Features – Fishermens News

Stock Assessment: Pacific Bluefin Tuna Rebounds

3Jul

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Stock Assessment: Pacific Bluefin Tuna Rebounds

NOAA Fisheries scientists are heralding the recovery of Pacific bluefin tuna as a major milestone, saying the species exceeded international rebuilding targets a decade ahead of schedule. In announcing the achievement on June 25, NOAA Fisheries credited international organizations across the Pacific with cooperating to reverse decades of overfishing for the prized species. The International Scientific Committee for Tuna and Tuna-Like Species in the North Pacific Ocean, including NOAA Fisheries researchers, provided scientific expertise to inform the needed conservation measures. The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission and Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (IATTC) adopted the measures. The new stock assessment was finalized recently by the ISC at an annual me...

24Aug

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NOAA Study Recommends Steps to Support Young Fishermen

New research compiled by NOAA Fisheries supports equipping beginning fishermen facing start-up challenges with tools that have been successful in helping young farmers. The study, led by Marysia Szymkowiak at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center, notes the similarities between the two professions, both of which ensure food security, provide jobs and support the well-being of rural communities. “The parallels are really stark,” said Szymkowiak. “Given that, we can really learn a lot from how these issues are being addressed in farming.” For both new fishermen and farmers there are formidable challenges to entry and success, as they are highly risky businesses, subject to weather, variable harvests, uncertain markets, climate change and high start-up costs, plus constantly evolvi...

Biden Administration Urged to Send Clear Message Opposing IUU Fishing, Forced Labor

8Jun

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Biden Administration Urged to Send Clear Message Opposing IUU Fishing, Forced Labor

In advance of the U.N. Ocean Conference and in recognition of World Oceans Month, Congressmen Jared Huffman, D-CA and Garret Graves, R-LA, are calling on the Biden Administration to make clear that the U.S. is addressing illegal fishing and forced labor issues. Both congressmen are strong advocates for combatting IUU fishing, which impacts the health of oceans, human rights and the competitiveness of American fisheries. Earlier this year, major parts of Huffman’s bill with Graves, “The Illegal Fishing and Forced Labor Prevention Act,” passed the House as part of the America COMPETES Act. The bill aims to combat IUU fishing and human rights abuses in the seafood supply chain and make America more competitive in the global seafood market. In March, a bipartisan amendment led by ...

Migrating Puget Sound Steelhead Challenged by Hood Canal Bridge

1Jun

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Migrating Puget Sound Steelhead Challenged by Hood Canal Bridge

NOAA Fisheries biologists say that threatened Puget Sound steelhead smolts are facing challenges on their migration route, with the Hood Canal floating bridge being a major source of mortality for about half of the smolts while trying to get past the bridge, or soon after. Puget Sound steelhead are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, and most populations are shown to have declined since 2007. Research biologist Megan Moore of the Northwest Fisheries Science Center said researchers had no idea the bridge was causing such an impact on the migrating steelheads. The research report, led by Moore, was published recently in the peer-reviewed journal Ecosphere by the NOAA Fisheries Northwest Fisheries Science Center and Pacific Northwest sustainable fishing non-profit...

Alaska Legislature Passes Mariculture Enhancement Bill

18May

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Alaska Legislature Passes Mariculture Enhancement Bill

Mariculture enhancement legislation has passed both houses of the Alaska Legislature, lifting the hopes of shellfish researchers for a future in which hatchery production of juvenile king crab would boost stocks to a sustainable commercial level. House Bill 41, sponsored by Rep. Dan Ortiz, I-Ketchikan, creates a regulatory framework with which the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) can manage shellfish enhancement projects and outlines criteria for the issuance of permits. It sets out stringent safety standards to ensure sustainability and health of existing natural stocks. ADF&G Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang must also make a determination of substantial public benefit before the project can proceed. HB 41 also allows the ADF&G to set the application fee f...

