Fishermens News

NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service has extended from Sept. 6 to Sept. 21 the deadline to receive public comments on the proposed halibut catch-sharing plan. NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco made that decision in the wake of a visit to Homer, Alaska, last month, where she heard extensive comments from both commercial halibut setline harvesters and charter boat operators. Lubchenco said she wanted to be sure that anyone who wants to participate in this public process has a chance to do so.Both commercial setline and charter operators also offered extensive testimony on Sept. 1 at a hearing called by the Alaska House Special Committee on Fisheries in Anchorage. Charter operators told legislators that the setliners get the lion’s share of the allocation. Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Haines, hims...

Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologists, using the latest assessment information, are projecting the fall chum salmon run on the Yukon River at nearly 930,000 fish.In an announcement released Sept. 4, biologists said the estimated number of fall chum salmon having entered the river through Sept. 2 was 918,000 fish, above the historical average of 739,000 fish for that date. Biologists also said the estimated total number of coho salmon having entered the river as of Sept. 2 stood at 164,000 fish, slightly below the average for that date of 166,000 fish. The estimates are based on run reconstruction using the Pilot Station sonar project counts and harvest below Pilot Station.Commercial fishing on the Lower Yukon opened for a nine-hour period on Sept. 5, with gillnets restricted to a m...

Legislation headed for the US Senate Appropriations committee includes $10.351 billion to help fund Coast Guard operations nationwide, including two separate allotments of $18.3 million for aircraft replacement. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who serves on the Homeland security Appropriations subcommittee, requested funds for two H-60 Jayhawk helicopters, one to replace the HH-60 Sitka aircraft lost in a crash last year, and another to give Kodiak the full fleet the Coast Guard indicates it needs. The choppers are often used in rescues at sea.The measure also includes $39 million for the Coast Guard’s Ice Breaker Program in polar regions. Murkowski said the Coast Guard’s Alaska responsibilities dwarf those of most other bases nationwide, and that they deserve all the support the nation can...

September 2011 In a strongly worded opinion, US District Court Judge James Redden ruled last month that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Service failed for the third time in ten years to produce a legal and scientifically sound plan to protect endangered Columbia and Snake river salmon from the lethal impacts of federal dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers. This is the fourth NOAA salmon plan overturned in 20 years. More than 50 fishing and conservation groups, including the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations (PCFFA), had challenged the plan in court. In his decision, Redden called on NOAA to produce a new or supplemental plan that corrects the current one’s reliance on unidentified mitigation measures for populations that have been...

For months now, Vancouver’s Northern Dynasty Minerals has made no secret of its intention to sell its 50 percent stake in the controversial, proposed Pebble Mine, at the headwaters of Bristol Bay, but to date no buyers have come forth. Business news reports in the past week indicate that Pebble, one of the world’s largest undeveloped copper deposits, could be a target for Rio Tinto, one of the mining entities buying out companies in which they have a stake during the economic downturn. Now Pebble is back in the news, with Northern Dynasty CEO Ron Thiessen saying again that the junior mining company is looking for a mega-mining company to move the project forward. The Pebble Limited Partnership to date has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on exploration and engineering and has said it...

United Fishermen of Alaska is renewing its efforts to get Alaska’s salmon fishermen federal funding to relieve the financial pain of high transportation costs. UFA’s Mark Vinsel noted in an announcement on Aug. 29 that 40 Alaska fishermen applied for funding authorized through the Good, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008, the Farm Bill, for payments to help offset the high cost of transportation, just like Alaska farmers and ranchers. All 40 fishermen were initially denied, Vinsel said. Now UFA marketing chair Bruce Schactler has appealed the denal and hs appeal will be considered at a hearing on Sept. 22. Vinsel said that Schactler and the UFA believe the intent of Congress is clear, to include salmon fishermen because they produce an agricultural commodity. If the appeal is successful,...

Aleutians East Borough’s community development coordinator, Ernest Weiss, notes that a large crowd turned out in Anchorage recently for a public meeting to provide comments about an independent scientific review report on the biological opinion fisheries management plan for the Bering Sea and Aleutian islands. Back in November 2010, the National Marine Fisheries Service accepted comments between the time of release of the draft and final publication of the 2010 North Pacific groundfish fishery biological opinion. At that time there was no independent scientific review of the document, even though there was an obvious consensus among scientists and the industry, Weiss noted. Then in April, the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Alaska Department of Fish and Game initiat...

The US Coast Guard has posted in the Federal Register a proposed rule that would provide a waiver of citizenship requirements for crewmembers on commercial fishing vessels. A waiver request would have to be accompanied by a successful dockside safety examination. Comments on the proposed rule are due by Nov. 16. The posting says that the Coast Guard proposes to add to its regulations a description of the procedures for requesting and processing waivers of citizenshi8p requirements on commercial fishing vessels. Anyone wishing to comment on this matter may do so by submitting comments identified by docket number USCG-2010-0625. There are four ways to submit comment. (1) use the Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov; (2) fax 1-202-493-2251; (3)mail comments to the Docket ...

August 2011 In the May issue of Fishermen’s News we reported on the new sandblast and paint booth at Seattle’s Pacific Fishermen Shipyard. The story described a $1 million Small Shipyard Stimulus Funding Grant awarded by the Maritime Administration, under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, for worker training and capital improvements. The installation of the new, 70-foot long paint booth was engineered to be environmentally compliant under the Puget Sound Clean Air agency regulations for spray painting operations. Complementing the paint booth is a 16-foot-wide, environmentally friendly sandblast booth, which employs the latest technology for recyclable steel grit with zero emissions to the air and surrounding water. The yard, justifiably proud of its new equipment and the opp...

Harvests of all species of Alaska’s wild salmon runs grew to 149,217,000 for the week ended Aug. 19, still well short of the forecast of 203 million fish overall. Preliminary totals included nearly 40 million sockeyes, some 94.7 million pinks, 1.7 million silvers, nearly 12.8 million chums and 372,000 chinook salmon. Alaska Department of Fish and game spokesman Geron Bruce notes that the pink salmon harvest continues to be very good in Southeast Alaska and is plugging along in Prince William Sound. The catch is likely to reach its forecast in Southeast Alaska, but not in Prince William Sound, where the harvest to date is 28 million pinks, compared to a forecast of 38 million pinks. The red salmon harvest in Bristol Bay came in at some 22 million fish, and Bristol Bay is the big driver in...