Fishermen’s News Online – Page 38

From the Editor: Pacific Marine Expo ‘22

23Nov

By Mark NeroNo Comments

From the Editor: Pacific Marine Expo ‘22

In mid-November, I had the privilege and pleasure of representing Fishermen’s News at one of the largest and longest running commercial fishing and commercial marine trade shows in existence, Pacific Marine Expo, which took place Nov. 17-19 in Seattle. Maritime Institute, the parent company of Maritime Publishing, which runs Fishermen’s News, operated Booth 220 at this year’s expo. A handful of Maritime Publishing representatives, including Publisher Dave Abrams, Advertising Manager Katie Higgins and yours truly, Managing Editor Mark Nero, were at the booth during various times over the course of the three days, as were other folks who help create content for the magazine, including Senior Designer Kathy Samuelson, Business Manager Sarah Spangler and Writer Norris Comer. Not only would ...

FDA to Require Additional Seafood Traceability

23Nov

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FDA to Require Additional Seafood Traceability

New regulations published in the Federal Register by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) require traceability of high-risk foods, including seafood, in the latest effort to halt seafood fraud and protect consumers from food safety risks. The final rule, a key component of FDA’s New Era of Smarter Food Safety Blueprint, implements Section 204(d) of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). These new requirements will allow for faster identification and rapid removal of potentially contaminated food from the market, resulting in fewer foodborne illnesses and/or deaths, the FDA said. At the core of the rule is a requirement that those subject to the rule who manufacture, process, pack or hold foods on the food traceability list, maintain records containing key data elements associa...

Feds Approve Demolition of 4 Klamath River Dams

23Nov

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Feds Approve Demolition of 4 Klamath River Dams

Federal officials have approved a plan for demolition of four aging dams on the Klamath River at the foot of the Cascade Mountains on the California-Oregon border, in an effort to open up salmon habitat and restore the river by 2024. The unanimous decision by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) allows for the $500 million demolition project, which would return the river to a free-flowing state for the first time in over a century. Removal of the dam could begin as early as the summer of 2023. On Nov. 17, FERC unanimously approved a request from PacifiCorp to surrender licenses and decommission the Lower Klamath Project’s four hydroelectric dams in Oregon and California, ending decades of debate over the issue. Oregon Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden said in a statement ...

OBI Seafoods Gives $200,000 to Protect Bristol Bay Wild Sockeye Habitat

23Nov

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OBI Seafoods Gives $200,000 to Protect Bristol Bay Wild Sockeye Habitat

OBI Seafoods has donated $200,000 to an initiative to create conservation easements, which would block access for a transportation route needed for construction of a proposed copper, gold and molybdenum mine abutting the Bristol Bay watershed. The Pedro Bay Rivers Project, a partnership of the Pedro Bay Corp., the Bristol Bay Native Corp., the Bristol Bay Heritage Land Trust and The Conservation Fund, is close to achieving its year-end goal of raising the $20 million needed for th3e conservation easements. Mark Palmer, chief executive officer of OBI Seafoods, said making the contribution was an easy decision and that he hopes others in the seafood industry will join them in donating to the fund. “Last summer’s record-breaking salmon run was a true testament to fishery management and t...

Filmmaker Explores Possible Extinction of Early Run Pacific Chinook Salmon

23Nov

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Filmmaker Explores Possible Extinction of Early Run Pacific Chinook Salmon

Good news for fans of award winning documentary filmmaker Shane Anderson’s latest film, “The Lost Salmon.” The documentary will be available for viewing via download from public television stations at https://www.pbs.org/video/the-lost-salmon-8hjf4t/ through Oct. 29, 2025. Anderson, of Olympia, Washington, has spent the better part of the past decade documenting wild salmon in Pacific waterways. He is also the director of storytelling for Pacific Rivers, a Portland, Oregon-based river conservation organization. “The Lost Salmon” chronicles the challenges of and potential recovery prospects of the iconic spring Chinook salmon in the Pacific Northwest, and the new genetic discovery that could aid in their recovery. At the moment, this iconic, genetically distinct wild salmon, is running...