California Agencies Partner to Support Salmon in Drought Conditions

11May

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California Agencies Partner to Support Salmon in Drought Conditions

California Department of Fish and Wildlife officials say that the drought having a significant impact on the state’s water supply is also putting the state’s salmon at serious risk. To that end, California’s Water Resources and Fish and Wildlife departments are collaborating through shared projects, funding and research efforts to identify challenges facing salmon and to promote salmon health and survival. These projects include restoring critical habitat for salmon and other fish species, improving salmon migration corridors to and from the ocean, and increasing monitoring efforts to better track fish populations and devise new strategies to improve their status. In April, DWR and CDFW staff began work to remove vegetation from a key migratory path for adult spring-run Chinook s...

USCG Unloads $223M in Cocaine, Marijuana in San Diego

6Apr

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USCG Unloads $223M in Cocaine, Marijuana in San Diego

Combined efforts of U.S. Coast Guard crews and a Canadian military vessel resulted in the seizure in the eastern Pacific Ocean of 11,300 pounds of cocaine and over 4,000 pounds of marijuana worth over $223 million. The drugs were unloaded from the Coast Guard cutter Kimball in San Diego on March 31. The drugs were seized in international waters of the eastern Pacific Ocean off the coasts of Central and South America, including contraband seized and recovered during eight interdictions of suspected drug smuggling vessels between late February and early March. “At-sea interdictions of pure cocaine are the most effective way to limit cartel’s destabilizing effects throughout the Western Hemisphere,” Coast Guard Pacific Area Commander Vice Admiral Michael McAllister commented. “Coast Guard...

Nigiri Project Rears Juvenile Chinook Salmon in Winter-Flooded Rice Fields

1May

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Nigiri Project Rears Juvenile Chinook Salmon in Winter-Flooded Rice Fields

By Margaret Bauman A fisheries research project using winter-flooded California rice fields as a nursery for juvenile Chinook salmon is being hailed for its potential to reverse the drastic decline of this economically and culturally important fish over the past century. The Nigiri Project, which has been ongoing since 2011, takes its name from the sushi-like marriage of fish and rice. Nigiri sushi is a Japanese dish made with sushi rice hand formed into a small clump and capped with a layer of fish. The project is a collaborative effort of the University of California, Davis Center for Watershed Sciences, the California Department of Water Resources and California Trout, a 50-year-old nonprofit organization whose mission is to protect and restore wild trout, steelhead, salmon and their...

1May

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Features

Marine Business Updates

By Peter Marsh Naval Architects Re-Organize as Hockema Group The longtime West Coast firm of Hockema Whalen Myers Associates, Inc. kicked off 2021 with management changes that have resulted in a new name for the company, which specializes naval architecture and marine engineering. Hockema Group’s president is now John Myers; Michael Minnig will take on Myers’ former role of vice president and senior principal, while Craig Pomeroy is now the principal naval architect. Founder Hal Hockema will ease back and continue on a part-time basis as an advisor. The group’s last fishing vessel project was the plan for the completion of a 58-foot x 27-foot x 11-foot steel hull that was begun by Delta Marine in Seattle almost a decade ago. The bare hull was kept in a warehouse for about five years un...

1May

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Bering Sea Fisheries, Features

Pandemic, Changing Markets Pose Challenges
for Bering Sea Fisheries

By Margaret Bauman Harvesters who annually deliver millions of pounds of wild Alaska seafood from the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands are facing new challenges these days: an ongoing global pandemic that has perhaps forever changed the way they operate, and the industry’s markets themselves. For a second consecutive season, groundfish and shellfish harvesters operating in these often stormy, icy waters are prioritizing their responsibility to keep their employees and the coastal communities they work in safe from the novel coronavirus, while continuing to operate in changing markets. “The greatest challenge for 2021 is to continue to stay operational across multitudes of fisheries and communities across Alaska, while protecting those communities and our workforce from COVID-19, so that ...