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Bering Sea Crabbers Partner With Alaska, Feds to Study Red King Crab
1Mar By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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Bering Sea Crabbers Partner With Alaska, Feds to Study Red King Crab

Harvesters in the Bristol Bay red king crab fishery are partnering with federal and state agencies to collect critical winter data in a month-long project that was slated to start in March to help inform management decisions. The research goal is to collect data sought by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to help the council decide what actions might improve those stocks to a level to allow for the multi-million-dollar fishery to resume. The study’s lead, Mike Litzow of NOAA Fisheries’ Alaska Fisheries Science Center, said the collaborative effort offered an exciting chance to study these crab stocks in winter. “That’s when people really interact with the stock — the Bristol Bay red king crab fishery and many other fisheries that potentially interact with crab take place in...
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Peter Pan Seafoods Wins Grand Prize at New Product Competition
1Mar By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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Peter Pan Seafoods Wins Grand Prize at New Product Competition

Wild Alaska sockeye salmon with ribbon kelp chimichurri by Peter Pan Seafoods claimed the grand prize at the 2023 Alaska Symphony of Seafoods, an annual competition promoting new products made with wild Alaska seafood. Peter Pan’s entry also claimed first place in retail competition with this recipe, which was the first time a major Alaska processing company has integrated Alaska kelp into a new product. Ocean Beauty Seafood’s Ocean Beauty Grill House Burger won the food service competition and Trident Seafoods’ Pure Catch Wild Alaska Omega-3 Triple Strength took top honors in Beyond the Plate competition.  Also honored in retail competition was Kelp Chili Crisp by Barnacle Foods, which received second place. Kelptastic Farms’ CBD Kelp Brownies and Thunder’s Catch Wild Salmon Chowder ...
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Dockside Market in Bellingham, Wash. Features Keep It Simple Seafood (KISS) Recipes
1Mar By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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Dockside Market in Bellingham, Wash. Features Keep It Simple Seafood (KISS) Recipes

Bellingham SeaFeast’s dockside program, which takes place on the first and third Saturdays of the month, plans to feature Louisiana-born chef Matthew Boudousquie at Fishermen’s Pavilion during its Dockside Market event on March 18. Boudousquie, who’s scheduled to offer a lesson in cooing seafood gumbo, is the executive chef at The Bistro at Skuksan, located inside the Shuksan Golf Club. The Bistro is a Southern-inspired farm to table concept focused on sustainable ingredients. The dockside seafood market is featuring cooking demonstrations every third Saturday of the month through May. Other upcoming events can be found by checking https://bellinghamseafeast.org/events. Also starting on the first Friday of the month from June through August, Bellingham SeaFeast Dockside Market organiz...
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Bristol Bay Drift Gillnet Vessels to Be Inspected For Length Restrictions
22Feb By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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Bristol Bay Drift Gillnet Vessels to Be Inspected For Length Restrictions

Alaska Wildlife Troopers (AWT) are giving advance notice to Bristol Bay commercial salmon drift gillnet permit holders that their vessels will be measured during the 2023 season to be sure that they adhere to the 32-foot overall length rule. AWT noted in a Feb. 14 letter to the permit holders that some adaptations in equipment have occurred in the past few years to promote produce quality and overall safety within the fleet, but that other modifications had been made for operational performance. The regulation limits gillnet vessels to 32 feet in overall length with few exceptions, they said. One exception is an anchor roller may extend no more than eight inches beyond the 32-foot overall length and may not be more than eight inches in width or height. The regulation defines “overall ...
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Cordova, Alaska Fish Hatchery Sentenced for Illegal Waste Disposal
22Feb By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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Cordova, Alaska Fish Hatchery Sentenced for Illegal Waste Disposal

A corporation in Cordova, Alaska that operates several fish hatcheries has been sentenced to pay a $450,00 fine and $550,000 in restitution and five years of probation for illegal disposal of hazardous waste at one of its hatcheries. Chief U.S. District Court judge Sharon L. Gleason handed down the sentence in Anchorage last week for the Prince William Sound Aquaculture Corp. (PWSAC). Gleason noted that it was “regrettable that it took such a serious injury to bring about this charge.” Court documents showed that on June 27, 2018, the maintenance manager at the Cannery Creek Hatchery in Unakwik Inlet instructed an employee to burn several 50-gallon drums that contained hazardous waste, causing serious injury to the employee. Cannery Creek and other PWSAC hatcheries had been accumulati...
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Registration Opens for 2023 Washington Salmon Recovery Conference
22Feb By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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Registration Opens for 2023 Washington Salmon Recovery Conference

