Features – Page 3 – Fishermens News

New Grant-Funded Marketing Project for Sablefish Launches

A newly-branded marketing project called NW Sablefish launched in Seattle in mid-August with the hope of increasing awareness among U.S. consumers about sustainable, premium domestic sablefish. The project was developed through a unique collaboration of the non-profit Eat on the Wild Side, a handful of Northwest chefs and a group of sablefish harvesters. Backing is through the Saltonstall-Kennedy Grant Fund, a NOAA Fisheries-administered a grant competition that annually funds projects that lead to the promotion, development and marketing of U.S. fisheries. By highlighting the fishery’s sustainable management as well as its low impact fixed gear harvest methods, NW Sablefish is seeking to garner the attention of eco-conscious consumers. With little to no existing product messaging for ...

Notable Fishing Vessel Projects at West Coast Boatyards

West Coast boatyards have been busy with repowers, remodels, and maintenance work recently, including projects on commercial fishing boats. Fishermen’s News reached out to several shipyards to see what their latest projects covered. Commodore’s Boats Vancouver-based based boat repair service Commodore’s Boats has had several notable projects recently on commercial fishing vessels. The f/v Golovin Bay came into the shipyard at 38 feet in length and Commodore’s cut off the stern and expanded it to a total of 50 feet in length, Commodore’s Boats Development Manager Jake Spiller told Fishermen’s News. For the width, they widened it by four feet on each side. The vessel also more than doubled its horsepower, going from 2x 300 horsepower Cummins engines to 2x 650 horsepower Scania Marine ...

Size, Style, Regulations Driving West Coast Crab Gear Demand

Here are two trends that aren’t so new in crabbing and crab equipment, but they are worth noting: more catch per pot, and bigger equipment, are the preferred options; West Coast operators are just about as busy dealing with regulations as they are fishing. Crabbing is an important part of the growing seafood market. The global seafood market is expected to see a compound annual growth rate of 1.36%—from $720.76 billion in 2023 to $771.17 billion in 2029, largely due to the rising public awareness about the vital role of fish as a food group in healthy diets, according to a report from Mordor Intelligence. West Coast fishermen are a big part of those figures, and while operators in key crabbing states like Alaska, Washington and Oregon must put significant money and resources into adher...

Trawler Tech: From Ships to Chips

Commercial trawling is not just about netting types and door control anymore. At its core, 21st Century commercial trawling is a highly technical enterprise where ship design, complex rigging and deck hardware, and increasingly high-tech software are routine factors. New spaceship-looking trawlers bearing Star Trek-level sensing capabilities are reality. Video monitoring systems and even 3D sonar imaging are demystifying the deep. Herein are a few notable trawler technology developments to put on your radars. Kongsberg Maritime Flexes with Arctic Fjord For Kongsberg Maritime, trawler technology means the whole package. The Norway-based company has designed dozens of vessels for American owners over the years, but the 324-foot trawler Arctic Fjord that launched last year is the first...

Vessel Profile: Northline Seafoods’ F/V Hannah Arrives in Bristol Bay

Northline Seafoods’ f/v Hannah, an innovative seafood platform that was more than three years in the making, has begun operating in Bristol Bay, Alaska in time for the 2024 salmon fishing season. The Hannahs departure from Fairhaven Shipyard in Bellingham, Wash. on May 25 marked the completion of the vessel, which included 15 months of construction. The Hannah, a 400-foot by 100-foot barge, is an all-in-one solution for buying, freezing, shipping, storing and distributing wild Alaskan salmon. It was built out of an existing barge hull that was towed to Washington state from the Gulf of Mexico. “We developed the Hannah to produce higher quality fish through a more efficient process that benefits both fishermen and customers,” Northline Seafoods CEO Ben Blakey explained. “This project i...

Internal Combustion Engines Aren’t the Latest Craze, but Could Power Commercial Fishing Vessels for Some Time

Despite the electric-engine craze, internal combustion engines (ICE) aren’t going away anytime soon. That was the first thought from Alberto L. Alcalá, a senior sales manager in Industrial & Marine at Scania USA Inc., when asked his opinion on the biggest trends in propulsion technology for commercial fishing vessels. “The reality is that ICE engines will be with us a long time,” Alcalá said. By “long,” he means decades. He said Scania is planning to continue to offer ICE propulsion technology to buyers through 2050 and “perhaps beyond.” Scania has made significant investments in new engines capable of meeting more stringent on-road and off-road emissions levels expected to begin in 2027. The company’s DI13 was launched in on-road markets and is coming to the U.S. industrial marke...

Vessel Hydraulic Systems Offer Smooth, Reliable Operations

Marine hydraulic systems are meant to ensure the smooth operation of a vessel, and there have been some notable case studies and new products on the market aimed at helping commercial fishing operations run more efficiently, safely and reliably. Parker Hannifin, longtime experts in engineering, motion and control technologies, delivers cylinders for steering applications on commercial vessels with Engine Monitor Inc., (EMI), a division of maritime supplier W&O. Parker Hannifin, headquartered near Cleveland, Ohio, has offices and distributors around the world. The cylinder division designs, supplies and supports hydraulic cylinders for EMI in steering and non-steering applications, Gene Chauvin, an engineer for the southern region of Parker Hannifin, explained in an email to Fisher...

Baja California Sur Fisheries Remain Eye of Political Storm

Governments and interest groups continue to spar over IUU fishing and endangered species. The last of the world’s smallest porpoises, Chinese demand for “cocaine of the sea,” endangered fish bladders and red snapper poaching are all factors in an international political storm over the commercial fisheries of Baja California Sur of Mexico. A flurry of diplomatic overtures and the dangling threat of U.S. trade restrictions on Mexican fish imports looms as 2024 emerges as something of a crossroads year. A larger-than-normal dead-zone forecast probably isn’t helping the situation. Worsening U.S.-Mexico Fisheries Relations As Fishermen’s News has reported in the past, Baja California waters have been affected by unsustainable fishing practices and criminal enterprises for years. Previous ...

Wearables for Commercial Fishing Getting Smaller, Lighter

Watches tend to be useful to commercial fishing crews, with their GPS receivers and touch-screen interfaces. Some even believe they could earn a spot in the broader category of commercial fishing wearable technology regularly donned by crew. Fishermen’s News spoke with experts regarding their thoughts about what should be considered top-of-the-line for both wearable watches and the broader wearable category for commercial fishing. Trends One noteworthy trend in wearables for commercial fishing is what Rich Galasso, North American sales manager for land and marine with Florida-based ACR Electronics and Ocean Signal, calls “unit consolidation.” “We’ve been able to satisfy a long-standing request for combining the global coverage of a PLB (personal locator beacon) and the localized solu...

Ice Cold and Dynamic

Cold storage systems have come a long way since the copper coils of yore that shivering deckhands needed to constantly scrub to keep frost-free. While the layperson may shrug at the sight of a hold of properly chilled fish, the commercial fishing professional sees engineering glory and big-money dollar signs. From the 50-foot salmon seiner to the 300-foot factory trawler, what are fishing vessels if not giant floating freezers? If only our ancestors of hundreds of years ago who kept cod fresh in barrels of salt could see us now. Fortunately, cold-storage technology is a dynamic sector that seems to keep getting better. State of the Refrigeration Business There are many players in the commercial fishing cold-storage game, including Washington state-based companies like Highland Refrig...