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New Tool Pinpoints River System for Individual Chinook Salmon
2Oct By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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New Tool Pinpoints River System for Individual Chinook Salmon

A new tool developed by NOAA Fisheries scientists allows researchers to pinpoint the river system that individual Chinook salmon come from, thereby enabling more precise management and protection of threatened and endangered populations. “It's like giving every fish a unique genetic fingerprint,” Donald Van Doornik, a NOAA Fisheries biologist and lead author of a paper published July 8 in the North American Journal of Fisheries Management, explained. “We can use this fingerprint to figure out where that fish came from by comparing it to other fishes’ DNA,” he added. A Sept. 26 announcement by NOAA Fisheries noted that by identifying specific Chinook populations contributing to mixed-stock fisheries, they’ll be able to design more effective conservation and management strategie...
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ADF&G Reminds Crabbers of Observer Coverage for Pre-Season Registered Vessels
2Oct By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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ADF&G Reminds Crabbers of Observer Coverage for Pre-Season Registered Vessels

Alaska Department of Fish and Game officials on Sept. 27 issued a reminder that all vessels pre-season registered for the 2024-2025 Bristol Bay red king, Eastern and Western Bering Sea Tanner (bairdi), and Bering Sea snow (opilio) crab fisheries are selected for crab observer coverage. Vessel selection does not imply a fishery will open during the upcoming 2024-2025 season. Fishery information is to be announced by subsequent ADF&G advisory announcements. Observers for catcher vessels is being provided by state-contracted observer company Saltwater Inc. Vessel operators or authorized agents are responsible for contacting Saltwater to coordinate observer coverage, to include notifying Saltwater if you choose to not participate in the fisheries. Saltwater may be contacted...
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2024 Alaska Aquaculture Report Highlights Accomplishments
2Oct By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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2024 Alaska Aquaculture Report Highlights Accomplishments

A report on Alaska aquaculture released Sept. 27 by NOAA Fisheries highlights key achievements in research, sustainability and community-driven projects contributing to growth of the industry in Alaska over the past fiscal year. Alaskan aquaculture, a relatively young industry, includes seaweed and invertebrate farming, with oysters, mussels and three types of kelp -- sugar, ribbon and bull – as the primary species. The aquaculture accomplishments report details how NOAA Fisheries’ Alaska Region Aquaculture Program engaged in projects to support sustainable development of Alaska's aquaculture industry. NOAA Fisheries works with partners to improve and expand opportunities to promote sustainable marine production of shellfish and seaweed in Alaska. The Alaska Aquaculture Progra...
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Chinook Bycatch Shutters Central Gulf of Alaska Whitefish Fishery
2Oct By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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Chinook Bycatch Shutters Central Gulf of Alaska Whitefish Fishery

An unprecedented bycatch of some 2,000 Chinook salmon prompted NOAA Fisheries to shut down the whitefish fishery in the Central Gulf of Alaska on Sept. 25, leaving some 50,000 tons of pollock in the water and presenting the makings of economic disaster for Kodiak. Salmon are a prohibited species catch in the whitefish trawl fishery. Two trawlers that caught the bycatch in their nets immediately stopped fishing when they realized the bycatch and alerted the other 17 boats in the fleet to avoid the area, so based on available information, those vessels were compliant with federal regulations, NOAA Fisheries officials said. NOAA Fisheries was continuing to evaluate the data as it became finalized by the observer program to determine if additional in-season management actions were...
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Streamlined Technology Allows Science Center to Accelerate Fish Fat Studies
2Oct By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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Streamlined Technology Allows Science Center to Accelerate Fish Fat Studies

Scientists at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC) are substantially increasing their research into the amount of energy-rich fat in fish, thanks to a new streamlined method that allows them to more than quadruple the number of fish sampled each day. Study results, announced Sept. 24, looked at all five species of Pacific salmon, Pacific herring, cod, pollock and capelin. The results produced data that matched what traditional methods produced, validating the sulfo-phospho-vanilllin (SPV) assay method and certified a novel way to measure lipids in Alaska marine fish. The SPV assay has for some time been studied as a rapid alternative to traditional methods for lipid analysis. Lipids, or fat, have long been regarded by scientists as the most important energy reserve for anim...
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Western & Central Fisheries Commission Challenged Over Tuna Fishery Management
25Sep By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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Western & Central Fisheries Commission Challenged Over Tuna Fishery Management

