Author: Fishermen's News Online

By Dave Abrams, Managing Editor “Make All Preparations To Get Underway” was a phrase I heard every time my first ship, the USS Kidd (DDG-993), was about to start its next mission. Everyone knew what the line meant, what their immediate job was, and the ship would spring to life with activity. That’s the phrase that was going through my mind as I concluded the deal with Philips Publishing to take over the on-line newsletters of their iconic publications, Pacific Maritime Magazine and Fishermen’s News. I’m Dave Abrams, CEO and owner of Training Resources Maritime Institute, a maritime training school headquartered in San Diego. Although I am relatively new to the industry, having taken over the company in 2018, I quickly became a fan of Pacific Maritime and Fishermen’s News, and thos...

Commercial salmon fishing in Alaska is winding down for the season, Thursday, Sept. 3, the statewide harvest was moving toward 109 million fish. The year-to-date harvest to date is nearly identical to 2018, though with 16 million more pink salmon, about 12 million fewer keta and five million fewer sockeye, said Garrett Evridge of the McDowell Group. Historical data indicate only about three percent of the annual harvest occurs after week 35 in most year, he said. Evridge produces in season weekly reports on the commercial salmon harvest for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, the state’s official seafood marketing arm. Some 180,000 sockeye were caught last week, with nearly all landings taking place in Kodiak and in the Alaska Peninsula and Aleutian Islands region. The year-to-da...

The International Pacific Halibut Commission has announced a special online session following a request from Canada for in-season regulatory changes in Area 2B, off the coast of British Columbia, in response to the global pandemic of the novel coronavirus. The IPHC said commercial and recreational fisheries for Pacific halibut have seen disruptions to fishing opportunities and markets and are proposing sector-specific management responses for consideration by Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the IPHC. The first proposal called for a season extension in the commercial fishery, changing the closure from Nov. 15 to Feb. 20, 2021. The second proposal, for the recreational fishery, seeks an underage carryover provision that would allow 10 percent of this year’s recreational total allowable c...

A new federal fisheries research report concludes that the rapid transformation of the Pacific Arctic may be beneficial to pink salmon, whose numbers are increasing in the North Pacific Ocean. According to study leader Ed Farley, a NOAA Fisheries scientist with the Alaska Fisheries Science Center, the warming climate is increasing freshwater habitat and improving early marine survival of pink salmon in the northern Bering Sea. These findings are important for commercial and subsistence fisheries, as well as coastal fishing communities now preparing for changes in the future. “Subsistence harvesters would like to know what foods may be available to them now and into the future,” Farley said. Pink salmon are the most abundant salmon species in the North Pacific Ocean, which encompasses ...

The U.S. Coast Guard is continuing to reopen regional examination centers in several states for limited services. Commanding officer Captain Kirsten R. Martin said on Tuesday, Sept. 1, that mariners seeking to schedule exams at 10 centers may do so by contacting the appropriate email address or phone number. Appointment requests should include the applicant’s name, mariner reference number, requested testing date(s), phone number and a copy of their approved to test letter(s). All exams are by appointment only. The centers and contact information include REC Boston, recboston@uscg.mil; REC Honolulu, rechonolulu@uscg.mil; REC Houston, rechoustonexam@uscg.mil; REC Juneau, recjun@uscg.mil; REC Long Beach, reclb@uscg.mil; REC Memphs, recmemphis@uscg.mil; REC Miami, recmia@uscg.mil&nb...

Two major Pacific Northwest commercial fisheries events will be a digital experience only in 2020. Organizers for both events have made the switch due to the ongoing health and safety issues presented by the global novel coronavirus pandemic. The international media firm Diversified Communications, in Portland, Maine, organizer of Pacific Marine Expo, announced this week that it has become necessary to cancel its trade show and forums set for December in Seattle and launch Expo Online. The digital experience will be several days of free streaming educational content and special events, discussions and a comprehensive supplier guide in lieu of an exhibit floor. More details regarding Expo Online are to be made available in coming weeks. Meanwhile direct questions to info@pacificmarineex...

Commercial salmon harvests in Alaska are off to a slow start in the 2020 season, with year-to-date statewide landings at just over three million fish – the lowest in at least 12 years. Still while some areas have been late to open or are much lower than historical averages, recovery from early season weakness can happen quickly as key fisheries come online, says Garrett Evridge, an economist with the McDowell Group. For example, said Evridge, a single strong week in Bristol Bay can produce multiples of the entire statewide May and June harvest. Sockeye landings of some 640,000 fish are 75 percent lower than the same time in 2019, by which time more than 2.5 million fish had been harvested. All regions are slow against prior years, with Prince William Sound down sharply. Through June 23...

In a normal year, seafood processors coming to Alaska to process millions of pounds of fish are faced with the usual challenges of estimating the timing and run strength of the salmon, and when the actual harvest will begin, so all the manpower and equipment is in place and functioning as it should be. This year, with a global pandemic already showing its face all over Alaska, the processors have been planning for months on how to keep their employees, their facilities and the coastal communities they work in safe from COVID-19. It has been a work in progress. Through Tuesday, June 22, 778 Alaska residents have tested positive for COVID-19, along with 129 nonresidents, mostly seafood processor workers, and 12 of the new cases confirmed yesterday were seafood workers in Dillingham. All 1...

The US Environmental Protection Agency has reached a settlement with Pacific Seafood-Westport, LLC, over violations of the federal Clean Water Act at its Westport, Washington, crab and shrimp processing facility. Settlement documents note that the EPA identified more than 2,100 violations of the Westport facility’s wastewater discharge permit during an unannounced inspection in 2017. The federal agency documented discharge limit violations, as well as violations related to monitoring frequency, incorrect sampling and incomplete or inadequate reporting. There’s a reason for these wastewater discharge permit limits,” said Lauris Davies, acting director of EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance assurance in Seattle. “Local receiving waters can get inundated with body parts, entails, sh...

A federal district court judge in California has ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency has a duty to update its national contingency plan for responding to oil and hazardous substance contamination, as mandated by the Clean Water Act. In doing so in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Judge William. H. Orrick recently denied a motion by the EPA to dismiss arguments brought by Earth Island Institute and other plaintiffs, and also denied a motion from the American Petroleum Institute to intervene in the lawsuit. The lawsuit, filed in January, compels the EPA to issue rules that restrict use of chemical agents to clean up oil spills, as these chemical dispersants have been proven to be more toxic than the oil itself to people, and the environment. The ...