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Tradex: Lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia Seafood Could Impact Alaska Pollock Prices
19Feb By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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Tradex: Lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia Seafood Could Impact Alaska Pollock Prices

Lifting U.S. sanctions on Russian seafood could significantly impact Alaska pollock prices, according to Rob Reierson, president of British Columbia-based seafood wholesaler Tradex Foods. The forecast was noted on Feb. 17 in Alaska Fish News, written by veteran seafood writer Laine Welch. Welch noted that since the imposition of Russian seafood sanctions that Alaskan pollock has enjoyed favorable market conditions, avoiding direct competition with Russian pollock. This year's Alaska pollock harvest is expected to exceed 3.3 million pounds. Reierson said that reports from Tradex’s Asia office indicate that Chinese plants still hold large inventories of Alaskan pollock, which had to be purchased alongside Pacific cod and that domestic sales of pollock have been slow. “If U.S....
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Annual Calif. Salmon Information Meeting Set for Feb. 26
19Feb By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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Annual Calif. Salmon Information Meeting Set for Feb. 26

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife is inviting the public to participate in its annual salmon information meeting via webinar on Feb. 26, including a presentation on management objectives for the 2025 ocean salmon seasons. Meeting details, informational materials and instructions for attendance are slated to be published in advance of the event on agency’s website: https://wildlife.ca.gov/Fishing/Ocean/Regulations/Salmon/preseason. Scheduled presentations include a report on last year’s spawning escapement and estimates of forecasted ocean abundance. The annual meeting marks the start of a two month process to develop annual sport and commercial ocean salmon fishing regulations and informs the development of inland salmon fishing regulations later in the spring. ...
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Washington Sea Grant Plans Commercial Fishing Skills and Drills Course
19Feb By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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Washington Sea Grant Plans Commercial Fishing Skills and Drills Course

Washington Sea Grant officials are launching a new two-day Skills and Drills course for people who want hands-on experience performing tasks that may be required on a West Coast commercial fishing vessel. The Feb. 13 announcement said the course is scheduled for March 27-28 at Bendiksen Landing in South Bend, Wash. from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Skills and Drills is part of a project funded through the Sea Grant Young Fishermen's Career Development Program to enhance the commercial fishing workforce in Washington. Washington Sea Grant said it’s also is planning a December 2025 conference for fishermen and crew, to prepare the next generation for a successful career in commercial fishing. The course is to cover basics of welding fiberglass repairs, vessel handling, navigation, maintenan...
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Funding Frozen for Weir Project Critical to Alaska’s Copper River Salmon Fishery
19Feb By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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Funding Frozen for Weir Project Critical to Alaska’s Copper River Salmon Fishery

A collaborative project to replace a weir critical to the Copper River salmon fishery in Alaska is in jeopardy after the Trump administration froze millions of dollars in funding, including $3.5 million in construction funds for the weir project. The Copper River Watershed Project (CRWP) in Cordova, Alaska, had been working for over five years to replace the failing weir in Eyak Lake, a barrier built to control water flow, which had been in place for years. They had worked with their project partner, The Eyak Corp. in Cordova, to finalize an agreement with the Federal Highway Administration, including $3.5 million for construction, which is a significant chunk of the overall construction cost. Bids on the project came in just days after the Trump administration announced a fun...
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NPFMC Moves Toward Decision on Minimizing Chum Salmon Bycatch
19Feb By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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NPFMC Moves Toward Decision on Minimizing Chum Salmon Bycatch

Federal fisheries managers meeting in Anchorage in early February heard testimony from more than 150 people regarding minimizing chum salmon bycatch in commercial fisheries. In addition, some 260 written comments were submitted on the topic by pollock fishery participants, Community Development Quota groups, communities, tribal leaders and subsistence harvesters. All suggested modifications in several proposed alternatives aimed at bycatch minimization, with the suggested modifications were based on information from the preliminary draft Environmental Impact Statement and recommendations from the council's advisory panel, Scientific and Statistical Committee and public testimony. Along with changes to existing alternatives, the council added new options for further evaluation....
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Federal Fisheries Board Takes Up Chum Salmon Bycatch Issues
12Feb By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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Federal Fisheries Board Takes Up Chum Salmon Bycatch Issues

