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Bristol Bay Waypoints Reports Big Catch

The Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association, which represents the drift gillnet fleet in Bristol Bay, is reporting its first big catch via the association’s new consumer friendly website, www.BristolBaySockeye.org.According to the BBRSDA, marketers at Haggen, a 29-supermarket operator with stores in Washington and Oregon, said they learned a lot about Bristol Bay salmon from the new website prior to contacting the BBRSDA about using some of its text and photos in their new Bristol Bay sockeye salmon promotion.The Haggen advertising promotes the taste, texture, health benefits, sustainability and abundance of Bristol Bay’s wild salmon species.Bob Waldrop, executive director of the association, said the association is pleased that it can help to build demand at the retail level....
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Alaska Senators Want Closure of Arctic ‘Donut Hole’

By Bob TkaczJuly 2011Concerned that accelerated ice melt could open the way to an Arctic Ocean rerun of the overfishing that decimated pollock stocks in the Bering Sea “donut hole,” Alaska’s US senators are pressing the State Department to negotiate a moratorium with other Arctic countries on commercial fishing in the Arctic high seas until a “multilateral regime exists for managing such fisheries properly.”In a May 10 letter Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R) and Mark Begich (D) urged Sec. of State Hillary Clinton to “increase the administration’s efforts to secure an international agreement.”“It is our firm belief securing such an agreement should be a top priority for the United States as it implements its Arctic policy. The waters just north of the US and Russian EEZs are experiencing significan...
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Clipping Adipose Fin of Hatchery Salmon May Be Harmful to Fish

A new study by Canada’s University of Victoria says the common practice of clipping the small back fin to discern hatchery-raised fish from wild fish may be inhibiting those fish.That fin is the adipose fin, a little fatty flap between and dorsal fin and the tail, and a study by Canadian biologist Tom Reimchen shows that the adipose fins are in fact a sensory organ which is especially important when the fish is swimming in turbulent waters Once that tiny fin is removed, Reimchen said, the fish needs to use much more energy to maintain position and speed in the water.Whatever the mechanism, it appears that trout with clipped adipose fins must swim harder. Reimchen said it would be useful to compare the oxygen consumption of clipped and unclipped fish, to verify that swimming without an adip...
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BB Sockeye Run Slows; AK Salmon Harvest Reaches 38 Million Fish

Since their hot start, with the run coming in four days early, Bristol Bay commercial fishermen have harvested nearly 20 million fish. At last count, preliminary harvest totals through July 11 showed the harvest standing at 19,514,331 fish, but the total run through Bristol Bay so far has been 26,413,608 fish.The statewide forecast of a total harvest of 203 million salmon of all species included a Bristol Bay harvest of 28.5 million salmon, out of a run of some 38.5 million fish.But the run has slowed and fish harvesters and biologists alike are wondering what happened to the two ocean sockeyes, the 4.5 million reds that spent two years in the ocean and two in fresh water. State fisheries biologists say that’s anyone’s guess and it’s unlikely at this point that they will show up.“The fishe...
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Pace Steady for Citations Issued In Bristol Bay Fisheries

While the Bristol Bay fishery for wild Alaska sockeye salmon has slowed, Alaska State Wildlife Troopers have kept busy, issuing 34 new citations over a period of several days in the second week of July for violations in the commercial fishery. In the latest tally, covering July 7-12, 21 of those citations were issued to non-residents and 13 to residents.The citations covered violations ranging from commercial fishing in closed waters to crewmembers without a crewmember license, not possessing a photo ID, mostly in the Naknek district, as the Egegik district of Bristol Bay has been closed since July 6 to allow for more escapement of salmon upstream.A Seattle fisherman pleaded guilty in Dillingham on July 12 to one charge of fishing in closed waters and was fined $6,000, with $4,000 suspende...
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Pollock Cooperative Agrees to Broader Closure Areas to Avoid Chum Bycatch

