News – Page 37 – Fishermens News

California Sea Grant Releases 2024-2027 Strategic Plan

California Sea Grant, administered through the University of California San Diego, has released its 2024-2027 strategic plan, with a goal of better preparing the state’s coastal communities for extreme weather and coastal hazards, economic disruptions and other threats to communities’ well-being. The report notes the intimate connection between all California residents and the state’s coastal and marine resources, which are located along the 3,425 miles of coastline, meandering along the rugged open coast, around bays and in the ocean. The first healthy coastal ecosystem goal centers on a better understanding of natural and anthropogenic influences on these ecosystems in a changing environment and collaborators that reflect the diversity of those with interest in these ecosystems to iden...

Fishing Boat Fuel Spill Cleaned Up on Santa Cruz Island

Crews worked to contain and clean up diesel fuel spilling out of a 60-foot fishing boat that ran aground on Santa Cruz Island on Dec. 15, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. At about 2 a.m., members of Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles/Long Beach watchstanders were alerted to a report from Vessel Assist Ventura about f/v Speranza Marie, which ran aground in Chinese Harbor on Santa Cruz Island. The boat was carrying six people and about 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel, according to the Guard. A unified command was created by the Coast Guard, California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Office of Spill Prevention and Response (OSPR) and Santa Barbara County to respond to the incident with a plan for removing and mitigating the pollution. “Diesel fuel is considered a non-persistent oil, compa...

Coast Guard Station Honolulu Partners on Search-Rescue Training Course

Members of the U.S. Coast Guard Station Honolulu teamed up with the Hawaii Department of Transportation’s Airport Division Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighting Unit for five days of training. The agency revealed on Dec. 14 that the crews both took the National Association of Boat Law Administrators’ Boat Operator for Search and Rescue course. Developed to standardize the training, qualification, credentialing and typing process for maritime first responders, the course centers around “on-the-water risk management, team coordination, navigation, search patterns (and) rescue and towing,” according to the Coast Guard. This helps strengthen the working relationship between the USCG and the firefighting unit, the first responding agencies in the USCG area of responsibility, according to Petty O...

Comment Period on Bering Sea Halibut Management Proposal Open

NOAA Fisheries is seeking comment through Feb. 7 on a plan for abundance-based management of halibut in the Bering Sea. The proposed rule would implement Amendment 123 to the fishery management plan for groundfish within the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area, as they relate to the Amendment 80 trawl sector prohibited species catch limit for Pacific halibut. NOAA Fisheries said in its request for comment that Amendment 123 balances the interests of the two largest halibut user groups in the Bering Sea-Aleutian Islands Fishery Management Area. The Amendment 80 sector is a fleet of nearly 20 trawl catcher-processor boats targeting Pacific cod, Pacific Ocean perch, Atka mackerel and rock, yellowfin and flathead sole in the Bering Sea. The action was initiated at the December ...

Pacific Fishermen Shipyard’s Dixon Honored for Support of North Pacific Fishing Industry

John Douglas “Doug” Dixon, the general manager of Pacific Fishermen Shipyard in Seattle, has been honored by the Norwegian Commercial Club for his life-long contributions to the North Pacific fishing industry with the King Neptune award. The King Neptune Award honors individuals and organizations whose long-term and breakthrough contributions have furthered the economic growth, well-being and recognition of the North Pacific fishing industry. The latest presentation came during the Seattle-based club’s 70th annual Fishermen’s Night in December. Dixon now joins the ranks of industry leaders who have received the honor, including Trident Seafoods’ Chuck Bundrant, Kaare Ness and Bart Eaton, MARCO’s Peter Schmidt, Sam LeClercq, Wally Pereyra, and U.S. senators Ted Stevens, Patty Murray an...

NOAA Backs $16M+ in Fish Passage Funds, Including in Alaska, Washington, Oregon

NOAA Fisheries has recommended spending more than $16 million for 13 tribal priority fish passage projects in seven states, including Alaska, California, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. In Alaska, the allocations include $1.59 million to the Chickaloon Native Village, $425,920 to Sealaska Corp., and up to $2.9 million to The Eyak Corp. to remove fish passage barriers and for stream-crossing barriers. In California, the Round Valley Indian Tribes are allocated $1.3 million to engage in dam removal at the Potter Valley Project on the Eel River. Idaho’s Shoshone-Bannock Tribes on the Fort Hall Reservation are receiving over $1 million to restore fish passage and habitat connectivity in the Yankee Fork watershed. The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon are to re...

Fishery Disaster Determinations Issued for Alaska, Washington

Fishery disaster determinations were approved by the U.S. Commerce Department in mid-December, with $300 million in disaster assistance for fishing families impacted by canceled crab and salmon harvests to be included in the final version of the FY 2023 Omnibus Appropriations Bill. The eight fisheries approved include Alaska’s multi-million-dollar Bristol Bay red king crab and Bering Sea snow crab fisheries. Cancellation of the 2022-2023 Bering Sea snow crab, the 2022-2023 Bristol Bay red king crab, and the 2021-2022 Bristol Bay red king crab harvest resulted in an estimated $287.7 million loss to participants in those fisheries. Confirmation of the disaster relief funds came from U.S. Senators Patty Murray, D-Wash., a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Sen. Mari...

Hawaii Research Center Paying Commercial Fishermen to Collect Derelict Nets

Hawai’i Pacific University’s Center for Marine Debris Research has launched a project to remove derelict fishing gear from the ocean. A bounty will be paid to eligible commercial fishers to remove derelict fishing gear at-sea before it strikes Hawai’i ‘s coral reefs. Fishers registered in the bounty project will be paid between $1 to $3 per dry pound for derelict fishing gear found at sea and brought back to Oahu. Hawai'i Pacific is partnering with the Hawai’i Longline Association and Hawai’i’s Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Aquatic Resources on the project. The goal is to remove 100 metric tons (220,462 pounds) of derelict fishing gear from the Pacific Ocean over two years. The program is partially supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administratio...

Oregon, California Coastal Chinook Salmon Move Closer to Endangered Species Protection

In response to a petition by the Native Fish Society, Center for Biological Diversity and Umpqua Watersheds, the National Marine Fisheries Service in mid-January determined that the Oregon Coast and southern Oregon/Northern California Coast Chinook salmon may warrant protection under the Endangered Species Act. Historical records indicate that spring Chinook were once present in almost all watersheds of the Oregon and Northern California coastal range. Their combined former ranges include 11 river systems between Tillamook Bay and the Klamath River: the Tillamook, Nestucca, Siletz, Alsea, Siuslaw, North Umpqua, South Umpqua, Coos, Coquille, Rogue and Smith. The Coos and Siuslaw populations, as well as a former population in the Salmon River, have disappeared. “Spring Chinook numbers have...

2023 Bristol Bay Sockeye Salmon Forecasts Anticipate Lower Harvest

Forecasts from the University of Washington Alaska Salmon Program (UW-ASP) and Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) foresee a 2023 Bristol Bay sockeye salmon harvest of 35 million to 38 million, compared to the 2022 harvest of 60 million fish. Forecasts differ due to the modeling used by researchers at the two entities. The UW-ASP preseason forecast, based on historical catch and escapement data collected by ADF&G, plus additional stock, plus 38 individual stocks by age class forecasts, is lower than the recent 10-year average of 57 million fish and 4% higher than the recent 20-year average of observed runs of 48 million sockeyes to Bristol Bay. In recent years, the UW-ASP program has increasingly relied on Dynamic Linear Models (DLM) to generate forecasts based on their...