Author: Fishermen's News

Studies Show Major Fish Populations Are Relocating to North, South Poles
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Studies Show Major Fish Populations Are Relocating to North, South Poles

Scientists at the University of Glasgow in Scotland say their research shows that the majority of fish populations in the world’s oceans are responding to climate change by relocating towards colder waters nearer the north and south poles. This latest study, released on May 31, identifies many marine fish populations shifting toward the Earth’s poles or moving to deeper waters, all in an effort to stay cool. For much of marine life water temperature affects critical functions such as metabolism, growth and reproduction. Various marine species have a very narrow livable temperature range. As a result, marine life changes caused by global warming have been up to seven-fold faster than animal responses on land. This latest study examined data on 115 species spanning all major oceanic regi...
Application Period Opens for Pacific Salmon Commission Grants
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Application Period Opens for Pacific Salmon Commission Grants

Applications for four grant fund programs offered through the Pacific Salmon Commission are being accepted for projects to enhance wild salmon stocks and their habitat, with deadlines ranging from Sept. 6 through Nov. 1. The call for proposals for the Southern Endowment Fund, for southern British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and Idaho’s Snake River Basin, as well as the Northern Endowment Funds for the area from Cape Suckling, Alaska, to Cape Caution, British Columbia, is Sept. 6. The annual grant programs support projects related to salmon stocks in the United States and Canada, within the respective geographic areas covered by each endowment fund. These funds are earmarked to support projects aligned with specific goals, objectives and priorities, including improving resource manage...
Alaska Files New Appeal in Litigation over Southeast Alaska Chinook Salmon Fishery
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Alaska Files New Appeal in Litigation over Southeast Alaska Chinook Salmon Fishery

Alaska officials have filed a new motion with the Ninth Circuit Court for a stay of the district court’s vacatur order of the incidental take statement (ITS) for the Southeast Alaska winter and summer commercial Chinook salmon troll fishery. That action this past week (May 26) came on the heels of U.S. District Court Judge Richard Jones’s decision denying the state’s request for a stay of his May 2 order vacating the ITS for the fisheries. That order has the practical effect of closing those two fisheries, which are vital to the Southeast Alaska economy, until a new ITS is in place. The litigation began when the Wild Fish Conservancy (WFC) in Seattle sued National Marine Fisheries Service, alleging violations of the Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act. The prim...
If Properly Managed, Atlantic Cod Stocks Could Rebound: Study
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If Properly Managed, Atlantic Cod Stocks Could Rebound: Study

New research on Atlantic cod, led by scientists at Rutgers University, concludes that if properly managed, stocks of the popular white fish may rebound, now that commercial fishing pressure has been reduced. The study, published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, offers the first genomic evidence that Atlantic cod evolved new traits over only decades during a period of overfishing – evolutionary changes that scientists formerly believed could take millions of years.  “The discovery was made possible by new technology that allowed us to extract and read the genetic code of cod, some caught more than 110 years ago, as well as new analytical techniques that detect subtle changes in that genetic code,” said Malin Pinsky, senior author on the stud...
NPAFC: North Pacific 2022 Salmon Catch Was Second Lowest of 21st Century
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NPAFC: North Pacific 2022 Salmon Catch Was Second Lowest of 21st Century

A preliminary report issued May 19 during the annual meeting of the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission (NPAFC) in South Korea, says the Pacific salmon harvest in the North Pacific Ocean in 2022 was the second lowest catch of the 21st century. Despite a growth in total catch compared to 2020, even-year pink salmon catch continued to decline to a level last seen from 1988 through 1992. The last time the pink salmon portion of total catch weight equaled 36% was in 1994 and 1996.   The report was compiled using data provided by member countries Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, and the United States. Individual country totals reported were 50% by the United States (352.1 thousand metric tons, of which 342.3 thousand metric tons was caught in Alaska), 37% b...
CDFW, Winnemem Wintu Tribe Sign Agreements for Salmon Restoration Project
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CDFW, Winnemem Wintu Tribe Sign Agreements for Salmon Restoration Project

