By Margaret Bauman
Pacific Marine Expo 2024 at Lumen Field Events Center Seattle in Seattle served up a plethora of offerings Nov. 20-22—health tips for seafood harvesters and updates on seafood trade economics and the blue economy. There was a little something for everyone networking their way through the event.
The annual expo attracts participants from Florida to British Columbia and much of the Pacific Northwest, for myriad reasons, from wanting to sell a vintage commercial fishing boat to learning about new technology, checking out new industry equipment and simply going from booth to booth and picking up swag.
Networking at Pacific Marine Expo proved to be a good investment this year for the Central Bering Sea Fishermen’s Association of St. Paul Island, in the Pribilofs, President Ray Melovidov said.
“We took the opportunity to go down to the Expo this year to meet with our business partners, boat captains, vendors and fellow fishermen,” said Melovidov, who described the contingent as the voice of the Pribilof Islands.
“It’s been over a decade since I’ve last made it down to Expo, and with the pandemic it has been a number of years since I’ve seen some of our partners in person,” he said. Melovidov described the trip as both helpful and productive.
“We discussed current challenges in the seafood industry, mainly increased costs and market conditions and what opportunities we might have in front of us to extract more value from CBSFA’s resources,” Melovidov said.
“Most importantly, we talked about how the community of Saint Paul fits into all of this and how we can bring back processing activity to the island in these times of low crab abundance,” he added.
CBSFA operates the local halibut fishery in conjunction with local fishermen, Saint Boats LLC (f/v Saint Paul and f/v Saint Peter) and Trident Seafoods. It is a major source of employment, income and subsistence for the community and members of the fishermen’s association.
CBSFA also provides services for fishermen through its fleet support program and works closely with Trident Seafoods to provide processing services.
In 2003, the group created the CBSFA Halibut Cooperative and began purchasing halibut from the local fleet with a goal of providing a competitive ex-vessel price. Since inception, the co-op says it has paid out more than $40 million to local fishermen.
For others attending Pacific Marine Expo, the event also offered opportunities to connect with existing clients, find new clients and connect with old friends.
To one distributor of marine products used onboard numerous commercial fishing vessels, it was an annual opportunity to shake hands with his customers—regular maintenance, as he put it. He wanted to let his customers know he’s got their back while seeing that they make the best use of everything they buy from him.
A charter fishing boat operator from California said he was there to see cool new stuff, but that he also was looking to leave the charter business and try a new occupation.
A veteran harvester, now retired from the Bristol Bay sockeye salmon fishery, was there mainly to see old friends, but said he found time to purchase some new long underwear at a booth to keep him warm while playing ice hockey.
Associate Professor Emeritus David Fluharty of the University of Washington College of the Environment, a former member of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council in Anchorage, came with one of his graduate students to check out what is new in the industry, as did a marine equipment designer.
A veteran Bristol Bay harvester from Arizona walked the floor of the events center over and over during the three-day event, attired with a sandwich board advertising his gillnetter for sale.
New to Pacific Marine Expo this year was the free education program for WorkBoat West, with a focus on shipyards, vessel owner-operators and other commercial marine stakeholders. The International WorkBoat Show was held Nov. 12-14 in New Orleans.
Among the education programs offered by WorkBoat West on Nov. 22 was Quiet Sound, a collaborative program to reduce noise impacts on Southern Resident killer whales from large commercial vessels. It includes an active voluntary slowdown in Puget Sound and efforts to monitor noise and reduce acoustic impacts.
Industrial noise has been identified as an issue in driving whales away from their food sources, including not only the Southern Resident killer shales in Puget Sound, but endangered beluga whales in Cook Inlet near Anchorage.
WorkBoat also presented State of the Blue on Nov. 22. Washington Maritime Blue bills itself as a catalyst for the Pacific Northwest. The aim is to serve as a global innovation hub for a thriving maritime industry and blue economy, while taking a lead on climate action, healthy ocean ecosystems and equitable communities.
Maritime Blue works to foster collaboration among industry, government, academia, communities and investors to create sustainable maritime and ocean industries.
Margaret Bauman is an Alaska journalist and photographer with an extensive background in Alaska’s industries and environmental issues related to those industries. A long-time Alaska resident, she has also covered news of national and international importance in other states on the staff of United Press International, the Associated Press, and CBS News.
Margaret Bauman can be reached at margie@maritimepublishing.com