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council held a special meeting in Anchorage this week focused on two issues: a second review of the chum salmon bycatch analysis and appendices last reviewed in April 2024; and 2025 harvest specifications for Cook Inlet salmon. The meeting is being held in the Egan Center in downtown Anchorage. Several dozen people have already testified at this special meeting, which was scheduled to run through Tuesday, Feb. 11. The five options being considered by the council range from Alternative 1, keeping the status quo, to Alternative 5, which calls for an in-season prohibited species cap on total chum salmon. In advance of the meeting, the council received some 238 comments from commercial and subsistence fishermen, communities and fisheries organizati...
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Wild Fish Conservancy Threatens Lawsuit Over Chinook Salmon
12Feb By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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Wild Fish Conservancy Threatens Lawsuit Over Chinook Salmon

The Washington state-based non-profit conservation organization Wild Fish Conservancy has notified NOAA Fisheries of its intent to sue for failure to meet deadlines under the Endangered Species Act related to Chinook salmon in Alaska. The conservancy’s notification, issued Feb. 6, noted that the once abundant Chinooks are experiencing dramatic declines in Alaska, threatening food security, indigenous cultural practices, economics and coastal communities. The WFC formally petitioned NOAA on Jan. 11, 2024, to grant ESA protections for Chinook salmon from rivers that flow into the Gulf of Alaska. The WFC said NOAA responded May 24, confirming that the petition contained substantial information indicating ESA-listing and protection may be warranted. The initial finding triggered an in...
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Oceana Sounds Alarm Over Potential Changes to NOAA
12Feb By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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Oceana Sounds Alarm Over Potential Changes to NOAA

Oceana, an international advocacy entity focused on ocean conservation, voiced concerns on Feb. 10 about threats to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration if the Trump administration moves to downsize the agency. “NOAA is the federal agency that manages our national fisheries, monitors and forecasts our weather, charts our oceans and protects our coastal communities and infrastructure,” Beth Lowell, vice president for U.S. Oceans at Oceana, said. “Millions of people rely on healthy oceans and without a strong NOAA, our oceans, Great Lakes and coastal economies will suffer severe consequences.” Scaling back NOAA’s resources could lead to consequences including overfishing, delayed life-saving alerts about severe weather and allowing endangered or threatened marine wildlif...
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ALFA Launches 2025 Crew Training Program
12Feb By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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ALFA Launches 2025 Crew Training Program

Crew training opportunities for the 2025 fishing season are being offered by the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association (ALFA) in an effort to match the needs of skippers with young people interested in a career in commercial fisheries. ALFA is partnering with the Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust (ASFT) in the Young Fishermen Initiative, which dates back to 2015. The objective of this crew training program is to attract younger entrants into an industry where the average fisherman's age in Alaska is over 50. To date, over 100 apprentices have been trained and placed on local fishing vessels in Southeast Alaska, according to the two organizations. “There are always skippers looking for crew and crew looking for skippers,” ALFA communications and program director Natalie Sattler ...
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Net Your Problem Plans for New Warehouse in Newport, Oregon
12Feb By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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Net Your Problem Plans for New Warehouse in Newport, Oregon

Eight years into repurposing commercial fishing nets into multiple useable products, entrepreneur Nicole Baker’s newest goal is establishing a warehouse in Newport, Oregon, to meet new requirements for separate cleaning of a variety of plastics. “That’s the new focus for us this year and also to expand to collecting worn out plastic gear from cruise ships, barges and aquaculture firms,” Baker said Feb. 6 at an environmental forum in Anchorage. Since Baker began her mission in 2017 to get the massive amount of commercial fisheries equipment waste washing up on coastal shores off the beaches and in dumps into usable products, her company has collected some 2.2 million pounds of plastics, she said. Under recent rules of the Basel-Rotterdam-Stockholm agreement, each variety of pla...
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