Issue: January 2022

Commercial fishermen harvesting their catch in the far reaches of the Bering Sea are collecting ecological observations, including changes in fisheries and ocean conditions, to help prepare for climate-ready fisheries. Since the program was establishment earlier this year, some 1,697 fishermen have provided their views on climate change via telephone interviews in the Skipper Science program, which is endorsed by 19 Alaska-based fishing trade organizations. Also this year, 100 commercial harvesters signed up for the program, a collaboration of the Aleut Community of St. Paul Island tribal government and SalmonState’s Salmon Habitat Information Program (SHIP). A key tool of the program is a smartphone app that allows fishermen and women to log their observations in real time from fishin...

Seattle-based OBI Seafoods says its canned salmon products are now packaged in 100% recyclable product, with all plastic made from at least 30% recycled materials. In a Tuesday, Nov. 30 announcement, the company said that the recyclable shelf-ready packaging will be used on all of OBI’s domestic canned salmon brand and export products, including cans and lids, can labels, trays and shrink overwrap. The company has said that it plans to utilize recycled content as much as possible, including trays made from 100% recycled content and cans and lids made from 35% recycled content. The plastic shrink overwrap is made of 30% recycled materials, which will exempt the product from an incoming United Kingdom tax on single-use plastics, a regulation that is effective as of April 2022. OBI’s chi...

The discovery of a juvenile whale named “Phoenix” by NOAA Fisheries biologists, has renewed hope for the survival of the critically endangered eastern North Pacific right whale population. A report on right whale research released by NOAA Fisheries on Monday, Nov. 29, credits NOAA Fisheries scientist Jessica Crance and her work with an international team searching for one of the world’s rarest large whales. Phoenix is estimated to be between 1.5 and 4 years old. The research, already published in marine science journals, tells how researchers over the summers of 2017 and 2018, photographed and identified a total of 15 individual North Pacific right whales, four of them documented for the first time, and one determined to be a juvenile. The whales were spotted during the International...

British Columbia officials have granted a second extension request from mineral exploration company Seabridge Gold for its planned Kerr-Sulphurets-Mitchell (KSM) project Environmental Assessment Certificate, requested because the mining company contends it has experienced delays and economic challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The extension was granted in mid-November by Elenore Arend, chief executive assessment officer for B.C.’s Environmental Assessment Office. The extension came with a list of conditions, including a detailed development plan. KSM is an open pit/underground mine proposed just 20 miles from the Alaska border and Misty Fjords National Monument in the headwaters of the Unuk and Mass River systems. The Unuk is a major producer of king salmon and eulachon in Southea...

United Fishermen of Alaska, a statewide umbrella group for commercial fishing entities, has brought aboard a new executive director. Tracy Welch, the tribal administrator of the Petersburg Indian Association, which promotes the Native American community, has been hired to head UFA. Her last day with the PIA was Dec. 3; she began her new role with UFA on Dec. 7. Welch, who grew up in Petersburg, Alaska, has a background in commercial fishing, gillnetting and long-lining with her father, according to a recent profile by Petersburg community radio station KFSK. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame in political science and German. She earned a law degree from the University of Oregon School of Law and is licensed to practice law in the state of Oregon. Welch, 3...

A commercial fisherman has been sentenced to pay nearly $89,000 CAD after pleading guilty to 12 counts under the Fisheries Act for violations that occurred between June and September 2017 and in July and August 2018 in waters north of the Haida Gwaii island chain off of Canada’s northern Pacific coast. Fisheries and Oceans Canada revealed Nov. 30 that commercial salmon harvester Garry Dean Stoner was ordered to pay $1,200 in court fines, plus $42,800 in penalties, to be directed towards fisheries management and the conservation and protection of fish and fish habitat. An additional $44,644 penalty was added  by the judge in the case as recovery revenue obtained through the sales of the illegally caught Chinook salmon. Stoner was also prohibited from commercial salmon fishing for 18 mon...

Coast Guard officials are urging harvesters to take safety precautions in hazardous bar crossings during the commercial Dungeness crab season that’s now underway. Investigators with the Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Portland said they have responded to over 200 marine casualties so far this year, with many of these incidents involving commercial fishing vessels. When unsafe conditions exist at the bar, the Coast Guard prohibits the passage of recreational and uninspected passenger vessels based on their size. When conditions exceed operating parameters of Coast Guard search and rescue resources, the bar is closed and no vessels allowed to cross unless specifically authorized by the Captain of the Port. Bar closures are announced via broadcast notice to mariners on VHF-FM channel 16 ...

The Coast Guard on Dec. 1 said that it has issued a violation notice to the owner and master aboard a 48-foot commercial fishing vessel for negligence while operating in conditions of restricted visibility and a failure to maintain a proper lookout in the Columbia River navigation channel. The commercial fishing vessel, the name of which was not released by the USCG,  was operating outbound on the Oregon side of the Columbia River navigation channel as the 587-foot motor vessel Grand Race, a roll-on/roll-off cargo ship, was transiting inbound, in the vicinity of the navigation channel’s Buoy No. 8. The commercial fishing vessel, without providing notice or sound signal to the inbound Grand Race, adjusted course to move to the Washington side of the channel; and, in doing so, cut across t...

U.S. Coast Guard officials are crediting prepared mariners and partnerships with U.S. Native and international partners for the successful rescue of 17 boaters off the coasts of Alaska, California and Micronesia , over a two-day period in mid-November. All three rescues highlight the importance of mariners being properly equipped and trained for survival at sea, as well as government and industry partnerships, said Coast Guard officials in Alameda, California. The crew of a good Samaritan vessel, Nord Rubicon, rescued seven fishermen in a life raft on Nov. 10, 350 miles off the coast of Monterey, California after their 85-foot commercial fishing boat became engulfed in flames. Multiple alerts, via emergency position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB), immediately notified Coast Guard cre...

Concerns over substantial bycatch of marine mammals and sea turtles in gear used in California’s drift gillnet swordfish fishery have the Pacific Fishery Management Council working anew toward 100% observer coverage for that fishery. The PFMC, meeting virtually because of the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic, was set to adopt a range of alternatives and preliminary preferred alternatives as appropriate on Nov. 18, to limit and monitor bycatch during the swordfish harvest. A new analysis released on Nov. 15 by the conservation entity Oceana found that participants in California’s drift gillnet swordfish fishery are severely underreporting its catch of marine mammals and sea turtles, including injury and death from entanglement in fishing gear as required by law. Oceana said its rese...