Registration has opened for the ninth biennial Salmon Recovery Conference, scheduled for April 18-19, featuring salmon recovery projects, research, monitoring and more in Washington state. The event is expected to bring together over 650 salmon recovery professionals to share their work aimed at recovering salmon. The draft schedule for the event, which takes place at the Vancouver Convention Center, is online at the conference website, https://rco.wa.gov/salmon-recovery/salmon-recovery-conference/. Early registration is open until March 8 and regular registration closes April 7. Ticket prices vary, with discounts available for student, nonprofit, tribal and virtual attendees. The Salmon Recovery Conference is offered every other year by the Washington State Salmon Recovery Funding B...
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Skipper Science Matchmaking Project Doubles Participation
22Feb By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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Skipper Science Matchmaking Project Doubles Participation

A collaborative effort of environmental, scientific, industry and tribal partners is involving an increasing number of commercial fishermen in a program that shares ecological observations on fisheries and oceans with researchers studying climate change issues. The Skipper Science Partnership, now in its third year in Alaska, continues to attract more fishermen willing to provide feedback on their observations at sea. In 2022, the second year of the project, over 150 fishermen offered their opinions on climate change and feedback on their experiences with the program and the app via phone interviews. “Our next phase will be to match fishermen in specific regions and fisheries with scientists and managers in those areas to collect data points that support specific projects ad research ...
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Testimony Challenges Exploitation of Alaska’s Area M Commercial Salmon Fleet
22Feb By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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Testimony Challenges Exploitation of Alaska’s Area M Commercial Salmon Fleet

Written testimony now up for consideration by the Alaska Board of Fisheries, which is meeting Feb. 20-25 in Anchorage, challenges allowing Area M commercial salmon harvesters to continue to exploit these declining mixed stock fisheries without restriction. The testimony, from University of Washington fisheries research professor Daniel Schindler, contends that allowing such harvests to continue is antithetical to the sustained yield principle of the Alaska Constitution and in direct conflict with Alaska’s Sustainable Salmon Policy. The 2022 commercial salmon harvest for Area M was estimated by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game at 160.7 million fish, valued at about $720.4 million. That compared with a 2021 total harvest of 233.8 million fish valued at $643.9 million. Schindler’s ...
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Deck Machinery Identified as Leading Cause of Serious Injury for Alaska Harvesters
15Feb By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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Deck Machinery Identified as Leading Cause of Serious Injury for Alaska Harvesters

A study published in the online Journal of Agromedicine in late January identifies deck machinery as a leading source of hospitalized injury for commercial fishermen in Alaska, but says more data is needed about specific circumstances leading to injuries in order to develop steps for targeted prevention. The study, which was conducted by four researchers at the OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Spokane, Wash., analyzed claims submitted to the Alaska Fisherman’s Fund to identify patterns of injuries in Alaska from commercial fishing winches. Researchers found that from Jan. 1, 2000 to Nov. 1, 2020, 125 traumatic injuries from commercial fishing winches were identified, mainly among men (94%), frequently among fishermen age...
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NMFS Opens Comment on Proposed BSAI Groundfish Management Plan Amendment
15Feb By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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NMFS Opens Comment on Proposed BSAI Groundfish Management Plan Amendment

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) is seeking comment through March 13 on a proposed rule that would establish a program allocating Pacific cod harvest quota to a limited access group of harvesters and processors in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI). The proposed rule would implement Amendment 122 to the fishery management plan for groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area. It would establish the Pacific Cod Trawl Cooperative Program (PCTC) to allocate Pacific cod harvest quota to qualifying groundfish License Limitation Program (LLP) license holders and qualifying processors. The program would be a limited access privilege program for the harvest of Pacific cod in the BSAI trawl catcher vessel sector. According to NMFS, the propos...
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