World’s Fair in Seattle in 1962, his son said. He’d seen the adventure film “North to Alaska,” so when he ran out of money, young Chuck headed for Alaska and got the job shoveling shrimp in the town of Adak. From there he went to Kodiak and landed a job on ...

Deadliest Catch Season 19: A Witness to History in Hard Times

How will the Alaskan commercial fishing fleet adapt to the historic closures of Bering Sea red king, blue king and snow crab? We’re about to see on reality TV. Season 19 of the consummate commercial fishing reality TV show Deadliest Catch, expected to premiere in April, promises to be as historic as the devastating closures of the season 2022-23 Alaskan red king, blue king and snow crab Bering Sea fisheries. And much like the commercial fishing season, the show must go on. “Fans can anticipate another great season of Deadliest Catch where we will document our captains as they participate in other sustainable Bering Sea crab and pot fisheries, such as golden king crab, bairdi and cod,” Deadliest Catch Executive Producer Arom Starr-Paul said in a October 2022 statement. For viewers,...

Designed, Built and Delivered: F/V Uyak, a New Fishing Boat from an Iconic Team

The 50th Fred Wahl Marine Construction in-house commercial fishing vessel joins the fleet. Fred Wahl Marine Construction (FWMC) has been busy of late, notably with the launch of the brand-new combination fishing vessel (Dungeness crabber/shrimper/salmon tender) f/v Uyak. The steel-hull Uyak is a FWMC-designed 68-foot by 29.6-foot model named after Uyak Bay in Kodiak Island, Alaska. It is the 50th new hull designed, built and delivered in-house by FWMC, based in Reedsport, Ore. “The design considerations for the f/v Uyak were built upon years of experience and feedback from constructing the 58-foot combination vessels that FWMC is known for,” the firm’s marine designer Kendall Blake said. “The design of the f/v Uyak is unique when compared to the 58 in various ways, both in aesthe...

Hawaii and California Commercial Fisheries: A Status Update

The commercial fisheries of Hawaii and California may not be quite as active or receive as much media coverage as those in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, but that doesn’t mean that they are stagnant. In fact, fisheries in both the Aloha State and Golden State have had plenty of activity over the past year. This article provides a roundup and update of what’s been happening with the Hawaii and California commercial fishing industries over the past several months, and a preview of what could be on the horizon. Restricted Bottomfish Areas Reopen On Feb. 25, Hawaii’s Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) approved the re-opening of eight Bottomfish Restricted Fishing Areas (BFRA) that had been closed to fishing since 2007. The re-openings were effective immediately. The approval f...

Diving Gear Tackles Tough Conditions with Modern Technology

Commercial fishermen who need to head below the surface of the water for their catch have specific needs for their unique form of fishing. In recent years, gear has been upgraded to be more efficient, durable enough to tackle tough conditions, and to allow divers to breathe easier underwater. Innovative solutions that incorporate modern technology and premium materials have helped to confront these necessary challenges. Some of the newest products and advances in scuba include a regulator that is resistant to freezing and can work in silty and murky waters, a mask-mounted and hands-free computer and a bubble-free rebreather system that provides five hours of dive time. In the spearfishing world, some professionals use scuba gear, but many are freediving. Spearfishing gear has been tr...

Pacific Northwest Fisheries: A Bird’s Eye View

The complex story of Cascadian fisheries defies a simple narrative, but seems mostly positive—minus the El Niño and Oregon quillback mystery. Commercial fisherfolk don’t need an article to know that Earth in the 2020s is a dynamic—some would say pretty insane—time and place, but the next fishing season is eternal. From a macro level, how did Pacific Northwest fisheries fare in 2022? How do they look in 2023? What environmental or economic factors should fishermen from the owner-operator to seasonal deckhand keep in mind? Read on for some intel of what’s to come. El Niño Possibility and Hypoxic Zone Considerations “I’ve just heard the first predictions of what the ocean is going to look like off our coast, and there is a very early … prediction out of NOAA that this will be a stro...

Vessel Profile: North River Boats’ Sounder

A workboat by Oregon-based North River Boats ushers in a new Sounder family of vessels. North River Boats has built the new 26-foot survey vessel Sounder for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) of Los Angeles. The Sounder is the flagship for a larger series of customizable workboats at North River Boats, based in Roseburg, Ore., that can be scaled from 23 feet to 60 feet in length with beams ranging from 8 feet, 6 inches to 16 feet. For the company, the combination of the boat hull, trailer-able size, topline outfitting and electronic configuration puts the Sounder in play as the most versatile survey vessel of its size on the market. The vessel was on display at the 2022 International Workboat Show in New Orleans. Inception and Construction According to North River Boats’ ...

Vessel Profile: The Turbo-Powered Triple Jet Gillnetter from Hades

“It’s a monster.” Cummins Inc. and Elliott Bay Design Group team up for a highliner-oriented Bristol Bay boat. Imagine you’re aboard grandpa’s fiberglass gillnetter on Bristol Bay for yet another (hopefully) gangbusters salmon season. Another gillnetter zooms past at 20 knots propelled by triple UltraJet 340HTs with a full load of fish in the hold. “I hear that thing can carry 20,000 pounds!” Grandpa says. No way, Gramps is spreading bar-side gossip again, you think. Such a scene is closer to reality than one might believe. A partnership between Cummins Inc’s Mike Fourtner—who in addition to being commercial marine sales manager of Cummins is a working Bristol Bay fisherman—and Seattle-based Elliott Bay Design Group (EBDG) have led to what is at the time of this writing officially...