A global non-governmental initiative committed to openness and accountability in international fisheries decision making is challenging the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission to uphold U.N. Fish Stocks Agreement obligations. An organization called Accountability.Fish, with employees in six countries, issued a statement from Reykjavik, Iceland on Sept. 7 expressing concerns over the alleged  lack of transparency within the Fisheries Commission, which governs nearly 60% of the world’s tuna supply. The WCPFC Secretariat said in an email response to the allegations on Sept. 20 that while challenges remain, the evidence suggests that the Fisheries Commission is largely meeting its conservation goals, benefiting both the environment and the communities reliant on these vi...
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$4.5M Federal Grant Allocated for Salmon Restoration in Alaska
25Sep By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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$4.5M Federal Grant Allocated for Salmon Restoration in Alaska

A $4.5 million grant announced Sept. 23 by the Interior Department is earmarked for co-stewardship and salmon restoration in Alaska's Yukon, Kuskokwim and Norton Sound regions. The funds are part of Phase 4 of the Biden administration's “Gravel to Gravel Initiative,” recognizing salmon as among traditional foods vital to dozens of tribes who have lived in the regions for thousands of years, sustained by subsistence and also commercial fisheries. Due to climate change, as well as other factors, there’s been a severe decline in salmon returns to these areas, justifying a need for immediate and lasting ‘gravel to gravel’ action by the federal government, the announcement said. The Interior Department, coordinated through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Manag...
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ADF&G Commissioner Says Fisheries Overall Remain Healthy
25Sep By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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ADF&G Commissioner Says Fisheries Overall Remain Healthy

Challenges of climate change, market conditions and politics aside, Alaska's fisheries resources remain overall healthy, Alaska Department of Fish and Game Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang told a legislative task force seeking to evaluate the state's seafood industry. “Yes, we have some poorly performing stocks, for example king salmon and Bering Sea crab, but overall, our fishery resources remain healthy,”  Vincent-Lang told the joint legislative task force meeting in Juneau on Sept. 19. The commissioner recounted the status of the state's commercial fisheries, from groundfish and halibut to salmon, including the impact of changing climate, the markets and political issues for each, as well as related litigation, particularly in the case of a lawsuit aimed at shutting down the Sou...
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Pacific Island Fisheries Managers Call for Balance in Conservation
25Sep By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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Pacific Island Fisheries Managers Call for Balance in Conservation

Members of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council (Wespac) participating in the 154th annual meeting of the American Fisheries Society in Honolulu from Sept. 15-19 are calling for greater balance in conservation and fisheries management in marine national monuments. Council members and advisors to the Council raised concerns during the meeting about expanding closed areas in U.S. Pacific waters, contending that Pacific Islanders are being forced to meet a national goal to protect 30% or U.S. lands and waters at great cost to their economies. During a session titled “Large Blue-Water Marine Protected Areas: Benefits and Costs,” a member of the council's Scientific and Statistical Committee challenged an October 2022 paper claiming that the 2016 expansion of Papaha...
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NOAA Names New Head of Law Enforcement Office
25Sep By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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NOAA Names New Head of Law Enforcement Office

U.S. Coast Guard veteran James Binniker on Sept. 23 took office as the new director of the NOAA Office of Law Enforcement, charged with protecting the nation's protected marine resources, places and habitats, and promoting sustainable fisheries management. Prior to joining NOAA's Office of Law Enforcement as assistant director in 2022, Binniker served for 26 years in the Coast Guard. His work ran the gamut of law enforcement, search and rescue, environmental pollution response, and maritime security operations on multiple ships and shore-based commands. In his last assignment as the chief of the Fisheries Enforcement Division in the Office of Maritime Law Enforcement Policy, he oversaw Coast Guard units conducting domestic fisheries enforcement, marine resource protection, and co...
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