Fishermen’s News Online – Page 72

25May

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Pacific Fishery Management Council Meets June 8-14

Federal fisheries managers meeting in Vancouver, Washington, June 8-14 have several key items on their agenda, including final action to adopt harvest specifications, management measures and exempted fishing permits for the 2023-2024 groundfish fisheries. Other key actions for consideration at the meeting include adopting a final limited entry fixed gear catch share program review document and providing guidance on whether to concurrently develop new management measures, adoption of the coastal pelagic species essential fish habitat phase 2 action plan, and adoption of preliminary highly migratory species exempted fishing permits. The council also plans to adopt a range of alternatives for hard bycatch caps in the drift gillnet fleet. The Pacific Fishery Management Council not...

Oceana Expedition Documents Seafloor Habitats

25May

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Oceana Expedition Documents Seafloor Habitats

An expedition from the nonprofit ocean conservation organization Oceana this spring used remotely-operated vehicles and other tools for eight days to document the seafloor and ocean life in several locations and depths around Kodiak Island. Their goal was to observe, photograph and record seafloor habitats and associated marine life, to protect important seafloor areas in the Gulf of Alaska from bottom trawling, where huge nets are dragged for miles along the seafloor The expedition was related to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council’s Essential Fish Habitat review process, which is currently underway. Under the review, conservation measures for ocean habitat in Alaska are considered once every five years. Oceana is campaigning to establish new protections for Gulf of ...

Norton Sound King Crab Summer Access Fishery Opens June 15

25May

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Norton Sound King Crab Summer Access Fishery Opens June 15

A summer open access commercial fishery for Norton Sound king crab opens in mid-June in Nome, Alaska, but a major purchaser, Nome-based Norton Sound Seafood Products -- a subsidiary of Norton Sound Economic Development Corp. -- said it may not begin buying until early July. Until there are buyers, crab permit holders were on their own to be director-marketers or catch-sellers of their harvest. Alaska Department of Fish and Game officials announced May 23 that the fishery would open on June 15. At that time, no buyer had registered for the harvest. During the 2022 winter commercial fishery, eight permit holders harvested 7,357 pounds of red king crab. The guideline harvest level (GHL) for the winter commercial fishery was 27,328 pounds. A total Norton Sound red king crab GHL for t...

25May

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NOAA Prepares EIS For SoCal Aquaculture Opportunity Area

NOAA Fisheries has published a notice of intent in the Federal Register announcing preparation of the Southern California Aquaculture Opportunity Area Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement. The EIS seeks to assess impacts of identifying one or more aquaculture opportunity areas in federal waters of the Southern California Bight, a 430-mile stretch of curved coastline that runs from Southern California to the Mexican peninsula of Baja California. The notice of intent initiates a formal 60-day public scoping period for the programmatic EIS that closes on July 22. During this time, NOAA would seek public comment to inform the scope and content of the programmatic EIS. NOAA Fisheries’ effort is in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District. U.S...

Next Copper River Commercial Fishery Opener Planned for May 26

25May

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Next Copper River Commercial Fishery Opener Planned for May 26

In the wake of a moderate first opener and weak second opener of the Copper River commercial salmon fishery, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game said ‘no’ to a third 12-hour fishing period, but that the next opener is anticipated for tomorrow Thursday, May 26. ADF&G biologists stationed in Cordova, Alaska, did allow subsistence harvesters a 12-hour fishing period on Monday, May 23, within the Copper River District, while closing waters within the Chinook salmon expanded inside closure area for those harvesters for that period. The biologists issued their decision after the second opener on Thursday, May 19, resulted 416 deliveries of a total of 14,750 fish, including 2,690 kings and 11,705 sockeye salmon. The first opener on May 16 had harvesters making 401 deliveries of 1...

