Fishermen’s News Online

Coast Guard Cutter Healy Embarks on Arctic Ocean Mission
Fishermen's News Online, News

Coast Guard Cutter Healy Embarks on Arctic Ocean Mission

The Coast Guard cutter Healy and a team of researchers have embarked on a months-long missing to gain insight on how warmer water from the Atlantic Ocean is being introduced into the Arctic at the shelf water level, deep basin interior and upper ocean. The mission was announced by the Coast Guard on Aug. 26. According to the announcement, researchers from the National Science Foundation and International Arctic Research Center will service the Nansen and Amundsen Basins Observational System (NABOS), in hope of developing an understanding of water circulation in the region and will sample the water column in areas normally inaccessible due to pack ice. Research findings would be of interest to the Crab Plan Team of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, which has ongoing...
Commercial Salmon Catch in Alaska Tops 200M Fish
Fishermen's News Online, News

Commercial Salmon Catch in Alaska Tops 200M Fish

Alaska salmon harvests statewide have now exceeded 97% of the pre-season forecast, after a large jump in the harvest total, fueled by what was likely the peak week for pink salmon harvest. As of Monday, Aug. 28, the preliminary commercial salmon total for the 2023 season stood at 200.7 million fish. That number includes 133.2 million pink, 49.6 million sockeyes, 16.6 million chums, 1.2 million coho and 185,000 kings, according to calculations of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Following weeks of trailing the 2022 (2021 for pinks) benchmark, the 2023 harvest volume is now similar to the comparison year in estimated total volume, according to Simon Marks, a research analyst with McKinley Research Group in Juneau, who’s producing weekly in-season commercial salmon harvest up...
National Maritime Center Offers Free Replacement of Credentials Lost in Hawaii Wildfires
Fishermen's News Online, News

National Maritime Center Offers Free Replacement of Credentials Lost in Hawaii Wildfires

U.S. Coast Guard officials with the National Maritime Center (NMC) say they’ll provide duplicate merchant mariner credentials at no charge to mariners whose credentials were lost or destroyed during wildfires in Hawaii. Affected mariners are asked to provide a statement of loss to NMC via fax at (304) 433-3412 or email the statement to IASKNMC@uscg.mil. The statement should include the mariner’s full name, date of birth, current mailing address, current phone number and/or email address, and the mariner’s reference number or if that is unknown the last four digits of the mariner’s social security number. The statement should also describe circumstances surrounding the loss/destruction of the credential. Unless otherwise requested, any duplicate merchant mariner credential issu...
Pacific Salmon Commission Boosts Pink Salmon Forecast for Fraser River
Fishermen's News Online, News

Pacific Salmon Commission Boosts Pink Salmon Forecast for Fraser River

The Pacific Salmon Commission in Vancouver, BC has adopted an increased pink salmon run size forecast of 8.57 million fish, citing the numbers of humpies caught in marine test fisheries as evidence that pink salmon abundances are grater that the pre-season forecast of 6.1 million fish. The commission said this past week that the early timing of pink salmon this year is in line with the trend in recent years toward earlier migration timing increasing the overlap between sockeye and pink salmon migration. This increases the difficulty to access international total allowable catch for pink salmon while minimizing the impacts on sockeye salmon. To date, 31,500 pink salmon were observed migrating past Mission, on the north bank of the Fraser River. Commission staff presented analys...
Limits Set on Oregon Harvest of End of Commercial Season for Chinook, Coho Salmon
Fishermen's News Online, News

Limits Set on Oregon Harvest of End of Commercial Season for Chinook, Coho Salmon

Federal and state authorities have set limits through Sept. 30 for the commercial troll harvest of two salmon species in Oregon’s commercial salmon troll fishery between the U.S.-Canadian border and Cape Falcon, Ore. The announcement this past week from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said harvesters would be limited to weekly landing and possession per vessel of seven Chinooks and 100 adipose marked coho salmon. The announcement comes in the wake of NOAA Fisheries consulting with the Pacific Fishery Management Council, the states of Oregon and Washington, and fishery representatives in a conference call. Oregon’s Department of Fish and Wildlife said the harvest of Chinooks to date in that area had passed 90% of the 13,000 Chinook quota, leaving only 1,251 fish to b...
Coast Guard Cutter Munro Arrives for Training With Japan Coast Guard
Fishermen's News Online, News

