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Counter Service Appointments are Back at Regional National Maritime Centers

21Jul

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Counter Service Appointments are Back at Regional National Maritime Centers

The National Maritime Center has resumed counter service appointments at 18 of its regional examination centers, including three in Alaska, two in California, and one each in Hawaii, Oregon and Washington state. Mariners wishing to schedule counter service or examination appointments may do so by contacting the appropriate email address or phone numbers: REC Anchorage recanc@uscg.mil REC Juneau recjun@uscg.mil MU Ketchikan 907-225-4496 (extension #3) REC Long Beach reclb@uscg.mil REC Oakland recoakland@uscg,uscg.mil REC Honolulu rechonolulu@uscg.mil REC Portland recportland@uscg.mil REC Seattle recseattle@uscg.mil No walk-in appointments are available. Late arrivals for appointments will not be permitted and will require rescheduling to another date. Only...

SE Alaska Sustainability Strategy Ending Old Growth Logging Draws Kudos, Fire

21Jul

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SE Alaska Sustainability Strategy Ending Old Growth Logging Draws Kudos, Fire

A new federal Southeast Alaska Sustainability Strategy that will end old growth logging in Tongass National Forest by reinstating the Roadless Rule is elating fishermen and drawing fire from the timber industry. “The Southeast Alaska ecosystem, which holds as its heart and lungs the Tongass National Forest, can be thought of (as) one marvelous SeaBank, rich in natural capital, paying generous annual dividends, and with assets that support local jobs and a sustainable economy,” said Linda Behnken, a veteran commercial harvester and president of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association in Sitka. The Tongass provides 95% of the 53 million salmon annually harvested by Southeast Alaska’s commercial salmon fisheries, which are the cornerstone of the sustainable local economy, Behnken sa...

CDFW Relocates 1.1M Juvenile Fall Run Chinook Salmon

21Jul

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CDFW Relocates 1.1M Juvenile Fall Run Chinook Salmon

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has relocated 1.1 million juvenile fall-run Chinook salmon from the Iron Gate Fish Hatchery in Siskiyou County to a nearby satellite facility and to the Trinity River Hatchery, 122 miles away. There, the young Chinooks will remain until conditions improve from the drought impacting the Klamath River. The baby salmon, about seven months old and about three inches in length, normally are released into the Klamath River in May and June. Due to warm water, low water flow and exceedingly high probability of the fish succumbing to disease in the river, a decision was made to retain these salmon within the hatchery system over the summer, until conditions in the Klamath River improve, CDFW officials said. The unprecedented relocation came after...

Pew Charitable Trusts, WTO Critical of Failing Efforts to End Harmful Fishing Subsidies

21Jul

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Pew Charitable Trusts, WTO Critical of Failing Efforts to End Harmful Fishing Subsidies

Leaders of the World Trade Organization and The Pew Charitable Trusts are criticizing World Trade Organization member states for failing to put aside their national interests to reach a deal to end harmful fishing subsidies for the benefit of oceans and marine life. In a report published by the online publication SeafoodSource, the two entities said that the world’s largest fishing nations are dodging their responsibilities. According to Isabel Jarrett, manager of a Pew Charitable Trusts project to end harmful fisheries subsidies, an ambitious WTO deal to end harmful fisheries subsidies could restore 12.5% of fish biomass in the ocean by 2050. The most recent draft of the WTO agreement text would likely yield only an increase of 1.59% for that same period, and new research by the ...

21Jul

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Commercial Harvest of Alaska Salmon Hits 72.7M Fish

Commercial salmon harvests in Alaska soared by over 20 million fish over the past week, boosting the estimated catch to 72.7 million fish, according to the latest Alaska Department of Fish and Game preliminary salmon catch report. The report showed harvesters in Bristol Bay had an overall catch of over 38 million salmon through Tuesday, July 20, Prince William Sound had 19.6 million salmon and the Alaska Peninsula had nearly 10 million salmon. In Bristol Bay alone, harvesters in the Nushagak district have now delivered nearly 18 million salmon, followed by 8.2 million fish in the Naknek-Kvichak, 7.7 million in Egegik and 4.6 million in the Ugashak. The overall Prince William Sound harvest included 16 million pink, 2.3 million chum and 1.1 million sockeye, while in the Alaska Peninsul...

