Article Category: News

Washington Sea Grant intends to conduct a drill instructor course on sea safety and survival for commercial fishermen and charter boat operators on April 21 in Westport, Wash. The Coast Guard-approved workshop meets the training requirements of the Commercial Fishing Safety Act to conduct drills, according to Sea Grant. The coursework combines lecture and hands-on experience with the safety and survival equipment now required for commercial fishing vessels. Participants will be taught about emergency procedures and be trained to develop appropriate emergency drills for their own vessels. Those participating are asked to bring deck boots, survival suits and a change of clothes. Commercial harvesters can take the course for $50, thanks to program support from the Seattle Fishermen’s Memor...

Harvesters in the Bristol Bay red king crab fishery are partnering with federal and state agencies to collect critical winter data in a month-long project that was slated to start in March. The research goal is to collect data sought by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to help shape decisions on how to improve those stocks and allow the multi-million-dollar fishery to resume. The study’s lead, Mike Litzow of NOAA Fisheries’ Alaska Fisheries Science Center, said the collaboration offered an exciting chance to study these crab stocks in winter. “That’s when people really interact with the stock – the Bristol Bay red king crab fishery and many other fisheries that potentially interact with crab take place in fall and winter,” Litzow said. “But because of the difficulty of wor...

Four U.S. senators and six U.S. House of Representatives members from Washington, Oregon and California have asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to continue purchases of West Coast seafood products for the economic benefit of the industry and coastal communities. Pacific Northwest and West Coast seafood products are currently being produced in large volumes, easily accessible and easily transportable for immediate distribution to food assistance program, they told Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack in a letter, noting economic challenges the seafood industry has been facing, from the COVID-19 pandemic to the war in Ukraine. The purchases are being made under Section 32 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1935, which authorizes USDA to support prices of commodities in surplu...

Participants in the Southwest Alaska Municipal Conference (SWAMC) March 2-3 at the Hotel Captain Cook in Anchorage heard an update on fish management, research projects and markets from Nicole Kimball, left, representing the North Pacific Fishery Management Conference; Ashley Heimbigner, communications director at the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, center, and Alaska Fish and Game Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang. The annual gathering includes reports and updates on socioeconomic topics from broadcast and health care to mariculture, plus updates from legislators representing Southwest Alaska.  

The commercial ocean troll salmon fishery seasons scheduled to be open between March 15 and May 15 in all areas from Cape Falcon to the Oregon-California border are canceled for 2023, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife announced March 9. In a statement explaining the rational for its decision, ODFW said that multiple stocks of California Chinook salmon are at “extremely low abundance” and are projected to potentially fall below target spawning escapements. “Guidance from the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for 2023 ocean salmon seasons for Sacramento River fall Chinook was that ‘extraordinary measures are needed in 2023 to address these circumstances and to ensure that fishery management is not a contributing factor’,” ODFW said in its announcement. For Klamath River fa...

A collaborative effort of environmental, scientific, industry and tribal partners will involve an increasing number of commercial fishermen, who’ll share ecological observations on fisheries and oceans with researchers studying climate change. The Skipper Science Partnership, now in its third year in Alaska, continues to attract more fishermen willing to provide feedback on their observations at sea. In 2022, the second year of the project, more than 150 fishermen offered their opinions on climate change and feedback on their experiences with the program and the app via phone interviews. “Our next phase will be to match fishermen in specific regions and fisheries with scientists and managers in those areas to collect data points that support specific projects ad research needs,” Lindsey...

The Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) on March 9 joined commercial fisheries entities in recommending that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) rescind the current Oregon call areas designated for floating offshore wind energy management and restart the siting process. In reconsidering the issue, the PFMC urged BOEM to use a spatial mapping tool focused on identifying deconflicted areas suitable for wind energy development. A copy of the council’s recommendation was also sent to Oregon Gov. Tina Kotel. Seven council advisory groups have provided statements voicing concerns about the current process, with several calling for BOEM to rescind the current call areas. “The Council’s action sends a strong signal to BOEM that fisheries leaders do not want to risk losing our ...

Peter Pan Seafood has announced plans for an asset purchase of Anchorage-based seafood wholesaler Trapper’s Creek Smoking Co., including a smokehouse facility and its brands: Copper River Smoking Co., Alaska’s Best, Trapper’s Creek and Eat Like a Grizzly. Peter Pan officials said March 10 that a letter of intent for the asset purchase had been signed and that current Trapper’s Creek Smoking Co. owner Andi Wahry would stay on in an advisory role to ensure a smooth transition. Rodger May, chief growth officer for Peter Pan, said his company is eager to expand with the addition of smoking capabilities and a growth of its footprint in Alaska. “We are very proud to add these brands, including the Copper River brand, to the Peter Pan Seafood portfolio,” Peter Pan CEO Kevin Bixler said. “Thi...

Fisheries researchers in a collaborative federal, state and university study have concluded that at-sea competition is the main driver of the decline in sockeye salmon size, with an emphasis on the tradeoff between fish abundance and body size. The study notes that pink and sockeye salmon show high diet overlap, indicating that direct competition for food might be causing the negative link between sockeye size and pink salmon abundance. Recent high seas salmon research in the central and eastern Gulf of Alaska suggests little spatial overlap between sockeye and pink salmon in winter/spring months, but knowledge about their spatial overlap in other areas and seasons is incomplete, the researchers said. Study results published in February in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, an inde...