NPRB Seeks to Fill Two Advisory Panel Seats

23Nov

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NPRB Seeks to Fill Two Advisory Panel Seats

The North Pacific Research Board (NPRB) is seeking applicants through March 1 to fill two seats on its advisory panel, one for the Arctic Region and a second seat designated for the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Region. The advisory panel of the Anchorage-based research entity represents stakeholders, user groups, Alaska Native communities, and other interested groups and communities from the Pacific Arctic, Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands and Gulf of Alaska. The panel advises the NPRB on achieving its overall mission to improve understanding of marine ecosystems and to inform sustainable fisheries management. The panel’s input helps to shape research and outreach programs, including identifying research priorities, advising programmatic development, evaluating communications and outrea...

16Nov

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2022 Alaska Salmon Harvest Valued at $720M

A preliminary commercial harvest summary recently issued by the Alaska Department of Fish & Game puts the value of 160.7 million salmon caught in 2022 at $720.4 million, compared to the 2021 harvest of 233.8 million salmon harvested. The 31% decrease in the total harvest is explained by the relatively low pink salmon run size in 2022, a consistent trend for even-numbered years over the last decade, ADF&G biologists said in their mid-November report. The 2022 total harvest sockeyes accounted for 66% of the total value of $473.8 million and 47% of the harvest of 74.8 million fish. Chum salmon, numbering 14.9 million, contributed 15% of the overall value at $110.6 million. Coho salmon made up about 2% of the value $15 million and 1% of the harvest at 1.6 million fish, while the...

Washington Cancels Net Pen Salmon Farm Leases

16Nov

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Washington Cancels Net Pen Salmon Farm Leases

Washington state officials have declined to renew expired leases for two remaining finfish net pens citing the damage done in the Cypress Island net pen collapse of 2017. The state’s Department of Natural Resources in mid-November informed Cooke Aquaculture, based in Saint John, Canada, that the agency would not renew the two aquaculture facilities leases in Rich Passage off Bainbridge Island and off Hope Island in Skagit Bay. Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz said that the catastrophic event sparked an effort to terminate finfish net pen operations due to lease violations. “Despite years of litigation – and a company that has fought us every step of the way – we are not able to deny lease renewals for the remaining net pen sites,” Franz said. The decision will return those w...

2023 Bristol Bay Sockeye Salmon Forecasts Anticipate Lower Harvest

16Nov

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2023 Bristol Bay Sockeye Salmon Forecasts Anticipate Lower Harvest

Early forecasts from the University of Washington Alaska Salmon Program (UW-ASP) and Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) foresee a 2023 Bristol Bay sockeye salmon harvest of nearly 35 million to 38 million sockeye salmon, compared to the 2022 harvest of 60 million fish. Forecasts differ due to the modeling used by researchers at the two entities. The UW-ASP preseason forecast, based on historical catch and escapement data collected by ADF&G, plus additional stock, plus 38 individual stocks by age class forecasts, is 13% lower than the recent 10-year average of 57 million fish and 4% higher than the recent 20-year average of observed runs of 48 million sockeyes to Bristol Bay. In recent years, the UW-ASP program has increasingly relied on Dynamic Linear Models (DLM) to g...

Coast Guard Urged to Improve Commercial Fishing Vessel Safety Efforts

16Nov

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Coast Guard Urged to Improve Commercial Fishing Vessel Safety Efforts

A new report from the federal Government Accountability Office (GAO) says that to date the U.S. Coast Guard has implemented just five of 22 key statutory requirements for improved vessel safety established strategic goals and performance goals for its commercial fishing vessel safety program. The GAO report, released in early November, noted Coast Guard efforts to conduct dockside exams, engage with industry and collaborate with the National Marine Fisheries Service and other federal agencies. The Coast Guard also issued two-year safety decals to all vessels that successfully completed the dockside exams, the report said. However, the Coast Guard has only partially or not implemented 17 other requirements, according to the GAO, including one to develop alternate safety standards for ol...