Fishermens News

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...

A major salmon river restoration project in the Tongass National Forest, on Prince of Wales Island in Southeast Alaska is now completed. The project has taken seven years and cost $3.5 million. It is being hailed by conservation groups, including Trout Unlimited, the Wilderness Society and The Nature Conservancy for its success. The Harris river and one of its Tributaries, Fubar Creek, were heavily impacted by clear-cut logging in decades prior to passage of laws requiring that loggers avoid stream banks and riparian areas, not drag fallen timber down salmon streams and adhere to other standards to protect fish habitat. Harris and Fubar, important salmon, steelhead, trout and Dolly Varden char producers, suffered damage including major erosion and blocked fish passage. The multi-year effo...

Representatives of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute are on the move this summer, from Tokyo to Alaska’s Matanuska Valley and Dutch Harbor. ASMI participated in the 13th Japan International Seafood and Technology Expo in Tokyo from July 27 through July 29, where 350 companies from 14 countries were exhibiting to some 7,500 to 9,000 visitors a day. ASMI officials said hundreds of ASMI suppliers and buyers guides were distributed to those in attendance. Coming up Aug. 28, ASMI and 10th and M Seafoods of Anchorage will present an Alaska Seafood Throwdown, a professional cooking contest, at the 75th annual Alaska State Fair in Palmer. ASMI will be at the Alaska Legislature’s Northern Waters Task Force hearing at Dutch Harbor Aug. 24 and the Unalaska Legislative Fly-in on Aug. 25. While...

With growing concern over global warming, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is working to collaborate with resource developers in the arctic to assure protection of the environment. In Anchorage on Aug. 23, NOAA officials said they have reached an agreement to enhance collaboration on ocean, coastal and climate science for the Arctic with Shell Exploration and Production, ConocoPhillips and Statoil USA E&P Inc. The agreement calls for sharing scientific data sets, including weather and ocean observations, biological information and sea ice and sea floor mapping studies. NOAA said the agreement would provide a framework to share high quality data to enhance NOAA’s ability to monitor climate change and provide useful products and services for responsible energy explo...

By Margaret Bauman Under overcast skies, with temperatures hovering in the high 40s, and the constant chance of rain, commercial fish harvesters aboard some 1,400 vessels, caught 17.5 million salmon in Bristol Bay through July 6. The forecast from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game is for a harvest of some 28.5 million reds, out of a run estimated at 38.5 million fish. “It’s been a steady slow grind,” said Tim Sands, the state area management biologist for the Nushagak district, speaking from his office in Dillingham. “It’s been a windy year, pretty windy most days,” with temperatures in the 40s and low 50s, he said. Rainy and cool weather also has been no stranger to the Dillingham or to Naknek areas. “It’s been a dreary summer,” echoed Paul Salomone, area management biologist at ...

Harvests in the Copper River, Cook Inlet and Chignik have been above average, but state fisheries officials say the commercial salmon harvests are coming up well short of the forecast of 203 million salmon of all species. Alaska Department of Fish and Game spokesman Geron Bruce said the harvests are coming up short in a number of areas. “A few fisheries have been above forecast, but mostly below,” he said in an interview yesterday. “It’s the pink salmon that are the big missing piece,” Bruce said. “We have a long ways to go with pink salmon and we are running out of time. We only have about 10 more days.” There has been a record run of pink salmon arriving this month in northern Southeast Alaska, but nothing much is going on in the southern regions of Southeast Alaska. Bruce said that K...