Author: Fishermens News Online

The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council has recommended banning wire leaders for Hawaii’s deep-set longline fishery to protect the oceanic whitetip shark, which is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Advocates of the ban are hoping that now that the U.S. is moving to protect the species, that international agencies can be persuaded to do the same. The Council, also known as Wespac, made the decision in late June to replace the wire leaders with monofilament nylon leaders. That would reduce post-release injury and death to oceanic whitetip sharks when they get hooked on longline fishing hooks. Wespac has also recommended that all longline vessels operating under the Pacific Pelagic Fishery Ecosystem Plan be required to remove as much trailing gear from caught sh...

NOAA Fisheries has introduced a new approach to restoring habitat for salmon and steelhead in Northern California, where these species have been troubled with habitat damage for over 100 years due to human activity. And now, according to the NOAA report, climate changes has only worsened these habitat problems. Now NOAA Fisheries has introduced the Salmonid Habitat Restoration Priorities (SHaRP), a process that creates a strategy to rebuild salmon and steelhead within a watershed by focusing on restoring its heathier less impaired areas. According to the NOAA announcement, scientists expect that improved fish survival and reproduction in these restored areas will enable faster recolonization of the more degraded areas. “The SHaRP process builds upon existing recovery plans and identifies...

The commercial salmon harvest in Alaska has now reached a preliminary estimate to date of nearly 28 million fish, more than doubling the overall catch from a week ago. As of Tuesday, July 6, deliveries to processors included some 21.5 million sockeyes, 3.6 million pink, nearly 2.6 million chum, 64,000 Chinook and 7,000 coho salmon. The big surge came, as anticipated, in Bristol Bay in Southwest Alaska, where gillnetters have delivered to processors as estimated nearly 16 million salmon, with few exceptions all sockeyes. Fishermen in the Nushagak district have already set two new all-time record high daily landing totals, including an estimated 1.7 million sockeyes landed on June 30 and 1.8 million salmon on July 1, both in 24-hour periods. The preliminary cumulative harvest for the Nush...

British Columbia officials say they’re willing to meet with an Alaska transboundary rivers entity to discuss a pause on permits, permit amendments and approval of new mining projects along salmon-rich transboundary rivers. The invitation was extended in early July by George Heyman, the province’s minister of environment and climate change strategy. Fred Olsen Jr., executive director of the Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission (SEITC), said that the SEITC is excited about the letter and the opportunity to work with the B.C. government directly on the issue. Commercial fishing, environmental entities and others in Southeast Alaska have been concerned for years about the potential for water pollution from mines along transboundary waters in British Columbia. Olsen said that ...

Commerce Department officials on June 28 announced the appointments of new and returning members to the nation’s regional fishery management councils, including 11 to the Pacific, North Pacific and Western Pacific councils. They include: Pacific Council: obligatory seats for new member Corey Ridings of California and reappointments of Christa Scensson, Oregon and Joseph Oatman, of the Nez Perce Tribe in Idaho, plus reappointment to at-large seats for Robert Dooley, California and Phil Anderson of Washington. North Pacific Council: obligatory seats for reappointed members John Jensen and Andrew Mezirow, both of Alaska and new member Anne Vanderhoeven of Washington. Western Pacific Council: obligatory seats for new members Manuel “Manny” Duenas II, Guam, and Matthew Ramsey, Hawaii, and at-...

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina M. Raimondo has officially determined that fishery disasters occurred in an Alaska king crab fishery, two Washington state tribal salmon fisheries and a New York scallop fishery in 2018-2020, and evaluations are underway of disaster fund requests. “Fisheries are essential to our communities and economy and we want to ensure America is in a position to remain competitive on the global stage,” Raimondo said on June 29. “These determinations allow us to lend a helping hand to the fishing families and communities that have experienced very real and difficult setbacks in the last few years.” The hard-hit fisheries include the 2019 Norton Sound red king crab, 2018 Port Gamble S’Klallam Puget Sound coho salmon, 2019 Chehallis and Black River spring Chinook salmon, a...

Officials with the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) say new consumer data affirms the importance of the Alaska brand with Japanese consumers of seafood. The recent online survey found that some 80% of 1,000 Japanese consumers surveyed said they would be more motivated to buy products marked as from Alaska. More specifically, if the ASMI logo is present, 79.6% of those surveyed said they would purchase the product and 77.1% of consumers said they would be more likely to purchase if “Alaska” or “Alaskan” is written on the packaging to denote product origin. ASMI conducts targeted consumer and trade marketing programs in Japan, in addition to the U.S. and 40 other countries worldwide, to raise awareness of the Alaska brand and the key differentiating qualities of Alaska seafood. AS...

Alaska’s congressional delegation is urging federal action by the State Department and the Canadian government to protect salmon habitat in transboundary waters flowing from British Columbia into Southeast Alaska from potential pollution from mines. Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, with Rep. Don Young, all R-Alaska, said in a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken that the potential pollution impact of large-scale BC mines prompt an interest for continued bilateral engagement and coordination on a federal level between the two nations. “Federal engagement is appropriate to compliment the state and provincial efforts, and to ensure British Columbia and Canada act to uphold the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909,” their letter to Blinken stated. Congress has supported this effor...

After a slow start, the pace of commercial salmon harvests in Alaska is picking up speed, with more than 7.7 million fish delivered in the Westward Region alone. The Alaska Peninsula and the Central Region, including Prince William Sound and Cook Inlet, have a preliminary harvest estimate of 5.4 million fish. The big surge in Bristol Bay usually comes on the Fourth of July weekend. As of June 29, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game estimated the harvest in Bristol Bay at 3.7 million fish, mostly sockeyes, plus some 35,000 chum and 2,000 Chinook salmon. Fisheries consultant Dan Lesh, who produces the in-season commercial salmon reports for McKinley Research Group in Anchorage on behalf of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, noted that the total number of salmon harvested through Mo...