Commercial Salmon Harvest in Alaska Soars <br>to Over 51M Fish

14Jul

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Commercial Salmon Harvest in Alaska Soars
to Over 51M Fish

Alaska’s commercial salmon harvest continues to center around Bristol Bay and the Alaska Peninsula, as processors have received over 51 million fish, over 31 million of them from Bristol Bay, over nine million from the Alaska Peninsula, and 8.6 million from Prince William Sound. For the Nushagak district of Bristol Bay alone, fishermen have caught nearly 16 million sockeye salmon, while in the bay’s Egegik, Naknek-Kvichak and Ugashik districts, they have delivered to processors 6.3 million sockeyes, 6.1 million sockeyes and 2.5 million sockeyes, respectively. Alaska Troopers have also been busy in the Bristol Bay fishery, issuing fines to 18 fishing vessels so far for commercial fishing in closed waters. Harvesters on the south side of the Alaska Peninsula have harvested 7.3 milli...

Settlement Reached for Violations of Marine Protected Area-Related Laws

14Jul

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Settlement Reached for Violations of Marine Protected Area-Related Laws

Monterey County, California-based District Attorney Jeannine M. Pacioni says her office has reached a settlement totaling $42,747 in a civil law enforcement action against Sophia Fisheries Inc, and its principals for violations of Marine Protected Area-related regulations. Monterey County has 17 Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), the most of any California county, including eight Marine State Marine Reserves (MSMRs) and nine State Marine Conservation Areas (SMCAs). Using GPS technology, the state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife’s marine patrol determined that Sophia Fisheries Inc.’s vessel the Navigator was fishing for spot prawn with traps in Portuguese Ledge State Marine Conservation Area, four miles off the coast of Pacific Grove, on separate occasions in 2019 and 2020. The only ...

UBC Study Examines Fitness of Pacific Sockeye Salmon Infected with PRV

14Jul

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UBC Study Examines Fitness of Pacific Sockeye Salmon Infected with PRV

A new study from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC, finds that the respiratory performance of wild Pacific sockeye salmon is normal even when infected with piscine orthoreovirus (PRV). The findings by UBC researchers, with partners from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada and Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, were published in BMC Biology. According to UBC post-doctoral researcher Yangfan Zhang, joint lead author of the study, researchers saw little to no effect on sockeye salmon’s respiratory fitness after PRV-infection and minimal impacts on their ability to sustain the vigorous activity needed to migrate, catch prey and avoid predators. The nine-week study found no physiological differences between PRV-infected fish and a control group inj...

14Jul

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USDA to Purchase Salmon, Pollock Products for Food Nutrition Assistance Programs

U.S. Department of Agriculture officials have announced plans to purchase salmon and Pollock products to distribute to various food nutrition assistance programs, under Section 32 of the Act of August 24, 1935, to encourage continued domestic consumption of these products. Potential products may include Alaska Pollock fillet portions, Alaska Pollock oven-ready fish sticks, Alaska Pollock oven-ready fish nuggets and canned red salmon 14.75-ounce cans. USDA officials said solicitations will be issued in the near future and will be available electronically through the Web-Based Supply Chain Management (WBSCM) system. All information regarding this acquisition, including solicitation amendments and award notices, will be published through WBSCM, and on the Agricultural Marketing Service’s we...

7Jul

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Culprit Behind Mass Shellfish Mortality Identified

Researchers with the Washington Sea Grant program say they have identified yessotoxins, produced by blooms of certain phytoplankton, as the culprit behind summer mass shellfish mortality events in Washington state. The study was released by aquaculture and maritime water quality specialist Teri King of Washington Sea Grant and partners from NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Center, Northwest Indian Collage and Aquatechnics Inc. Their findings have significant implications for shellfish growers in the region, they said. Since yessotoxins are not a threat to human health, their presence in Washington had not been closely monitored. Researchers used data collected by the NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Center and NOAA National Centers for C...