The Bering Sea Pollock industry has agreed to a new plan to reduce the chum salmon bycatch that happens every year in the Pollock fishery. The Marine Conservation Alliance made the announcement on July 12 from Juneau. Through use of the Inter-cooperative Salmon Agreement the Pollock industry agreed to allow the independent organization SeaState to close an additional 1,000 square nautical miles of fishing grounds to reduce encounters with chum salmon. That brings the total area allowed for closure to 5,000 square nautical miles – an area bigger than the state of Connecticut.“We as the Inter-cooperative can take the bull by the horns and address this problem,” said John Gruver of United Catcher Boats. “I think we are doing the right thing.”The cooperative program calls for SeaState to revie...
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Most Charges Dismissed After Attack on Fish Weir

By Bob TkaczJuly 2011A Homer resident, faced with ten criminal charges after allegedly admitting to a state trooper that he floated logs and other debris down the Anchor River to wreck an Alaska Department of Fish and Game weir last June, settled the entire matter with a thousand dollar fine and 30-day suspended jail sentence in a negotiated disposition approved by the trial court in April.“The whole story was completely fabricated. That one charge was to just let me know how stupid I was,” said Christopher A. Vigue, 46, May 24.Lance Joanis, state prosecutor in the Third Judicial District, and Deputy Prosecutor Amy Fenske, who handled the case, did not respond to repeated phone calls and emails in May asking why they agreed to dismiss the charges with a confession in hand.“He admitted thro...
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Bristol Bay Salmon Harvest Hits 15 Million

Wild sockeye salmon harvests in Bristol Bay hit 15.3 million fish through July 4 and just keep on growing, with a cumulative escapement of 4.7 million fish, for a total run through Independence Day of 20.4 million fish. That broke down to a total run of 8.5 million fish into the Naknek-Kvichak, 5,073,754 fish into the Nushagak district, 4.8 million into the Egegik district, 1.9 million into the Ugashik district, and 136,837 into the Togiak district.Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologists say the preliminary harvest figures for July 4 alone show was 1.6 million fish, with the number of sockeye per drift delivery averaging 816,000 reds in the Naknek-Kvichak district, 758,000 in the Ugashik district, 561,000 in Egegik, 434,000 in the Nushagak and 395,000 in the Togiak district. On July ...
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Statewide Salmon Harvests Near 20 Million Fish Through July 1

Alaska’s overall statewide harvest of all wild salmon species through July 1 stood at a preliminary total of nearly 20 million fish. The good news for fishermen is that prices were holding steady through July 5 in Anchorage at $6.95 a pound for headed and gutted whole sockeye, with those omega-3 oil packed fillets going for $10.95 at one popular retail seafood outlet. Bristol Bay’s total harvest through July 1 stood at 9.5 million salmon of all species, including 9.3 million sockeye, 188,000 chum and 28,000 kings. For Prince William Sound, the total harvest was 3.3 million salmon, including more than 2 million reds, 1.9 million chum, 19,000 kings, some 4,000 silvers and 3,000 pink salmon. For the Copper River alone, the total run was 1.3 million fish, 1,338,000 reds, 18,000 kings, 11,000 c...
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Herring Roe Recovery in Norton Sounds Sets Another Record

The community development quota corporation for Alaska’s Norton Sound region is celebrating another successful herring harvest with record roe recovery. While small by comparison to herring roe harvests elsewhere in Alaska, the Norton Sound Economic Development Corp. said their fishermen topped their own high mark set a year ago by harvesting herring with an all-time record recovery of roe.The 744 tons of herring harvested this year in Norton Sound were comprised of 14.8 percent roe on average. The previous record, set in 2010 by Norton Sound harvesters, was 13.5 percent roe recovery.In total, the Norton Sound herring fleet, using gillnets, harvested 810 tons of herring, of which 66 tons were directed to a bait fishery. The CDQ group paid out more than $274,000 for the entire fishery, an a...