June 2022 – Page 2 – Fishermens News

Study: Climate Change Results in Fewer Productive Fish Species

A new Rutgers University study finds that as temperatures warm during climate change, predator-prey interactions could prevent some species from keeping up with conditions where they could thrive, resulting in fewer productive fish species to catch in the future. The study, published April 13 in the biological research journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, presents a mixed picture of ocean health. Not only could large species and commercially important fisheries shift out of their historical ranges as climate warms, but they would likely not be as abundant even in their new geographic ranges. For instance, a cod fisherman in the Atlantic might still find fish 200 years from now but in significantly fewer numbers. According to study coauthor Malin Pinsky, the findings suggest from...

The Oft-Forgotten Fishery

The fishery for North Pacific albacore is an important one for West Coast-based commercial harvesters and the communities which depend upon, and/or benefit from, access to the resource. Between 1996 and 2020, the U.S. commercial albacore fleet harvested an average of 11,469 metric tons (roughly 25.3 million pounds). In 2020, the fleet landed about 16 million pounds with ex-vessel revenues totaling $25 million. In 2007, it was the first tuna fishery in the world to achieve certification by the Marine Stewardship Council. The American Albacore Fishing Association and Western Fish Boat Owners Association share the certificate, which was recertified in 2020. The West Coast commercial fishery is primarily prosecuted by vessels utilizing troll or pole and line gear and while there is no set s...

California Adopts Pink Shrimp Management Plan

The California Fish and Game Commission has adopted the state’s first-ever Pink Shrimp Fishery Management Plan, with a goal of reducing bycatch and protecting seafloor habitats. The plan, which was approved April 19, establishes a harvest control rule for the fishery, a requirement for the use of footrope lighting devices to aid in bycatch reduction, a procedure to standardized reporting of pink shrimp weight at the time of landing and removes ambiguity about the legality of pink shrimp trawling in state waters. Pink shrimp support valuable commercial fisheries from California to Washington and range from southeast Alaska to Baja California but are most abundant from Point Arguello, in Santa Barbara County, California to British Columbia. It is thought that a single genetic stock exis...

Upright and Watertight!

According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, between 2015 and 2019, there were 124 commercial fishing fatalities in the U.S. Of these fatalities, 57% were due to the loss of the vessel itself, and the vast majority of those losses were due to the fact that the vessel lost its watertight integrity. A well-designed and maintained vessel provides an excellent platform to protect you from a hostile environment, get you from here to there and to provide a means for making a living. Yet a vessel is only as good as its watertight envelope. Maintenance tip: conduct regular out-of-water critical inspections of the hull, through hull fittings, packing glands, cutless bearing, prop, shaft, zincs and paint. Inside the hull, inspect to see that through hull valves/se...

Understanding Today’s Economic Trends to Plan for the Future

Your daily newsfeed is likely filled with stories of rising prices at both the pump and the grocery store. Economists point to a number of reasons, from the injection of pandemic relief funds to supply-chain disruptions and shipping delays. Meanwhile, the conflict in Ukraine has added a new layer of uncertainty. Commercial fishing is not insulated from these national and global trends. While the maritime industry has largely moved past disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the effect of international sanctions on Russia and rising prices at home are just beginning to be felt. Understanding what’s happening and how it directly impacts the commercial maritime industry is critical to making sound financial decisions in these turbulent times. Looking Back on the Pandemic The commer...

IUU Fishing: An Ongoing Global Issue

For second-generation fisherman Dane Chauvel, illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing goes against the very reason why he co-founded seafood delivery service Organic Ocean Seafood Inc. 14 years ago. Chauvel’s company in British Columbia was built on offering not only sustainably-harvested premium products to high-end restaurants and buyers, but also supporting responsible fishermen regionally and all over the world. IUU fishing undermines it. “Most people look at (IUU fishing) as being either a high seas or a developing nations issue,” Chauvel remarked. “And they think in the developed world … you wouldn’t have those issues. And sadly, that couldn’t be farther from the truth.” For decades, IUU fishing has been an ongoing issue globally, affecting all regions along multiple ...

Deck Machinery in 2022

The West Coast commercial fishing fleet is blessed with many dynamic deck machinery manufacturers of both independent-family owned and multinational-corporate varieties. New products are regularly announced and legacy products improved. Shop expansions move forward, increasing field-service capabilities, and bestselling trends shift. Companies rise and fall. For those in the commercial fishing industry, tracking the pulse of the region’s deck machinery scene is part of the lifestyle. Herein are a few notable highlights from the industry to help you stay informed. La Conner Maritime: La Conner and Mount Vernon, Wash. La Conner Maritime was founded by Ed Oczkewicz in 1978 to make deck gear for commercial fishing boats. The company started providing field service in Bristol Bay aroun...

Passion for Wild-Caught Seafood Drives Wild Alaskan Company

Growing up on the back deck of his family’s commercial fishing boat in Southwest Alaska, Arron Kallenberg ate a lot of wild salmon and halibut and tended his family’s subsistence set net. His passion for wild-caught seafood dates back three generations, to when his grandfather, Robert C. Kallenberg, moved from New Jersey to Alaska in 1926 and began fishing on a wooden sailboard. Since then, he said, his family has always fished Bristol Bay, home of the world’s largest run of wild sockeye salmon. Later in life, his grandfather returned to the East Coast to earn a master’s degree in 1952 from Cornell University, an Ivy League school in Ithaca, NY. His thesis, according to Arron Kallenberg, was on “a study of the red salmon of Bristol Bay with particular reference to teacher its conservat...

NPFMC Requests Expanded Discussion Paper on Bristol Bay Red King Crab Issues

At their April meeting, federal fisheries managers voted for the production of an extended discussion paper with an analysis of impacts of annual or seasonal closures to pelagic trawl, groundfish pot and longline gear in the Red King Crab Savings Area. They also called for tables to track all sources of red king crab mortality across federal waters. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council also requested that the paper go to its scientific and statistical committee for review and comment before it is presented at the October council session. The unanimous vote came after extensive testimony and discussion at the Anchorage meeting, a move that Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers Executive Director Jamie Goen called a step in the right direction. But it left out some important protections fo...

USCG Cutter Alex Haley Returns to Kodiak After Bering Sea Patrol

The crew of the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Alex Haley is back in port in Kodiak, Alaska after a 35-day winter Bering Sea patrol during which it engaged in domestic fisheries enforcement, responded to search and rescue incidents and performed at-sea medical evacuations from the Bering Sea fishing fleet. The cutter returned March 29. During the patrol, five search and rescue cases resulted in crew members saving five lives, according to the USCG, including an individual who experienced chest pain at Akutan and a 20-month-old child at King Cove suffering from respiratory distress. The crew maintained a law enforcement presence throughout the Aleutian Islands chain to prevent the illegal harvesting of U.S. fish stocks. They conducted seven fisheries boardings, investigated reports of two fis...