April/May 2021 – Fishermens News

IPHC Studies Recreational Discard Mortality

International Pacific Halibut Commission biologists are studying recreational discard mortality in Southeast and Southcentral Alaska to examine the impact of halibut release practices and associated mortality. Charter vessels selected to participate in areas 2C, in Southeast Alaska, and 3A, in Southcentral Alaska, must complete their recreational discard mortality sampling by June 30, the IPHC said. The 2021 research is a follow up to a study done on the commercial halibut fishery several years ago, where the IPHC stratified the fish into different injury rates, said Ian Stewart, a quantitative scientist with the IPHC. Information gathered during that study is still being evaluated. The survey goal is twofold. One, the IPHC wants to evaluate effects of fish handling practices on injury ...

Reminicinces of an Old Bold Fisherman

Well, I must say it’s nice to be back at the keyboard. I really didn’t think I’d miss it, but I was mistaken. The sea, the boats, the fishermen are my soul. It’s something I need to feel whole and I really miss it. It’s the little things, the weather reports, the jokes, the old-timers, the youngsters, the jargon, the slang, (the “mother tongue” so to speak). Comments you make like, “I threw the pick.” “I set the heavy first and then the dogs! Got my first bite three stops down. They’re coming right on top today! I love this hoochie!” Anyway, you get the point! As for fishing, the latest reports I hear are not promising. As most of you know, crab season has been dismal, with reported numbers being ones and twos and zeros per pot. If anyone is doing better than that, they’re not talking. Th...

Impact of Pacific Heat Wave Lingers in Gulf of Alaska

A marine heat wave that hit coastal waters from California to Alaska from 2014 to 2016 is still impacting the Gulf of Alaska, leaving fisheries’ researchers uncertain about whether the ecosystem will ever revert to pre-heat wave conditions. Their concerns are summarized in a new NOAA Fisheries study released in mid-March that offers a comprehensive and quantitative look at initial and lingering effects of the eastern Pacific Ocean heat wave. “As of 2019, the Gulf of Alaska ecosystem had yet to recover from the effects of this major heat wave,” said Rob Suryan, program manager for the Alaska Fisheries Science Center and lead author on this study. From 2012 to 2016 the percentage of global ocean experiencing strong or severe heat waves rose from 30% to nearly 70%. Researchers have also do...

Saildrones Deployed to the Arctic are Validating Data from Satellite Remote Sensing

A new report from Saildrone, one of the world’s leading collector of ocean related in situ data on unmanned vehicles, says data collected by the wind and solar powered Saildrones are validating information gathered via satellite remote sensing. The report focuses on the 2019 NASA Multi-Sensor Improved Sea Surface Temperature Project mission in the Bering and Chukchi seas, the first of five years of temperature calibration and validation at high latitudes. The Saildrone document quotes NASA’s Jorge Vazquez, the lead author of the study, who notes that he and his team found a strong correlation between measurements taken by satellite and measurements taken by the Saildrones in situ. Vazquez presented his findings during last year’s fall meeting of AGU, a global community of earth and spac...

What’s Eating Juvenile Salmon?

A new study on predation mortality of juvenile salmon from the Columbia River Basin suggests that several conditions near the mouth of the Columbia River are useful indicators of potential juvenile salmon mortality that could be helpful in salmon management. The study by Beth Phillips, titled “Characterizing juvenile salmon predation risk during early marine residence” was published online at https://journals.plos.org/. Phillips is a post-doctoral research associate with the Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle. “While predation mortality is often assessed using direct observations of prey consumption, potential predation can be predicted from co-occurring predator and prey densities under varying environmental conditions,” Phillips wrote in her abstract on the study. Her resea...

Getting Reacquainted

We are more than grateful to be part of the relaunch of Fishermen’s News. While our voice is one of many, we believe we present a unique perspective and appreciate the opportunity to share our thoughts, concerns and opinions with you. We look forward to diving deeper into specific issues in future articles; but today we briefly cover a diverse set of topics. Primarily because we had trouble deciding which of the following was most important. COVID-19 First and foremost, we offer our sincere condolences to those of us who have lost friends, family members or other loved ones. COVID-19 has had, and continues to have, profound impacts of the America and the U.S. commercial fishing industry. From lost markets to cancelled surveys which inform stock assessments, the true impacts of COVID-19 w...

Transboundary Waters Study Draws Conclusions, Plea for Further Study

There’s been no measurable impact to Alaska waters from historic mining activities in British Columbia, a water quality report on the salmon-rich transboundary rivers by environmental agencies for the governments of Alaska and British Columbia has concluded. The report, a collaborative four-year effort of the governments industry, indigenous nations and the public, will serve as baseline data to assess potential impacts from future industrial activity, says Alaska Commissioner of Environmental Conservation Jason Brune. “Water and wildlife don’t recognize borders, and so it’s up to all of us to protect our critical and priceless watersheds regardless of jurisdiction,” said George Heyman, minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy for the BC government. The governments stated in...

Pacific Great Blue Herons Are Snacking on Thousands of Salmon

A University of British Columbia study published in the Canadian Journal of Zoology estimates that thousands of juvenile wild and hatchery reared Chinook salmon and hatchery Coho salmon in the Salish Sea region of British Columbia are being eaten by Pacific great blue herons. The study, led by UBC doctoral candidate Zachary Sherker, is the first to estimate the abundance of juvenile salmon being preyed upon by an understudied bird species. Sherker had been looking for evidence of salmon being preyed upon by freshwater predators recorded in western scientific literature, like racoons, otters, king fishers and mink, but found nothing. Then on a ride to seal haul-outs with Cowichan Tribes biologist Tim Kulchinksy, said Sherker, Kulchinksy observed a bunch of herons foraging at the outflow...

ADF&G Forecasts Big Boost in Commercial Salmon Harvests in 2021

State fisheries biologists are forecasting a big increase in Alaska’s 2021 commercial harvest of salmon harvests totaling over 190 million fish, including 269,000 Chinook, 46.6 million sockeye, 3.8 million Coho, 124.2 million pink and 15.3 million chums. When compared to the 2020 commercial harvests, the projected upcoming commercial harvest would include 63.5 million more humpies, 203,000 more reds, 1.4 more Coho and 6.7 million more chums. With the exception of Southeast Alaska, pink salmon forecasts are generally based on average returns from previous brood years, but forecasters caution that there is always a great deal of uncertainty in predicting pink salmon returns. Also, with the exception of Southeast Alaska Chinook salmon fisheries and the South Peninsula June fisheries, Alask...

Nigiri Project Rears Juvenile Chinook Salmon in Winter-Flooded Rice Fields

A fisheries research project using winter-flooded California rice fields as a nursery for juvenile Chinook salmon is being hailed for its potential to reverse the drastic decline of this economically and culturally important fish over the past century. The Nigiri Project, which has been ongoing since 2011, takes its name from the sushi-like marriage of fish and rice. Nigiri sushi is a Japanese dish made with sushi rice hand formed into a small clump and capped with a layer of fish. The project is a collaborative effort of the University of California, Davis Center for Watershed Sciences, the California Department of Water Resources and California Trout, a 50-year-old nonprofit organization whose mission is to protect and restore wild trout, steelhead, salmon and their waters throughout...