Features – Page 2 – Fishermens News

West Coast Fisheries Managers Struggle with Climate Change, Drought Challenges

A long-term research project that provides vital food sources to juvenile Chinook salmon in California’s river floodplains is utilizing rice fields at rest to help these endangered fish grow robust. In Oregon, removal of four dams is anticipated to begin in 2023 to protect salmon recovery and in Washington state, officials say breaching the four Lower Snake River dams is not yet an option. Meanwhile along the West Coast from California to Alaska, as states struggle with the adverse impact of climate change on fisheries, as well as the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government is providing for a second round of relief funding. Those eligible are commercial fishing shellfish, charter and seafood sector industry members who suffered negative financial impacts. The ...

Vessel Profile: R/V Resilience

The Department of Energy anticipates its first hybrid-electric research vessel. The r/v Resilience, a hybrid electric research vessel being built by Seattle-based contractor Snow & Company, is expected to join the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory-Sequim (PNNL) fleet in April 2023. The PNNL is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories, managed by the department’s Office of Science. The laboratory houses several scientific user facilities and research facilities. “They (PNNL) have a fleet of two boats right now and they wanted to expand with (the addition of) a larger vessel with more capabilities,” Snow & Company Project Manager and Estimator Chris Watson told Pacific Maritime. “Snow & Company is the builder, doing all the production engineering, and Inc...

Fishing Careers: Efforts Being Made to Attract, Keep Young Harvesters

Twenty-one-year-old Megan Wallace of Kodiak readily admits that commercial fishing is a gamble, one involving hard work, long hours and yes, at times, danger. “But I like how the hard work pays off,” she told Fishermen’s News. “It’s a great feeling when you catch a lot of fish.” On a break from harvesting in mid-October, Wallace mused about the adventures she’s had of late. In 2021, Wallace spent 10 months crewing at sea, harvesting salmon in Bristol Bay, halibut in Area 4A near Dutch Harbor for halibut, Pacific cod in the Central and Western Gulf of Alaska, and then the Bering Sea A season for cod and the western Bering Sea for Bairdi crab. “I just love everything about it, the challenge,” she said. “This is something a girl can do. I just love the rush and the whole process. My goa...

Fishing Safety: Caution Advised Re: Energy Drinks, Electronics for Good Health, Sleep

Eating bad food makes you feel good, because nothing makes you happier than a satisfying meal, but seafood harvesters devoted to that career should make better choices, according to Jerry Dzugan, an outspoken advocate for the longevity of Alaska’s graying fleet of fishermen. As the director and an instructor for the Alaska Marine Safety Education Association for well over three decades, Dzugan has plenty of experience in teaching ergonomics, the study of people’s efficiency in their working environment. He informs fishermen about how to use specific exercises to avoid and also recuperate from injuries sustained at sea. An advocate of fishing safety, Dzugan also has plenty of tips for all age groups in the fishing industry on diet, exercise and getting enough rest to be in top form when...

Vessel Profile: The Western Flyer Returns

The Tacoma-built purse seiner of Steinbeck fame prepares for a new working life. The Western Flyer was in dire straits when it was found by John Gregg on the Swinomish Channel in 2015. The 1937-era wood purse seiner had endured two sinking episodes from 2012 to 2013 and appeared no different than the many doomed derelict workboats of the world. Yet Gregg, inspired, eagerly bought the Western Flyer for around $1 million. The reason? The Western Flyer is the same purse seiner John Steinbeck and his colleague and marine biologist Ed Ricketts chartered to the Gulf of Mexico in 1940. The expedition to collect and catalogue tidal marine animals is the subject Steinbeck’s Nobel Prize-winning book, The Log from the Sea of Cortez. Out of the Grave & Back to Work Gregg, who’s based in the...

Fishermen Sound Off on Modern Apparel

There they are on the television screen—images of flimsy little tents huddled together, flapping in the wind at Mount Everest’s base camp. One can’t help but wonder how these tiny, toy-like shelters can shield their occupants from the horrendous conditions on the Earth’s tallest mountain. The answer: technology. The research and testing that goes into perfecting those tents protect the climbers from hypothermia. And likewise, the sports apparel industry has spent plenty of time crafting the gear that protects commercial fishermen from the ravages of the mighty seas. Everything that fishermen wear, from head to toe, needs to fulfill the function of keeping them dry and comfortable. Commercial fishermen don’t wear puffy parkas—they need suits that repel water. They need to be able to p...

Navigate Commercial Maritime Financing in a Rising Rate Environment

Lingering post-pandemic challenges, supply chain issues, and pent-up demand has led to rising prices, resulting in a level of inflation not seen in 40 years. It seemed inflation might slow by the end of the summer with a drop in fuel prices. Unfortunately, the government’s September report on the Consumer Price Index showed inflation to be persistent. The Federal Reserve’s response has been a series of interest rate hikes in an attempt to cool this inflationary trend. In turn, borrowers are seeing rates increase on everything from business loans to home mortgages. Increasing rates mean higher loan payments. In this economy, it’s not surprising to feel concerned as the costs of borrowing rise. Many commercial maritime projects are financed. Whether buying new permits or planning vessel ...

Catch Processing Technology

After weathering manifold stresses of the COVID-19 pandemic, the fish processing industry is rolling out a wide variety of new machines. European manufacturers are de-licing without chemicals and slicing filets with speed, while a private-public research collective is building new ways to turn sidestream into commercially viable products. These latest releases could move more fish out the door – and faster than ever. MAREL Multi-national food processing company Marel has released a trio of new machines: the Retail Pack Slicer I-Slice 3400, Pinbone Remover MS 2610 and Salmon Deheader MIS 2721. The single- and dual-lane versions of the Pinbone Remover MS 2610 can process up to 18 and 36 filets a minute, respectively. Each lane uses five liters of water a minute, a roughly 20% reduction ...

Southeast Alaska Troll Fishery Faces Legal Challenge Over Orca Harvest

Southeast Alaska’s lucrative commercial king salmon troll fishery faces new challenges from a federal judge’s decision in Seattle over the impact of their harvest on endangered killer whales in Puget Sound. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Richard Jones in Seattle in August challenges the National Marine Fisheries Service’s biological opinion for the Southeast Alaska salmon fishery, the document giving Alaska Endangered Species Act “incidental take” coverage and allowing the state’s Pacific Salmon Treaty salmon fisheries to operate. The lawsuit brought by the Wild Fish Conservancy in Seattle argues that Alaska fisheries threaten the survival of several ESA-listed Chinook salmon stocks in Washington and Oregon and the endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales that rely on Chinook salm...

Turmoil in Crab Markets as Supply Drops, Along with Retail Customer Interest

Dungeness crab prices rose with increased market demand while domestic snow crab sales brought the lowest prices in five years this past summer, in a struggling commercial shellfish industry plagued by climate change, a global pandemic, supply chain issues and international politics. Prices for a diminished supply of wild Alaska snow crab meat were all over the board, from $74.95 a pound at Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle to $33.95 a pound at 10th &M Seafoods in Anchorage, while the seafood counter at New Sagaya in Anchorage offered Russian snow crab meat for $25.99 a pound. West Coast whole Dungeness crab was in the spotlight at Pike Place Fish Market, with intermittent sales dropping the price for two pounds of legs and claws from $69.98 to $52.49 and other retailers, like Cost...