Author: Fishermen's News Online

 Members of the Pacific Fishery Management Council, the states of Washington and Oregon, have reached an agreement with National Marine Fisheries Service on management action for the commercial troll salmon season from the US/Canadian border to Cape Falcon. In a conference call on Tuesday, April 20, it was agreed that the commercial fishery for all salmon except coho will open from May 1-15, as described in the 2020 season regulations. The announcement from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said the season will follow the same rules and specifications adopted by the PFMC on April 15 for the 2021 seasons. The season will continue through the earlier of June 29, the May-June overall quota of 15,375 Chinook salmon, or the Leadbetter Point, Washington to Cape Falcon, or May-Ju...

 Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association, Certified Quality Foods (DBA Seafood Analytics) and Digital Observers are teaming up for a second year to do digital quality monitoring of the 2021 Bristol Bay sockeye salmon season. In 2020, pandemic challenges notwithstanding, quality measurements from over 6,000 sockeye salmon off 200 boats were taken by Digital Observers on five tenders throughout Bristol Bay. Certified Quality Foods cloud-based business intelligence platform analyzed the data and allowed for key takeaways around trendlines, comparisons between regions, seasons, boats, tenders and more. Having a robust amount of data from the 2020 Bristol Bay sockeye season provides a valuable baseline for comparison of salmon quality and salmon fat content harvested each ye...

 National Marine Fisheries Service has called for the temporary closure of directed fishing for Alaska Pollock in Statistical Area 630 in the Gulf of Alaska through May 31 to avoid exceeding the “A” season allowance of the 2021 total allowable catch for that area. NMFS published the order in the Federal Register this week, noting that the “A” season allowance for Statistical Area 630 of the Gulf is 6,297 metric tons, as established by the final 2021 and 2022 harvest specifications for groundfish in the GOA. Federal fisheries officials determined that the “A” season allowance of that TAC of Pollock would soon be reached and is setting aside the remaining 200 metric tons as bycatch to support other anticipated groundfish fisheries.

 NOAA Fisheries researchers say temperature shifts in the southeast Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska are increasing the risk of prey mismatch and starvation for Pacific cod larvae. The study, led by NOAA Fisheries scientist Ben Laurel of the Alaska Fisheries Science Center, notes that the first feeding of the young Pacific cod is a life-or death situation. Cod larvae are nourished by a yolk sac after they hatch, but once the nourishment in that sac is depleted, they must find food within days to avoid starvation, so there must be prey available at that time for first feeding. “Warming (waters) can increase the metabolic demands of fish and shift the timing of their food production,” Laurel said. “So, you have temperature unraveling the system, moving food around.” When mismatched prey...

Coast Guard officials lent a hand in mid-April in the Port Angeles, Washington seizure of some 342 pounds of methamphetamine worth nearly $1.7 million. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents had received information about suspicious bags observed near the beach on April 11. A Border Patrol agent dispatched with his K-9 partner located multiple bags, which contained the methamphetamine. The bags were seized and federal agents then coordinated with partner agencies on the bust. The team included the Coast Guard, Homeland Security Investigations, the Olympic Peninsula Narcotics Enforcement Team, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, CBP’s Air and Marine Operations, Clallam County Sheriff’s Office and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Chief Patrol Agent David BeMiller hailed the tea...

 U.S. Coast Guard officials say the National Maritime Center has reopened five more regional examination centers on Monday September 28 for maritime exams, which must be scheduled in advance and are by appointment only. The five include Anchorage (recwnc@uscg.mil), Baltimore (recbaltimore@usc.mil), Oakland (recoakland@uscg.mil), Portland (recportland@uscg.mil), and St. Louis (recstl@uscg.mil). With the exception of monitoring unit (MU) Guam, all the regional exam centers and monitoring units are open for limited services. Previously opened regional centers include Boston (recboston@uscg.mil), Charleston (reccha@uscg.mil), Honolulu (rechonolulu@uscg.mil), Houston (rechoustonexam@uscg.mil), Juneau (ecjun@uscg.mil), Long Beach (reclb@uscg.mil), Memphis  (recmemphis@uscg.mil), Mia...

Officials with the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation in Anchorage have rescheduled events for the 2020-2021 Alaska Symphony of Seafood competition to the spring of 2021 over concerns prompted by the continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic. In an announcement on Monday, Sept. 21, AFDF said that given the uncertainty of the pandemic they plan to inform interested entrants about the next event format, product quantities and delivery information when more information is available on the format of scheduled events. The popular competition among seafood processors large and small normally includes a gala in Seattle in November, where entries in the retail, food service and smoked seafood competition, are judged and paid guests at the gala vote on their favorite entries. The competition h...

Top executives of a Canadian mining company determined to develop a mine at the headwaters of Bristol Bay in western Alaska have acknowledged plans for a project that would continue operations for 180 to 200 years. Their words came in video-taped conversations with members of a Washington D.C. based Environmental Investigation Agency, who posed as potential investors. Video tapes released on Monday, Sept. 21 by EIA also contained details of Pebble’s apparent plans to open up other large areas of western Alaska to mining, including the Donlin Gold mine in the Yukon Kuskokwim region of western Alaska. The “Pebble Tapes” ( https://eia-global.org/reports/20200921-the-pebble-tapes) are interviews with Ronald W. Thiessen, chief executive of Northern Dynasty Minerals, the parent company of the...

 U.S. Coast Guard leadership has released a new strategy for combatting illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, a global problem both on the high seas and in areas of national jurisdiction. Admiral Karl L. Schultz, commandant of the Coast Guard, said that as a recognized world leader in maritime safety, security and environmental stewardship the Coast Guard has a responsibility to help build a coalition of partners willing to identify and address IUU fishing bad actors and model responsible global maritime behavior. The Coast Guard is committed to leading an international effort with America’s allies to combat illegal exploitation of fish stocks in the oceans and to protect national interests. The Coast Guard’s newly released IUU strategic outlook notes that not all maritime na...

NOAA Fisheries research biologists say they are embarking on a new ecosystems-based fisheries management study on the Gulf of Alaska, with a focus on the fisheries and coastal fishing communities. The new project, to run for three years, is funded by the North Pacific Research Board in Anchorage and internal funds from NOAA’s fisheries and climate program, said NOAA Fisheries researcher Martin Dorn, the project lead.  The Gulf of Alaska study comes on the heels of the Bering Sea ecosystem-based fisheries management study, said fellow NOAA Fisheries researcher Kirstin Holsman.  Both are with NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center. While the Gulf project will closely follow the one done in the Bering Sea, it is designed to address some of the environmental and management issues...