California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), NOAA Fisheries and the Winnemem Wintu Tribe have signed agreements to restore Chinook salmon to the mountains north of Redding, California. The goal is the ecological and cultural restoration of the Chinooks to travel to cold mountain rivers now blocked by the Shasta Reservoir, and one day renew fishing opportunities for the tribe that for many years depended on the once-plentiful salmon for food and more. CDFW officials described the collaboration as a historic achievement that advances common goals. Three years of drought have taken a toll on endangered winter-run Chinook salmon, who migrate and spawn in the Lower Sacramento River. The river can warm to temperatures lethal to the salmon eggs. In the summer of 2022, tribes worked wit...
Copper River Commercial Drift Gillnet Harvest Climbs
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Copper River Commercial Drift Gillnet Harvest Climbs

Breakup is happening slowly in Alaska’s famed Copper River commercial salmon fishery, where more than 300 drift gillnetters have delivered an estimated 24,444 fish from the first two 12-hour openers, and a third 12-hour opener was underway on Monday, May 22.  The harvest from those first two openers includes  approximately 21,822 sockeyes, 1,859 Chinooks and 763 chums. The entire 2022 Prince William Sound salmon season commercial and hatchery cost recovery harvest was 33.14 million fish, composed of 13,000 Chinook, 1.61 million sockeye, 89,100 coho, 28.39 million pink and 3.04 million chum salmon.  The 2022 harvest included overall 28.4 million commercial and 4.72 million hatchery cost recovery and broodstock fish. In advance of the Monday, May 22, 12-hour opener, the Alaska Department...
BBRSDA Offers Advice on How to Get Work in the Bristol Bay Fishery
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BBRSDA Offers Advice on How to Get Work in the Bristol Bay Fishery

As commercial fishermen gear up for the upcoming Bristol Bay salmon fishery, with the usual forecast of a robust season involving the harvest of millions of sockeye salmon, the demand for good, hard-working crew is a priority item.  While many vessel owners and skippers rely on the same crew each year, others may be scrambling to fill crew slots and the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association offers guidelines on how to get those jobs. First of all, anyone who helps with the commercial harvest of salmon in Alaska must have a crew member license.  For Alaska residents, the cost is $60. For out of state residents, the cost is $252. Crew members should be sure to have a printed copy of that license, plus a photo ID, with them onboard fishing vessels.  Information about crew m...
NMFS Renews Prohibited Species Donation Permits for SeaShare for Pacific Salmon, Halibut
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NMFS Renews Prohibited Species Donation Permits for SeaShare for Pacific Salmon, Halibut

A major contributor of seafood to food banks nationwide located on Washington’s Bainbridge Island will benefit from a National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) decision to renew its prohibited species donation (PSD) permits to benefit their work to provide food for the hungry. NMFS announced in the Federal Register on May 18 that the agency had renewed the donation permits for Pacific salmon and Pacific halibut caught with trawl gear off Alaska. This action is necessary to comply with provisions of the PSD program and is intended to promote the goals and objectives of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council. SeaShare has received permits for distribution of these donations since 1994.   Participating donors to SeaShare of this prohibited species catch include 12 shoreside processo...
Commerce Dept. Allocates $220M for Alaska, Wash. Fisheries Disasters
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Commerce Dept. Allocates $220M for Alaska, Wash. Fisheries Disasters

Congress has appropriated over $220 million to address fishery disasters that occurred in multiple Alaska and Washington fisheries from 2019 through 2023. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo announced the allocation on May 19, noting the devastating effects these disasters have had on local communities in both states, and on the blue economy.  Additional funds for fisheries disasters in Oregon and California are still pending. Raimondo said the money would provide much needed assistance to the fishing industry in both states and that the Commerce Department would work with affected Alaska Bristol Bay red king crab and Bering Sea snow crab fisheries for 2021/2022 and 2022/2023; 2021 Alaska Kuskokwim River salmon and Norton Sound chum and coho salmon fisheries; 2021 Alaska Chignik salmon f...