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Representatives of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute are on the move this summer, from Tokyo to Alaska’s Matanuska Valley and Dutch Harbor. ASMI participated in the 13th Japan International Seafood and Technology Expo in Tokyo from July 27 through July 29, where 350 companies from 14 countries were exhibiting to some 7,500 to 9,000 visitors a day. ASMI officials said hundreds of ASMI suppliers and buyers guides were distributed to those in attendance. Coming up Aug. 28, ASMI and 10th and M Seafoods of Anchorage will present an Alaska Seafood Throwdown, a professional cooking contest, at the 75th annual Alaska State Fair in Palmer. ASMI will be at the Alaska Legislature’s Northern Waters Task Force hearing at Dutch Harbor Aug. 24 and the Unalaska Legislative Fly-in on Aug. 25. While...

With growing concern over global warming, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is working to collaborate with resource developers in the arctic to assure protection of the environment. In Anchorage on Aug. 23, NOAA officials said they have reached an agreement to enhance collaboration on ocean, coastal and climate science for the Arctic with Shell Exploration and Production, ConocoPhillips and Statoil USA E&P Inc. The agreement calls for sharing scientific data sets, including weather and ocean observations, biological information and sea ice and sea floor mapping studies. NOAA said the agreement would provide a framework to share high quality data to enhance NOAA’s ability to monitor climate change and provide useful products and services for responsible energy explo...

By Margaret Bauman Under overcast skies, with temperatures hovering in the high 40s, and the constant chance of rain, commercial fish harvesters aboard some 1,400 vessels, caught 17.5 million salmon in Bristol Bay through July 6. The forecast from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game is for a harvest of some 28.5 million reds, out of a run estimated at 38.5 million fish. “It’s been a steady slow grind,” said Tim Sands, the state area management biologist for the Nushagak district, speaking from his office in Dillingham. “It’s been a windy year, pretty windy most days,” with temperatures in the 40s and low 50s, he said. Rainy and cool weather also has been no stranger to the Dillingham or to Naknek areas. “It’s been a dreary summer,” echoed Paul Salomone, area management biologist at ...

Harvests in the Copper River, Cook Inlet and Chignik have been above average, but state fisheries officials say the commercial salmon harvests are coming up well short of the forecast of 203 million salmon of all species. Alaska Department of Fish and Game spokesman Geron Bruce said the harvests are coming up short in a number of areas. “A few fisheries have been above forecast, but mostly below,” he said in an interview yesterday. “It’s the pink salmon that are the big missing piece,” Bruce said. “We have a long ways to go with pink salmon and we are running out of time. We only have about 10 more days.” There has been a record run of pink salmon arriving this month in northern Southeast Alaska, but nothing much is going on in the southern regions of Southeast Alaska. Bruce said that K...

Results of the first poll of commercial fishermen in Alaska’s Bristol Bay region on the subject show that 85 percent of them are opposed to development of the Pebble Mine. And 96 percent of the fish harvesters responding told pollsters from Craciun Research in Anchorage that the headwaters of Bristol Bay should be protected for future generations. The poll, commissioned by the Alaska Conservation Foundation, surveyed 350 harvesters – more than 10 percent of commercial fishing permit holders who live in Alaska and outside of the state, and has a margin of error of 5.2 percent. “Alaskan fishermen simply do not want Pebble Mine,” said Bob Waldrop, director of the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association. “The Pebble project would threaten thousands of good-paying jobs, which are...

A former North Pacific Fishery Management Council member and fisheries aide to Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, faces sentencing in November on a misdemeanor violation of the Lacey Act has agreed to cooperate with the government in providing other information. News of the sealed addendum to the plea agreement which veteran fisherman Arne Fuglvog has agreed to is now sending waves through the commercial fisheries community. As former commercial fish harvester and popular political blogger Shannyn Moore put it, “Arne is not the biggest fish they are catching. Arne is bait and every fisherman knows you have to have fresh bait to catch bigger fish. “They are going to get bigger fish on the hook with this,” Moore said. “When the corruption comes out, it will make oil corruption look like Girl Sc...

The fall run of chum salmon on the Lower Yukon River has been coming in strong and Kwik’Pak Fisheries general manager Jack Schultheis at Emmonk says his harvesters are optimistic about a robust harvest of the oil rich fish. The Alaska department of Fish and Game said in its statewide in-season salmon summary this past week that the projected fall chum run size, based on current assessment information, was estimated to be over 800,000 fish. Through Aug. 10, biologists estimated that some 537,000 fish had entered the river, which is above the historical average of 378,000 chums for that date. Schultheis said these are “beautiful fish, nice big fat fall fish.” Much of this harvest is destined for the headed and gutted market in Japan, while other chums will be filleted and flash frozen for ...

By Bob Tkacz As long-term federal efforts to clarify rules controlling use and sale of all legally harvested marine mammals slowly ramp up, Native organizations in Southeast Alaska are hoping their plans for commercial tanneries will result in a multi-fold increase in sea otter harvests as soon as this winter. With quality finished pelts selling for upwards of $300 each and blankets or other items fetching five-figure prices, the initiatives could provide a desperately needed boost to village economies beside leaving more shellfish and other commercial and subsistence stocks for human use. The five-year old commercial tannery run by the Sitka Tribe of Alaska, which specializes in otter pelts, expects to double its capacity by the end of this year when expansion into facilities twice as ...

Four entities with ties to commercial fisheries in the Bering Sea have donated a total of $25,000 to support University of Alaska Fairbanks research to grow king crab in hatcheries. The combined funds from the Bering Sea Fisheries Research Foundation, Central Bering Sea Fishermen’s Association, Aleutian Pribilof Island Community Development Association, and the Groundfish Forum went to the Alaska King Crab Research Rehabilitation and Biology program. The overall research is aimed at determining the feasibility of using hatcheries to rebuild wild king crab stocks in areas like Kodiak and the Pribilof Islands. Kodiak Island, once the scene of one of the largest red king crab fisheries in the world, has been closed to red king crab fishing since 1983. In the Pribilof Islands, the on again, o...

More than 3,000 people turned out last weekend on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula for Salmonstock, the state’s newest multidimensional music and arts festival celebrating wild salmon. The event, following on the heels of Nushtival at Dillingham, and Fishtival at Naknek earlier this summer, also aimed to raise awareness for conserving habitat for wild salmon in the face of proposed large scale mining ventures which research has shown may cause a threat to spawning streams and the fisheries as a whole. Artists on hand for the festivities, including Ray Troll, created life-sized salmon murals and nearly 400 people participated in an “action of Art” by creating a human mosaic ground design to make a statement about their love for wild Alaska salmon. The weekend event at the Kenai Peninsula Fairground...