Article Category: News

California’s 2024 commercial Dungeness crab fishery, which had been scheduled to open on Nov. 15, has been delayed due to a high abundance of humpback whales and large number of recent entanglements in fishing areas. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced Oct. 25 that the commercial Dungeness crab fishery south of the Sonoma/Mendocino County line would not open as scheduled in Fishing Zones 3, 4, 5 and 6 due to the aforementioned issues regarding whales. CDFW said that it anticipates the next risk assessment will take place on or around Nov. 15, at which time the agency’s director will re-evaluate risk for the Dungeness crab fisheries. That risk assessment is expected to inform the potential for a statewide commercial fishery opener on Dec. 1, as well as the potentia...

NOAA Fisheries economists say the fishing industry in Alaska suffered a $1.8 billion loss in 2022 and 2023, and that the state’s commercial fisheries overall saw a 50% decline in profitability from 2021 through 2023. “The Alaska seafood industry is a major contributor to the U.S. seafood sector,” Robert Foy, director of the Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC), said in a report released Oct. 9. “The social and economic ramifications of Alaska’s losses have reverberated down the West Coast and across the country.” The downturn resulted in the loss of over 38,000 jobs nationwide and a $4.3 billion loss in total domestic value of all goods and services produced. Alaska, California, Oregon and Washington were the states most affected, showing a loss of $191 million in state and local tax r...

Officials with the Washington Department of Natural Resources are removing makeshift tire reefs from Puget Sound as part of the agency’s new Tire Pile Removal Program, which is part of a strategy to protect and restore salmon habitat. The tires were installed as artificial reefs from the 1960s to 1980s by several Washington state groups to increase habitat or dwindling rockfish and lingcod populations. On Oct. 24, Washington State Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz said it was important to remove pollutants like these tire reefs now, before they become a larger problem across Puget Sound. The polypropylene rope holding bundles of tires together is wearing down, causing tires to drift and pollute waterways and beaches. Once on land, the tires break down faster, which can result in ...

A decision by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to reopen the snow crab fishery this year could have offered some economic relief to the Pribilof Island city of St. Paul, with a population of some 300 people, but now Trident Seafoods says its plant there won’t reopen for economic reasons. Trident in mid-October confirmed plans to work with stakeholders and the community of St. Paul, after telling the North Pacific Fishery Management Council during its October meeting in Anchorage that there were many reasons for its decision to keep the plant closed. Unalaska public radio station KUCB noted that Shannon Carroll, Trident’s director of public affairs and fisheries development, told the council that the low total allowable catch (TAC) set by ADF&G would mean a significant loss fo...

NOAA Fisheries has recommended 13 projects—including six for the West Coast, Alaska and the Pacific Islands—to support innovative bycatch reduction research through its Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program. Agency officials said that as of early October, the application approval and obligation of funds were not finalized. Each application is currently listed as recommended and not a guarantee of funding. NOAA Fisheries provided detailed information for just some of the recommended projects, but for the West Coast, the recommendations include $245,743 for the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission and $193,391 for Sub Sea Sonics, a San Diego firm that provides low-cost solutions for underwater equipment recovery. The fisheries commission would evaluate the efficacy of longline-con...

On Oct.16, a fall-run Chinook salmon was identified in a tributary to the Klamath River, becoming the first of the fish to return to the Klamath Basin in Oregon since 1912 when the first of four hydroelectric dams was constructed, blocking migration. The salmon—part of a species which travel up rivers from the sea to breed—was identified by Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife fish biologists. The Chinook and others likely traveled about 230 miles from the Pacific Ocean to reach the tributary, months after the Klamath River dams were removed to ensure fish passage from California to Oregon.  “This is an exciting and historic development in the Klamath Basin that demonstrates the resiliency of salmon and steelhead,” ODFW Director Debbie Colbert said. “It also inspires us to continue r...

Increased catch limits culminate a decade-long international effort to rebuild the once-imperiled species. Commercial Pacific bluefin tuna vessels in the United States can harvest almost 80% more fish in 2025-26 after a regional fishery management organization, the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission, increased catch limits during a meeting in Panama in September. This decision came three months after a stock assessment by the International Scientific Committee for Tuna and Tuna-Like Species in the North Pacific Ocean found the Pacific bluefin tuna stock to be rebuilt—and a decade ahead of schedule. U.S. fishermen harvest Pacific bluefin tuna using hook-and-line, purse seine and drift gillnet gear and land their catch mainly in Southern California ports. Additionally, increases in...

Commercial fishermen in the San Francisco area have come out in opposition of a $550 million development proposal that proponents say would revitalize the city’s Fisherman’s Wharf area, but that opponents say would devastate local commercial fishing. The proposal moved a step forward when it was endorsed by the San Francisco Port Commission in early October. But members of the San Francisco Crab Boat Owners’ Association are saying that the redevelopment of portions of Pier 45 would be an existential threat to their livelihood. Under the proposal, a development company seeks to build a dynamic mixed use waterfront project that includes a museum and event center on the eastern half of Pier 45. Core elements of the museum would include a new fish and seafood processing facility where vis...

Veteran salmon setnetters in Kodiak’s Alitak District have struck a deal with Silver Bay Seafoods after long-time buyer OBI dropped the Alitak setnet fleet from its roster, citing economic concerns. The former processor’s decision to drop the setnetters left them with no established means for gearing up remote fishing camps, fueling boats and selling their catch, according to veteran harvester Hannah Heimbuch. Many of the 40 setnet fishing businesses affected by that Alitak decision are family operations with a multi-generational history in the fishery. Village residents, including commercial and subsistence fishermen, always have been able to purchase fuel, groceries and other goods and sell their commercially caught fish.  Heinbuch—also a fisheries policy and communications consulta...