Coast Guard Cutter Munro Arrives for Training With Japan Coast Guard

The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Munro is now in Yokosuka, Japan on its first international port visit, to conduct training and engagements with the Japan Coast Guard. The Munro arrived Aug. 6 while deployed in the Indo-Pacific and hosted several members of the Japan Coast Guard for professional exchanges, including showcasing the Munro’s small boar and aerial capabilities, and search-and-rescue operations. The visit allowed members of both Coast Guard services to discuss their shared mission objectives and shared maritime security challenges. The Munro’s commanding officer, Capt. Rula Deisher, said it has been a privilege for the Munro to work alongside of its Japanese partners to support a free and open Indo-Pacific. Munro, a 418-foot national security cutter under the tactica...
$106M in Federal Funds Earmarked for West Coast, Alaska Salmon Recovery
Fishermen's News Online, News

$106M in Federal Funds Earmarked for West Coast, Alaska Salmon Recovery

Federal funds totaling over $106 million for 16 West Coast and Alaska state and tribal salmon recovery programs is being made available under the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund (PCSRF) through the Department of Commerce and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The funds, including $34.4 million under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and $7.5 million under the Inflation Reduction Act, are earmarked to support recovery and conservation of Pacific salmon and steelhead in Alaska, California, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. The Biden administration’s Aug. 17 announcement includes over $2 billion for fish passage investments nationwide. The programs and projects are specifically to benefit Central California Coast coho salmon, Sacramento River winter run ...
Coast Guard Cutter Healy Embarks on 5-Month Deployment
Fishermen's News Online, News

Coast Guard Cutter Healy Embarks on 5-Month Deployment

A crew of 84 people aboard the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Healy have embarked on a five-month deployment in support of the Office of Naval Research’s science mission across the Arctic. On board with the crew are a team of international scientists there to recover and redeploy oceanographic instruments as part of the Nansen and Amundsen Basin Observational System (NABOS). The instruments have been collecting Arctic date for over two decades, contributing to an international body of knowledge through the U.S. National science Foundation’s Arctic Observing Network. The Healy, commissioned in 1999, is the larger and more technologically advanced of the Coast Guard’s two icebreakers. So far in August, during the first month of its deployment, the Healy was reported to be maintaining p...
NOAA Fisheries Issues Final Rule Regarding Pacific Cod Harvests in BSAI
Fishermen's News Online, News

NOAA Fisheries Issues Final Rule Regarding Pacific Cod Harvests in BSAI

NOAA Fisheries has issued a final rule allocating Pacific cod harvest quota to qualifying groundfish License Limitation Program license holders and qualifying processors, in order to, the agency has said, improve management of the fishery, increase its value and minimize bycatch to the extent practicable. The final rule, Amendment 122, for groundfish management in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI), establishes the new Pacific Cod Trawl Cooperative Program PCTC). The rule was printed in the Federal Register on Aug. 8 and goes into effect on Sept. 7. Fishing under the PCTC program is scheduled to begin on Jan. 20, 2024. Jon Kurland, NOAA regional administrator for Alaska, noted that PCTC also aims to provide for the sustained participation of fishery-dependent communities,...
Alaska Wildlife Troopers Cite Harvesters for Discarding Commercially Caught Salmon
Fishermen's News Online, News

Alaska Wildlife Troopers Cite Harvesters for Discarding Commercially Caught Salmon

Alaska Wildlife Troopers say that as part of a summer enforcement program, they conducted boardings in the Alaska Peninsula and Unimak Island commercial salmon fishery known as Area M, and issued citations in nine incidents where commercially caught fish were discarded. The trooper report issued this past week said that collectively, troopers boarded over 100 commercial vessels, with some 300 commercial fishermen contacted and 21 citations issued. Of those 21 citations, nine were issued to captains and crew who were observed discarding commercially caught salmon from their vessels after the fish were brought on board. Alaska Department of Public Safety spokesperson Austin McDaniel said all nine individuals cited for dumping commercially caught fish must appear before a judge, and...