Author: Fishermens News Online

A new NOAA fisheries study shows how mitigating seafood waste through a bycatch donation program is helping to feed thousands of food insecure Americans. The study notes how under the Prohibited Species Donation program trawl fishery prohibited species catch that would otherwise be discarded at sea is being donated to hunger relief organizations through the non-profit organization SeaShare, on Bainbridge Island, Washington. For 26 years SeaShare has worked with the Alaska seafood industry to donate millions of servings of prohibited species catch of salmon and halibut, high quality seafood that would have otherwise been discarded due to prohibition on retention. The PSD program offers an example of how to address food security and social value, an under-represented perspective in the globa...

An analysis of survey data has prompted the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to continue closure of three commercial Tanner crab fisheries in 2021. ADF&G announced its decision on Tanner crab fisheries in Kodiak, Chignik and South Alaska Peninsula districts during the past week, based on completion of the analysis of 2020 Tanner crab surveys. Fisheries in these districts may occur only when they meet estimated abundance of mature male Tanner crab meets or exceeds abundance thresholds and minimum guideline harvest levels. No decision has been made yet on whether there will be a Tanner crab fishery in 2021 in Prince William Sound. For Kodiak the mature male abundance thresholds are established in six sections and a minimum of two sections must meet or exceed those requirements. Those secti...

United Fishermen of Alaska is voicing strong objections to the state’s draft CARES Act Funding Plan over the percentage of that $50 million proposed to go to commercial and sport fishing charter entities and the exclusion of the state’s private non-profit salmon hatcheries. UFA also told Alaska Department of Fish and Game officials in its letter of Oct. 22 that when the agency issues a revied draft spending plan to allow a new comment period for review. The umbrella organization representing a number of commercial fisheries businesses said that payments made to commercial fishing and sport fishing charter recipients should have parity by being limited to Alaska residents, since initial allocations by NOAA at the state level were calculated based on the residency of business owners. They n...

Alternatives for salmon fishery management in the exclusive economic zone of Cook Inlet will be on the table when the Alaska Board of Fisheries and the North Pacific Fishery Management Council convene a Joint Protocol Committee meeting in a web conference on Thursday, Nov.5. The agenda calls for the council to first hear staff reports on current management and then take oral public testimony. Public comment letters are also being accepted electronically at https://meetings.npfmc.org/Meeting/Details/1684 through 5 p.m. Alaska time on Nov. 4. The Exclusive Economic Zone stretches from three nautical miles to 200 nautical miles offshore of Alaska. Back in 2012, the NPFMC revised the fishery management plan to comply with recent Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Management Act requirements, including a...

The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute’s annual All Hands On Deck conference will go virtual this year from Tuesday, Nov. 10 through Friday, Nov. 13. Registration is currently open online at https://allhandsondeck.toasttovirtual.com/registration/ The annual report and networking gathering is normally held in Anchorage, but because of the global novel coronavirus pandemic it will be online only this year. ASMI Executive Director Jeremy Woodrow will open the conference on the morning of Nov.10, followed by comments from the McDowell Group’s Dan Lesh on the impact of COVID-19 on Fisheries. The afternoon session will include a discussion with a question and answer period on ASMI’s Responsible Fisheries Management program. The Nov. 11 agenda will focus on reports from ASMI’s committees on salmo...

In a 60-day patrol of living marine resources along the California coast, crew of the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Alert did 38 vessel boardings to enforce fishing regulations resulting in reporting compliance resulting in 47 violations. The patrol ran from Humboldt County to the Southern Maritime Border with Mexico, enforcing federal, state and local policies aboard U.S. commercial fishing vessels. The Alert crew discovered 30 safety violations and terminated the voyages of three commercial fishing vessels, which were determined to be unsafe to continue operating. The Coast Guard said the vessel terminations were due to overdue survival craft servicing, expired hydrostatic releases on survival craft and expired flares. At-sea boardings are critical to ensuring safety of life for fleets operati...

A high-tech weather system known as PORTS at the Port of Valdez in Alaska’s Prince William Sound is focused on improved navigation safety in the port area, but its benefits are expected to also benefit a variety of other maritime users. PORTS is an acronym for Physical Oceanographic Real-Time System, a project in which NOAA has partnered with the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens Advisory Council, in Cordova. The overall project will consist of an existing NOAA National Water Level Observation Network station at Valdez and two new meteorological-ocean buoys, which measure tidal currents, wind, air temperature, water temperature and barometric pressure. The buoys will be operated and maintained by the citizens advisory council. “While the council’s sole purpose for installing these b...

Federal fisheries managers bracing for the continuing spread of the novel coronavirus are now planning to hold three meetings normally held in December in Anchorage, February in Seattle and again in Anchorage in April in a virtual format. On tap for the Nov. 30 to Dec. 11 meeting of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council are final action on the Cook Inlet salmon fishery management plan, final specifications for the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands and Gulf of Alaska groundfish harvests and initial reviews of the Pacific cod pot and trawl catcher vessel LAPP (limited access privilege program) programs. The draft agenda for the Feb. 1-2 meeting includes final action on Pacific cod pot catcher vessel management, plus a number of other interim actions, reports and discussion papers on individ...