News

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council has identified new preferred alternatives for a halibut catch sharing plan for further analysis, with final action now expected at its October meeting in Anchorage.The vote at the council’s spring meeting in Anchorage came after hours of testimony and discussion. Duncan Fields, a council member from Kodiak, said that indeed some change will occur, but the question for the October meeting is what the magnitude of that change will be. The motion approved by the council on April 2 amended the federal council’s previous action on the halibut catch sharing plan in ways that stand to give an increased allocation to the charter sector, by revising charter allocations at lower levels of abundance. The motion included recommendations of the ...

By Rick GreenquistThe most common on-board refrigeration system in the fishing industry, besides galley refrigeration, is the Refrigerated Sea Water (RSW) system. For the fisherman that needs to refrigerate his catch, the reliable operation of the RSW system is extremely critical. Inadequate capacity means shorter trips; unreliable operation can mean the loss of the entire catch, as well as the loss of fuel and supply expenses for that trip.When you contract for a new RSW system, how do you know that the system you purchase will meet your expectations? In a highly competitive environment where the purchase price often sells the system, you can easily get shortchanged on capacity. Furthermore, the lack of a properly engineered RSW design can leave you with a troublesome system that costs mo...

Commercial fishermen from coastal Alaska say they want to participate in scientific monitoring of the ocean pH in studies of rising ocean acidification.The Alaska Marine Conservation Council says in a new report out this week that residents of Kodiak, Dillingham and Homer, where they conducted roundtable discussions, are very concerned about damaging traditional uses of marine resources and the harm that will come to the ecosystem that supports those resources.“The economic value of Alaska’s commercial fisheries approaches $4 billion (first wholesale value), but it is not known how ocean acidification will affect specific fisheries and what the cost will be to the seafood industry and fishery-dependent communities,” said report’s author, Rachel Donkersloot, fisheries program director for t...

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council, which is meeting this week in Anchorage, has set aside 12 hours for an initial review of the Bering Sea chum salmon prohibited species catch management environmental assessment and regulatory impact review.It’s all part of the federal council’s continued effort to reduce the catch of prohibited species chum salmon in the Bering Sea Pollock fishery.The documents the council will be discussing and hearing testimony on were developed to provide federal decision makers and the public with an evaluation of the predicted environmental, social and economic effects of alternative measures to minimize primarily chum salmon as prohibited species catch in the pollock fishery.The proposed action would amend the Bering Sea–Aleutian Islands groundfish fisher...

The Environmental Protection Agency‘s extensive assessment of the Bristol Bay watershed and potential action that could block development of the massive Pebble Mine in Southwest Alaska is being challenged by the state of Alaska.The EPA undertook the study, which is to be completed by the end of April, at the request of fishermen from the Bristol Bay region.EPA officials in Region 10 in Seattle say they are preparing a response to the state’s challenge, which was contained in a recent letter from Alaska Attorney General Michael Geraghty, who argues that the assessment is premature. Geraghty also said in his letter that the EPA lacked authority to be conducting the survey and that this action was in conflict with federal and state laws. The assessment, said Geraghty, goes beyond any process ...

Seventy-seven commercial fishing groups from Alaska to Maine have signed a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency asking for protection of the Bristol Bay watershed, its wild salmon stocks and the commercial fishing jobs that rely on them.Bob Waldrop, a leader of Commercial Fishermen for Bristol Bay, made the announcement today in Washington DC Waldrop said the group is “Standing should to shoulder in support of sound science, the most valuable wild salmon fishery on earth and thousands of commercial fishing jobs that are threatened by development of the Pebble Mine.”The fishing groups expressed support for the EPA’s ongoing scientific watershed assessment of the bay. The EPA is investigating potential impacts of large-scale development on Bristol Bay’s salmon streams and rivers. Th...

A reader asked if there was a rule change this year regarding 58-foot limit seiners. Fishermen's News Alaska corespondent Margie Bauman checked with member of the Alaska Board of Fisheries, who said there has been no change.The Alaska Department of Fish and Game had asked the board to define what an anchor roller is for the 58-foot limit seiners, as the board had done for the 32-foot drift gillnetters, but the board has decided to leave things status quo for this year.

By Terry DillmanDepending on who’s talking, 2012 could usher in a new era or the end of the world as we know it – bring transformation or cataclysm.If anyone can understand how it feels to get caught between those extremes, it would be Pacific Coast commercial salmon fishermen.Idled for most of the past six years, the fleet faces much-improved prospects for the 2012 salmon season. Encouraged by predictions of plentiful overall salmon returns, the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) on March 7 announced three alternatives for managing commercial and recreational salmon fisheries. Officials say salmon fisheries in Oregon and California “look particularly promising,” thanks to good river conditions and excellent ocean conditions for salmon.The PFMC recommends management measures for fis...

An economic group representing more than 50 communities in Southwest Alaska is asking the federal government to keep alive a student work visa program they say is critical to the commercial fisheries industry. The concerns of the Southwest Alaska Municipal Conference for the J-1 Visa summer work travel program are contained in a March 16 letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Similar concerns were voiced again this past week to the federal Office of Management and Budget by Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska.The Southwest Alaska Municipal Conference said excluding seafood processing from the J-1 program will likely displace 3,000 to 5,000 student workers already signed on to work in Alaska this summer, while leaving processors with a labor shortage.The program received much negative ...

A bill moving through the Alaska Legislature would boost loan amounts to qualified resident commercial fishermen to purchase limited entry fishing permits from $100,000 to $200,000.The committee substitute for House Bill 261, by Rep. Bryce Edgmon, D-Dillingham, moved out of the House Finance Committee on March 20, headed for the Rules Committee and then to the House floor. If approved by the House, it will move on to the state Senate.The initial language in the bill called for loans at two percent below the prime rate, with an interest floor of three percent, but that language was removed by legislators during the House Finance Committee meeting before being passed out of committee.Edgmon says his legislation is aimed at increasing Alaskan ownership in Alaskan fisheries by enabling more st...