New ‘Status of Stocks’ Report Shows 90-Plus Percent Not Subject to Overfishing

18May

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New ‘Status of Stocks’ Report Shows 90-Plus Percent Not Subject to Overfishing

A newly released 2021 “Status of Stocks” report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration concludes that more than 90% of stocks in the U.S. are not subject to overfishing, which means when the annual rate of catch is too high. The report, which was released in mid-May, shows the number of stocks on the overfished list holding steady at 26 (out of a total of 296) and the number of overfished stocks, where the population size is too small, increasing slightly to 51, up from 49. The report also states that in 2020, seafood landings in the U.S. were down 10% -- likely due to the impact of the COVD-19 pandemic – and that overall annual seafood consumption fell slightly from the previous year to 19 pounds per individual. For the first time, Fisheries of the United St...

NMFS Issues Final Rule on Washington, Oregon, California Ocean Fisheries

18May

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NMFS Issues Final Rule on Washington, Oregon, California Ocean Fisheries

The National Marine Fisheries Service has issued a final rule establishing fishery management measures for the 2022 ocean salmon fisheries off Washington, Oregon and California and the 2023 salmon seasons opening earlier than May 16, 2023. Measures in the final rule vary by fishery and by area and establish fishing areas, seasons, quotas, legal gear, recreational fishing days and catch limits, possession and landing restrictions, and minimum lengths for salmon taken in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone off Washington, Oregon and California. The management measures are intended to prevent overfishing and to apportion the ocean harvest equitably among treaty Indians, non-Indian commercial, and recreational fisheries. They’re also intended to allow a portion of salmon runs to escape ...

Interior Department Cancels Oil and Gas Lease Sale in Alaska’s Cook Inlet

18May

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Interior Department Cancels Oil and Gas Lease Sale in Alaska’s Cook Inlet

U.S. Interior Department officials have cancelled an oil and gas lease sale in Alaska’s Cook Inlet, citing “a lack of industry interest in leasing in the area.” The announcement prompted kudos from environmentalists and fishermen and strong criticism from Alaska’s two Republican senators. “(D)ue to lack of industry interest in leasing in the area, the department will not move forward with the proposed Cook Inlet OCS oil and gas lease sale 258,” the official announcement from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management on not holding the lease sale in Lower Cook Inlet states. The Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management previously canceled Cook Inlet lease sales in 2007, 2008 and 2011, also citing a lack of industry interest. Veteran journalist Larry Persily, a former ...

Alaska Legislature Passes Mariculture Enhancement Bill

18May

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Alaska Legislature Passes Mariculture Enhancement Bill

Mariculture enhancement legislation has passed both houses of the Alaska Legislature, lifting the hopes of shellfish researchers for a future in which hatchery production of juvenile king crab would boost stocks to a sustainable commercial level. House Bill 41, sponsored by Rep. Dan Ortiz, I-Ketchikan, creates a regulatory framework with which the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) can manage shellfish enhancement projects and outlines criteria for the issuance of permits. It sets out stringent safety standards to ensure sustainability and health of existing natural stocks. ADF&G Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang must also make a determination of substantial public benefit before the project can proceed. HB 41 also allows the ADF&G to set the application fee f...

Silver Bay Seafoods Providing Humanitarian Relief to Ukraine

18May

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Silver Bay Seafoods Providing Humanitarian Relief to Ukraine

A fisherman-owned seafood processing company in Sitka, Alaska with deep ties to Ukraine has reached out in a humanitarian effort with the donation of a 20-foot container filled with wild Alaska canned salmon and $130,000 USD to World Central Kitchen’s hunger relief program. “Silver Bay Seafoods is deeply connected to Ukraine,” company spokeswoman Abby Fredrick said. “Our employees have family friends and colleagues who have been seriously impacted by the situation in Ukraine.” “In particular, one of our long-standing fleet managers, Chris ‘Coach’ Hansen, was in Kharkiv with his wife and her daughter from the beginning of the attacks until they eventually found refuge in the Czech Republic,” she explained. Hansen, a former Eastern Washington University football player, became t...