Issue: February 2024

Researchers with the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C., and the University of Montana have received $1.25 million through the joint British Columbia Salmon Restoration and Innovation Fund to study combined impacts of industry and other factors on salmon. Funds were provided by the federal and provincial governments, plus an additional donation came from the Sitka Foundation, a Vancouver, BC-based conservation non-profit. The funding was announced by Simon Fraser University on Dec. 15. In addition to research and recommending policies, building social networks and sharing promising success stories is a key objective of the initiative. The research team said it hopes to achieve its goal through events that bring together a diverse group of leaders...

The largest dam removal in U.S. history is underway, with the lowering of dammed reservoirs on the Klamath River in Oregon. Members of the Yurok Tribe were on hand to witness the first big surge of waters on Jan. 11, as Oregon Public Radio reported on opening of a 16-foot-wide bypass tunnel at the base of the dam, releasing the flow of water darkened by pent-up sediment that also surged through. The Iron Gate itself is an earth embankment dam. The lowering of Iron Gate and two other reservoirs on the Klamath river will make way for removal of three remaining hydroelectric dams that are part of the Lower Klamath project in Northern California and southern Oregon. The report from Oregon Public Radio on NPR’s “All Things Considered” program hailed the removal of major dams along the Klam...

Peter Pan Seafood has cancelled operations at its King Cove, Alaska facility for the 2024 ‘A’ season, given the tumultuous economic of the global seafood industry, but the company has said that it remains committed to the communities where it does business, and will be open for processing in the ‘B’ season. The vertically integrated seafood firm announced its decision Jan. 12, saying it had not come quickly or easily. The company noted that the seafood industry is facing inflation, interest rates hikes, financing challenges and high fuel costs. “This temporary step, while difficult, is necessary to maintain our long-term commitment to the future of our business in Alaska,” the Bellevue, Wash.-based company said in a statement. “We remain committed to continuing to provide the best servic...

Veteran commercial harvester Ray Melovidov has been elected president of the Central Bering Sea Fishermen’s Association, filling the post long held by Phillip Lestenkof, who recently retired after nearly 20 years. The appointment was announced on Jan. 5 by the CBSFA’s board of directors. The fishermen’s association is the management organization for St. Paul Island, Alaska, which has a mandate to manage fishery resources for the island in the Pribilofs, a small island group in the Bering Sea. “While the community faces some significant challenges, CBSFA is well positioned to help deal with them and continue contributing to the community,” Melovidov said in a statement. He noted that having been born and raised on St. Paul Island, where he lives with his family, that the CBSFA’s schola...

A new collaborative study documenting the complex vocal repertoire of Cook Inlet beluga whales has quantified how ship noise may be masking specific beluga calls crucial to the safety and wellbeing of these endangered whales. Beluga whales use acoustics to find prey, navigate their environment, avoid predators and maintain group cohesion, according to authors of the study published on Nov. 30 in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. Beluga whales are highly social and vocal marine mammals, according to the study’s lead author Arial Brewer, a NOAA Fisheries affiliate at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center and Ph.D. student at the University of Washington. “The core critical habitat for these whales is a very noisy area,” she explained. “Commercial shipping, an international...

Accidents are by definition unexpected and unintentional, but a U.S. Coast Guard report on the f/v Scandies Rose disaster, in which just two of seven crew members on board survived, points to a number of missed efforts that could have presumably saved both the vessel and all those onboard. Authors of the Coast Guard’s Marine Board of Investigation report concluded that the loss of the commercial fishing vessel, which sank south of Sutwik Island, Alaska, on New Year’s Eve of 2019, and the deaths of five of seven crew was both tragic and preventable. The Coast Guard’s 233-page report on the 130-foot crab fishing vessel’s sinking was released Jan. 10. A major factor in this incident was the captain’s judgment, the Coast Guard said. Specifically, the captain departed on the voyage and lat...

Alaska pollock producers say they’re working with the federal government to assure all loopholes are closed before the Federal Register announcement is published that seals a ban on import of Russian seafood, including imports of Russia-caught seafood processed in China. Under an executive order issued by the White House on Dec. 22, no Russia-originated seafood is permitted for import into the U.S. after mid-February. The ban includes salmon, cod, crab and pollock, either harvested in Russian waters or by Russian vessels anywhere. The bulk of the world’s supply of pollock, a popular and succulent whitefish, is harvested in Russia and Alaska. Alaska pollock is mostly sold as once-frozen fillet blocks or surimi caught by U.S. trawlers and processed in the U.S., while Russian caught pollo...